Brain Development
Physiology is the study of life-sustaining body functions and structures. It is an area of biological study that contains various subspecialties beneath it, one of which is the study of how the brain functions and specifically how it affects behavioral choices (and, in turn, is itself affected by those choices). There is scientific research currently being conducted related to brain development that is yielding data showing that premarital sex and multiple sexual encounters is actually physiologically damaging.
Dr. Eric James Keroack, deputy assistant secretary for Health and Human Services, has found through research that teenage sexual activity blunts the brain's ability to develop emotional relationships. Comparing sex to drug use, he said the hormone produced by the brain after orgasm, oxytocin, will eventually diminish a person's ability to form emotional attachments. Keroack said premarital sex can lead to overproduction of oxytocin. [His] 2001 paper for Abstinence Medical Council . . . concluded: "People who have misused their sexual faculty and become bonded to multiple persons will diminish the power of oxytocin to maintain a permanent bond with an individual. . . . Just as in heroin addiction . . . the person involved will experience 'sex withdrawal' and will need to move on to a . . . new sex playmate." 1
Understanding brain development and its relationship to sexual activity, therefore, will prove to be very useful in helping to explain and understand behavior, especially teenage sexual behavior, from the biological and psychological perspective.
Oxytocin, Dopamine, and Frontal Brain Development
Oxytocin (from the Greek words meaning "quick birth") is a hormone (chemical messengers which regulate physiological activities including growth and reproduction) found in mammals that also acts as a neurotransmitter (chemicals that allow the movement of information between neurons) in the brain. In women, it is released mainly after stretching of the cervix and vagina during labor or sexual intercourse, and after stimulation of the nipples as in the milk-ejection reflex during breastfeeding. Importantly, oxytocin is released during sexual climax (or orgasm) in both men and women. Within the brain, oxytocin plays a significant role in social recognition and bonding, and might also be involved in the formation of trust between people.
Understanding a bit about oxytocin helps explain the neurological (relating to the brain and central nervous system) implications of sexual intimacy. Research shows that this chemical (oxytocin) is released during sexual intimacy and tends to create a "super-glue effect" between lovers, one that is extremely difficult to break emotionally. Oxytocin is considered to bring a "bond for life," and is predominantly responsible for "pair-bonding" in certain species—the selection of a mate for life.
Oxytocin binds two individuals through orgasm, intimate touching, labor, and mother-to-child breastfeeding. Therefore, this means that when two people engage in sexual behavior together, they are also causing chemicals to be released in their brains which help form strong emotional bonds between them. Obviously, in a committed, monogamous relationship such as marriage this is an extremely positive thing. It also reinforces from a scientific and medical point of view the Bible's teaching that sex is not a meaningless or insignificant activity, but a gift by God intentionally given for the intimate bonding of a married couple as "one flesh" (Genesis 1:24). However, when people engage in sexual behavior outside of a committed and faithful relationship such as marriage, they are forming bonds with people that eventually will be painfully broken. And the more people they have sexual relationships with, the stronger the bonds they will form, and the more emotional trauma they will suffer when inevitable separation occurs. Adolescents and their parents should be aware of the powerful chemical bonds that are being built between them when they are choosing to engage in sexual activity and the emotional unhealthiness that severing those bonds creates.
Frontal brain development is also a factor related to impulsive behavior among teens. The adolescent brain is immature and in a dynamic state of development. While it may be fully formed in size, various parts within the structure of the brain continue to develop well into a person's twenties. The last area of the brain to develop is the frontal lobe. In a teenager, it is constantly being flooded with surges of neurochemicals and hormones that cause him or her to see the world with intense, new, and sometimes conflicting, interests.
As a result, many teens may more easily become sexually involved as a consequence of a quick, impulsive decision. One of our goals at CPC is to help teens think critically, and to wisely look at the choice:consequence ratio connected to their decisions.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter formed in the brain essential to the normal functioning of the central nervous system. While having many functions in the brain, most importantly, dopamine is central to the reward system 2. When an unexpected reward is presented, dopamine neurons are activated. This cause and effect relationship between pleasure received and dopamine activation means that we learn to repeat behaviors that lead to unexpected rewards and pleasure. In this way, dopamine is believed by many to "teach" (by reinforcement) the different parts of the brain that control behavior.
