Study arms parents with an explanation for their teenager's angst...raging hormones

Parents of teenagers haven't had to isolate the individual hormone responsible for teen angst to know that the "raging hormones" of puberty produced mood swings and stress in teenagers. Unfortunately, until now scientists haven't been too much help in understanding the cause of the pubertal angst.

However, researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center report findings demonstrating that "a hormone normally released in response to stress, THP, actually reverses its effect at puberty, when it increases anxiety." In other words the very hormone that helps adults reduce anxiety actually increases it around puberty. Kids bodies are basically hard-wired for high maintenance during that period. The evolutionary reasons for this are anybody's guess.

According to a Downstate Medical Center news release, SUNY scientists, led by Sheryl S. Smith, a professor of physiology and pharmacology, found that a brain receptor called GABA-A acts exactly the opposite in teenage brains compared to how it receives the THP hormone in adult brains. Instead of calming a person during a time of high anxiety, the GABA-A receptor appears to increase a teenager's stress, the researchers found.

The good news is that puberty eventually ends. The bad news is that facing a moody teen upset about limits placed on their MySpace usage parents won't feel particularly empowered armed with this new knowledge that their kid's GABA-A receptors are temporary off-kilter.

Sources: PhysOrg.com and HealthDay