Oh No You Didn't - Teen Girls Emotion Circuits Spark More Than Boys

Thursday, July 16, 2009 - 07:07 in Psychology & Sociology

As teenagers' drive for peer approval begins to eclipse their family affiliations, things change in their brains - literally.    Brain scans of teens sizing each other up reveal an emotion circuit activating more in girls as they grow older - but not in boys. So that urban legend about girls maturing faster than boys is true, if by faster maturity we mean becoming overly emotional drama queens.   A new study says emotion circuitry diverges in the male and female brain during a developmental stage in which girls are at increased risk for developing mood and anxiety disorders. read more

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