In summary, dopamine kicks in when we experience something we like or that makes us feel good. And when the dopamine cells are activated, we get a feeling of well-being. It can cause a person to feel good by producing intense energy, exhilaration, and focused attention. This is why the presence of dopamine is termed a "reward signal"—it signals the brain of a reward and thus influences the brain to choose those types of behaviors which produce that type of reward in the future.
Dopamine thus motivates teens to take the risks necessary for the pursuit of independence (for example, occupation, love, marriage, shelter). However, it is reported that during the adolescent years dopamine levels generally decline from peak levels, stimulating a need to find more activities to fulfill the desire for pleasure and stimulation. The impact of this upon teenage sexual behavior should be obvious. If a teenager's brain is not receiving dopamine activation from healthy activities, he or she will be more inclined to seek reward or pleasure from unhealthy activities. Remember that the neurotransmitter itself is not selective; it is completely impartial. Dopamine can signal the brain to the rewards attached to the thrill of sports, learning, adventure, good stories, friendship and familial love, but it can also signal reward for other unhealthy thrills such as those attached to adolescent sexual behavior.
Sadly, in our culture sex is offered as an easy and readily available source of pleasure to teenagers. "Just be safe about it," we teach them, "wear a condom." What often goes unrealized, though, is that such casual sexual behavior among adolescents is activating chemicals in the brain which are causing them to become more and more deeply enmeshed. Their eventual separation causes painful emotional tearing, but the reward they have been receiving from the behavior influences them to seek it again. We want to help sway teens away from unhealthy patterns of pleasure-seeking (such as multiple sexual encounters which further places them at risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection or becoming pregnant) and toward positive and healthy areas of pleasure. Part of this involves informing teens as well as their parents of the way our brains affect our behavior and influence our choices. Our goal in this remains constant: to save lives and protect futures!
The following article is from an outstanding medical source and serves to support the connections being drawn between brain development and behavior.
Teen Brain Development 3
Dr. Jay Giedd, chief of brain imaging in the child psychiatry branch at the National Institute of Mental Health, has spent more than 13 years performing MRIs and studying the brains of more than 1,800 kids. Through high-powered MRI technology, he has discovered that the adolescent brain, while fully grown in size, is still a long way from maturity.
Long after the size of the brain is established, it continues to undergo major stages of development. One of the last regions of the brain to mature is the pre-frontal cortex—home of the so-called "executive" functions—planning, setting priorities, organizing thoughts, suppressing impulses and weighing the consequences of one's actions. This means the part of the brain young people need the most to develop good judgment and decision-making develops last!
This "under construction" nature of the adolescent brain helps explain why teenagers act they way they do, and why their behavior can be idealistic, energetic or enthusiastic at one moment, and cynical, lethargic and bored the next. At age 16, their bodies may look fully developed, but the minds are very much still in the development phase.
According to new studies, the pre-frontal cortex usually does not reach a level of genuine maturity until someone reaches their mid-twenties! "It's sort of unfair to expect [teens] to have adult levels of organizational skills or decision-making before their brains are finished being built," says Giedd.
Knowing the limitations of the adolescent brain does not excuse bad behavior. It does, however, reinforce the need for parents to provide persistent support and guidance. More than ever, adolescents need their parents to be an integral part of their lives. It's not butting in, it's pouring in your love and guidance to protect their future hope, health and happiness.
1 © Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company. The Boston Globe, boston.com. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/11/17/abortion_foe_to_lead_on_family_planning/, accessed January 24, 2007.
2 K. Berridge and T. Robinson, "What is the role of dopamine in reward: hedonic impact, reward learning, or incentive salience?" Brain Res Brain Res Rev 28 (3) (1998): 309-69. PMID 9858756.
3 Joe S. McIlhaney, Jr., MD, "Teen Brain Development," reviewed by Kate Hendricks, MD, MPH&TM (©2006 Medical Institute for Sexual Health, May 2004) all rights reserved. This article may be found on-line at http://www.medinstitute.org/content.php?name=teenbraindevelopment, accessed January 31, 2007.