Adolescence may last far longer than anyone realised, with new research suggesting the teenage phase of brain development continues until the early 30s. The finding comes from one of the largest studies ever carried out on how the human brain changes from infancy to old age.
Adolescence lasts into the early 30s
Scientists at the University of Cambridge analysed MRI scans from nearly 4,000 people aged between birth and 90. By studying how water moves through brain tissue, the team were able to map major shifts in the brain’s neural wiring and identify five key “epochs” of development that shape how we think, learn and age.
The researchers discovered that “adolescence” starts at around age nine and does not end until roughly 32 years old.
Professor Duncan Astle, senior author of the study, said: “Looking back, many of us feel our lives have been characterised by different phases. It turns out that brains also go through these eras. Understanding that the brain’s structural journey is not a question of steady progression but one of a few major turning points will help us identify when and how its wiring is vulnerable to disruption.”
The study, published in Nature Communications, outlines a series of brain eras. The first begins at birth and lasts until about age nine. This is followed by the long adolescent phase, which continues into the early 30s. After that, the brain moves into an adult era that stretches for more than three decades.
A further shift happens around age 66, which the researchers describe as the beginning of an “early ageing” period. The final era, labelled “late ageing”, starts at around 83.
Dr Alexa Mousley, a Gates Cambridge scholar who led the work, said the eras offer a new way of understanding how the brain grows, adapts and becomes vulnerable.
She explained: “These eras provide important context for what our brains might be best at or more vulnerable to at different stages of our lives.
“It could help us understand why some brains develop differently at key points in life, whether that is learning difficulties in childhood or dementia in later years.”
The team say the findings could eventually help doctors and educators understand when interventions are likely to be most effective and why certain stages of life come with particular mental health challenges.
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