# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Under most laws, young people are recognized as adults at age 18. But emerging science about brain development suggests that most people don't reach full maturity until the age 25. Guest host Tony Cox discusses the research and its implications with Sandra Aamodt, neuroscientist and co-author of the book Welcome to Your Child's Brain.

TONY COX, HOST:

I'm Tony Cox and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Michel Martin is away. We'd like to spend this part of the program talking about the passage from childhood to adulthood and how that may be tougher for one distinct group of young people.

Most of the privileges and responsibilities of adulthood are legally granted by the age of 18. That's when you can vote, enlist in the military, move out on your own, but is that the true age of maturity? A growing body of science says, no. That critical parts of the brain involved in decision-making are not fully developed until years later at age 25 or so.

In a moment, we'll hear about how child advocates are hoping to use this research to change the laws about their foster care. But first, to learn more about adolescent brain development and maturity, we are joined now by neuroscientist, Sandra Aamodt. She is the coauthor of the book, "Welcome to Your Child's Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College."

Sandra, welcome to the program. It's nice to have you.

DR. SANDRA AAMODT: It's nice to be here.

COX: Is this idea that the brains of 18 year olds aren't fully developed a matter of settled science?

AAMODT: Yes. The car rental companies got to it first, but neuroscientists have caught up and brain scans show clearly that the brain is not fully finished developing until about age 25.

COX: To not be too clinical in the spin that we put on this, what parts of the brain are we talking about and what changes happen between the ages of 18 and, let's say, 25?

AAMODT: So the changes that happen between 18 and 25 are a continuation of the process that starts around puberty, and 18 year olds are about halfway through that process. Their prefrontal cortex is not yet fully developed. That's the part of the brain that helps you to inhibit impulses and to plan and organize your behavior to reach a goal.

And the other part of the brain that is different in adolescence is that the brain's reward system becomes highly active right around the time of puberty and then gradually goes back to an adult level, which it reaches around age 25 and that makes adolescents and young adults more interested in entering uncertain situations to seek out and try to find whether there might be a possibility of gaining something from those situations.

COX: So this is important. Are the physiological changes in the brain, in terms of the development of young people, as significant and impactful as the cultural changes and environmental changes that they go through vis-a-vis peer pressure things of that sort?

AAMODT: Well, actually, one of the side effects of these changes in the reward system is that adolescents and young adults become much more sensitive to peer pressure than they were earlier or will be as adults.

So, for instance, a 20 year old is 50 percent more likely to do something risky if two friends are watching than if he's alone.

COX: Is there a difference between males and females with regard to their brain development, particularly in this age category?

AAMODT: Females' brains develop about on average two years earlier than male brains, so you're more likely to have a late developing male brain than female.

COX: So when females say they're smarter than guys, it really is true?

AAMODT: Especially around about the age of 15 or so. Yes.

COX: What does this mean? In a minute, we're going to be hearing from some advocates who think that the foster care system needs to be changed, in that in some states, when you reach the age of 18, you are booted out of foster care and their argument is based on some of the research that you are now citing that these young people are not really ready for the adult world.

What is the impact for someone who lives in a foster care kind of setting as far as their brain development is concerned?

AAMODT: One of the things that deprived childhood causes is problems with prefrontal cortex function, so somebody who has had an unstable home life is more likely to have trouble with planning and organizing behavior and with inhabiting impulses than somebody who has had a stable life.

COX: Would you say, based on the research that you are now citing, that it would make more sense to have the legal age become 25 instead of 18 or 21 in some cases?

AAMODT: I think it makes sense to have different ages for different functions. Obviously some 18 year olds are competent to go out into the world and handle things by themselves and some of them aren't. It would be nice if we had a little more flexibility to distinguish the two in the legal system.

COX: Final thing is, if these age limits are not adjusted to take into account the effect that the research has shown, what is the price - if I can put it that way - that society will end up paying down the road? I know that's a pretty large question. But another way of saying it is how important is it for us to address this and do something about it now?

