Question

How does the brain development in human beings have a direct causation on teenagers making poor decisions?

Answer 1

Now, to make something clear, not all teenagers make "poor decisions"; the human mind is so complex and multi-variabled that making a blanket statement for every human being is going too far into assumption. But, it is true that in many cases, the brain's development during teenage years does impact its behavior, in fact this sort of behavior can go back as far as toddlerhood. To put it simply, the brain--usually during teenage development when testosterone or estrogen levels are higher-- undergoes a drastic change where testing and questioning the bounds of one's liberty, privilege, traditional ideas, etc. comes into play. This is probably why even today, some groups of people considerer children far below the age 18--the legal age to vote in America-- adult and ready to marry off. They see that a child of that age has begun to adapt to their surroundings and test the bounds of their traditional ideas, and thus see it fit to give them full freedom. Teenagehood is a time when one makes poor, questionable decisions and hopefully learns from them, a time when one tests the bounds of personal liberty, and a time when they hopefully find out how the world works. Teenagehood is the brain's transition one of a child to that of an adult.