“Adolescence, a period of transition between childhood and adulthood, is marked by radical changes in emotional, behavioral and social development,” recall researchers from the University of Washington.
“It is also a time when a sense of personal identity, self-confidence and self-control develop. »
But the Covid-19 pandemic has been there. “What did it mean for our teenagers to stay at home rather than in their social groups, to not play sports, not to go out? », they asked themselves.
To answer, scientists looked at brain maturation. The latter is measured by the thickness of the cerebral cortex, which naturally thins with age.
However, chronic stress and adversity are known to accelerate this thinning, which is associated with an increased risk of neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders.
In their study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the authors compared adolescent brain data collected before and after the pandemic. The results show an average acceleration of 4.2 years of brain development in girls, compared to 1.4 years in boys.
How can this difference between the two sexes be explained? According to Patricia Kuhl, main author of this work, this is due to the importance that teenagers place on social interactions to relieve stress: “girls often rely more on their relationships with other girls, prioritizing the ability to come together, talk to each other and share their feelings.
And in the long term?
“In older adults, measures of the brain’s cognitive functions, such as processing speed and the ability to perform common tasks, are correlated with the degree of thinning of the cerebral cortex,” concludes Kuhl. “This type of data is not yet available for adolescents. It is possible that there will be some recovery with the return of social interactions. As it is also possible to imagine that brain maturation will remain accelerated in these adolescents. »
