Adolescence is a time of transition, physically, socially, and emotionally. The adolescent brain is in transition as well. Although important structural and functional changes take place in the brain from childhood to adulthood (Giedd et al., 1999), during adolescence such changes are widespread. During adolescence, the brain undergoes a major remodeling involving the formation of new connections between nerve cells, as well as the pruning of existing synaptic connections. These changes affect the processes involved in planning and decisionmaking, impulse control, voluntary movement, memory, and speech production, among others (Rubia et al., 2000). Similar changes occur in those parts of the brain that seem to affect how a person responds to alcohol and other drugs (Spear, 2000; Teicher et al., 1995). As a result, alcohol appears to have different effects on adolescents than adults (Spear, 2000).
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Reprinted with the permission of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
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