Authors: Tyler Phillips (Research Psychologist & Research and Content Consultant) and Dr Etienne van der Walt (neurologist and CEO & founder of Neurozone®)
Growing up as a teenager has always been challenging, but today’s global issues may make it even harder. In 2021, UNICEF estimated that 1 billion young people live in areas at “extremely high risk” of climate change. Save the Children reported that 1 in 6 young people live in conflict-affected areas, and the World Bank found that 356 million children live in extreme poverty worldwide. Adolescents today must find ways to cope with mounting challenges like these, both now and in the future. They need resilience.
A recent study by developmental neuroscientists may offer one promising way to build resilience in teenagers. Over two years, they studied a group of 55 teenagers from low-income neighborhoods in California. They aimed to answer two questions:
- First, how does exposure to violence in these teens’ communities affect their developing brains?
- Second, if these teens engage in “transcendent thinking” about issues like this violence, could it benefit their brain development?
How Exposure to Violence Impacts Adolescent Brain Development
At the study’s start, the researchers asked each teen about their exposure to violence in their community, whether through threats to themselves or witnessing incidents affecting others. Two years later, they asked about further exposure that may have happened, and each teen underwent MRI scans at both points to track any changes in brain development.
They found that teenagers exposed to more violence had reduced gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a crucial brain region involved in handling emotions, stress, social interaction, and motivation. Reduced ACC gray matter has also been linked to stress-related disorders like PTSD, anxiety, and addiction. Importantly, these teens did not have clinical diagnoses before the study, nor were they directly involved in the violence. Simply being exposed to violence in their communities had this concerning effect on their brain development.
This study underscores how vulnerable adolescents are to the harmful effects of violence in their environment. Even though we could have expected ‘attenuation effects’ - meaning that subsequent exposure to community violence would become normalized, habituated, and therefore less impactful to the teens – that was not the case here. As teens spend more time outside their homes, reducing conditions of violence exposure may be vital to safeguarding their mental health now and as adults.
Transcendent Thinking as a Protective Factor in Teen Brain Development
The researchers also examined whether “transcendent thinking” could help protect teens’ brain health. In this study, transcendent thinking involved reflecting deeply on the broader causes, systems, and solutions surrounding complex issues—like violence—rather than just focusing on immediate surroundings. By examining broader patterns, teens might start asking questions like, “Why does this violence happen here?” or “How could this issue be addressed on a larger scale?”.
To measure transcendent thinking, the researchers showed teens 40 one-minute documentaries, each telling a real story of a teenager’s life in their community. After watching, the teens were asked to share their candid opinions, which were assessed for evidence of transcendent thinking. Some of this evidence included, for example, reflecting on the influence of larger systems (e.g., “I find it unfair that the people get undocumented”) or on the need for change (e.g., “We have to be able to inspire people who are growing and have the potential to improve the societies”).
The study found that teens who engaged in transcendent thinking showed increased gray matter in the ACC over two years. This suggests that transcendent thinking may counteract the damaging effects of community violence exposure on the adolescent brain. Thinking about complex, bigger-picture issues appears to be a critical developmental asset for adolescents.
Transcendent Thinking and Resilience
These findings suggest that promoting transcendent thinking may improve adolescents’ resilience. Resilience, after all, is the ability to cope well with stress, and we know that stress can harm the ACC, contributing to disorders like PTSD and anxiety. If transcendent thinking helps restore ACC health, it might offer a way to help teens cope better with stress – that is, be more resilient.
This insight aligns with how our stress response system works. During immediate danger, like exposure to violence, our attention focuses on the present moment and concrete environment, and our brain’s survival center (the amygdala) takes over. Prolonged amygdala activation, however, can damage the brain and body over time. But once the immediate threat is gone, practicing complex, reflective thinking can re-engage the prefrontal cortex and reduce stress, restoring cognitive control and resilience.
Measuring and Supporting Resilience Through Transcendent Thinking
At Neurozone®, we measure resilience in teenagers with our Neurozone® Adolescent Resilience Index, a tool that could further explore the hypothesis suggested by this study. By encouraging teens to develop transcendent thinking skills, we may help them become more resilient, better equipping them to face the world’s complex and challenging realities.