Question

Caitlin is a typical adolescent. She just learned that her dad is being transferred to another city far from Caitlin’s current friends and familiar surroundings. Caitlin is very emotional about the news, cries uncontrollably, and runs off to a friend’s house during the night. Her older sister seems relatively unaffected by the news. From a developmental perspective, what might explain the difference?

Answer 1

The correct answer is: During adolescence the prefrontal lobe develops more slowly than the emotion center.

Step-by-step explanation:

The prefrontal lobe is a brain area that is related to certain mental processes such as regulation of behavior, personality expression, social behavior, social and emotional regulation, complex reasoning, the ability to decide what's good or bad, and consequences of actions.

During adolescence, this area is still on development which may explain why adolescence is developmentally associated with impulsive behavior, certain lack of self-regulation, emotional outbursts, and so on.

In this particular case, when Caitlin heard the news that her father was being transferred to another city she reacted emotionally to the news, crying uncontrollably and running off to a friend's house during the night.

Her older sister reacted calmly.

From a developmental perspective, this is explained because during adolescence the prefrontal lobe develops more slowly than the emotion center.