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Adolescent behavior and hormones: is there really a correlation?
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Many experts attribute changes in adolescent behavior to hormonal changes in their bodies. There is even such a concept as a "problem teenager" - a guy or girl who is constantly in conflict with parents and teachers, characterized by mood instability and a craving for risky ventures. Are hormones that are rebuilt during puberty to blame?
As scientists from the University of New York at Buffalo and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have discovered, sex hormones, if they play any role in adolescent behavior, are not very significant.
If we look at the problem more broadly, the period of formation of a teenager as a personality exceeds the very fact of puberty. A young person acquires skills in building complex social relationships, his thoughts and priorities change, and his feelings become more acute. A teenager begins to look at others and himself differently, he strives to test his capabilities with the help of new, unknown sensations. And it is not only about the appearance of sexual desire.
Experts compared changes in the child's psyche and hormonal changes - first of all, because these two periods coincide in time. Now scientists have the opportunity to double-check this information. As it turned out, this is not so easy.
Experiments had to be carried out on animals - in particular, scientists observed the development of Djungarian hamsters and noticed that with the period of puberty, the animals stopped playing games and began to build a hierarchy in relationships. They developed a strong desire for dominance, indicating that each representative became an individual. This behavior can be compared to that of adolescence: social standards are expanding, skills are improving, the individual is trying to figure out how to live in the adult world.
Researchers have found that the sexual maturity of hamsters had little effect on their behavioral characteristics. Of course, many will notice that it is impossible to draw a clear parallel between the development of hamsters and people. However, certain aspects of individual development are the same for all mammals.
The influence of hormonal activity on a person’s mood and behavior cannot be completely denied either: such changes are typical not only for teenagers, but also for pregnant women and for women during the period of fading hormone production. But as for teenagers, everything is more complicated. And adults should remember this – all teenage problems should not be reduced to “hormonal changes”. A teenager enters adulthood, often not knowing how to do it correctly. He gets sexuality, but does not know how to handle it. The responsibility of adults at this stage is to help the child, but not to give up on him – they say, “hormones are to blame”.
The full version of the report on the scientists’ research is presented on the pages http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30215-X
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