AAMODT: Many of the costs of adolescents are actually - what we think of as the costs of adolescence, the risks of crime and car accidents and all the crazy things that adolescents do are actually more issues with young adults, people in the 18 to 25 age range, largely because they have more opportunities to get into these kinds of trouble because they have less parental supervision than the younger adolescents do.

COX: Sandra Aamodt is a neuroscientist and the co-author of "Welcome to Your Child's Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College." She joined us from Capital Public Radio in Sacramento, California.

Sandra, thank you very much.

AAMODT: Thank you.

Copyright © 2011 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brain Maturity Extends Well Beyond Teen Years

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Under most laws, young people are recognized as adults at age 18. But emerging science about brain development suggests that most people don't reach full maturity until the age 25. Guest host Tony Cox discusses the research and its implications with Sandra Aamodt, neuroscientist and co-author of the book Welcome to Your Child's Brain.

# data[].attributes.headline
In the NPR recording, "Brain Maturity Extends Well Beyond the Teen Years" the speaker, Sandra Aamodt, a neuroscientist, believes that maturity in adults happens after the age of 18, closer to the age of 25.  "So the changes that happen between 18 and 25 are a continuation of the process that starts around puberty, and 18 year olds are about halfway through that process. Their prefrontal cortex is not yet fully developed. That's the part of the brain that helps you to inhibit impulses and to plan and organize your behavior to reach a goal" (Aamodt). "For instance, a 20 year old is 50 percent more likely to do something risky if two friends are watching than if he's alone" (Aamodt).I agree with this aritcle because 18 year olds are not mentally ready to make good choices some are ready though. Yes this article links the novel Dear Martin because Justyce starts growing up before he turns 18 when he has lost some people.

# data[].attributes.subject
In the NPR recording, "Brain Maturity Extends Well Beyond the Teen Years" the speaker, Sandra Aamodt, a neuroscientist, believes that maturity in adults happens after the age of 18, closer to the age of 25.  "So the changes that happen between 18 and 25 are a continuation of the process that starts around puberty, and 18 year olds are about halfway through that process. Their prefrontal cortex is not yet fully developed. That's the part of the brain that helps you to inhibit impulses and to plan and organize your behavior to reach a goal" (Aamodt). "For instance, a 20 year old is 50 percent more likely to do something risky if two friends are watching than if he's alone" (Aamodt).I agree with this aritcle because 18 year olds are not mentally ready to make good choices some are ready though. Yes this article links the novel Dear Martin because Justyce starts growing up before he turns 18 when he has lost some people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For 12-year-old Nomi Kline Solmsen, preparing for her upcoming bat mitzvah is a family affair. Her grandfather, a rabbi, is helping her learn to chant the words from the Torah. Her aunt, also a religious leader, is working with her to translate the Hebrew and come up with her own interpretation of the words.

"Because the Torah was meant to be discussed," Nomi says. "I get to be part of that discussion. I get to have my own voice."

For children like Nomi, who see this rite of passage as a basic human right, it can be surprising to realize how recent the history of the bat mitzvah really is.

This weekend, Jewish communities across the country will be marking the 100th anniversary of that first American bat mitzvah. There will be talks and podcasts and celebrations of this coming-of-age ritual--stories about the past and plans for the future.

Since about the 14th century, boys have had bar mitzvah services, but the first American bat mitzvah for girls didn't happen until 1922

Since at least the 14th century, boys have had bar mitzvah services, adding their voices to the Jewish community, says Rabbi Carole Balin, a professor emerita of Jewish history at Hebrew Union College who's working on a book about early bat mitzvahs. But girls didn't have an equivalent rite of passage.

Balin says there were some early rituals for girls in the Ottoman and Hungarian Empires. And confirmation, an alternative coming-of-age ceremony, was adopted by Jews in 19th century Prussia and later used by Reform temples for both boys and girls.

But the first American Bat Mitzvah didn't happen until 1922. That's when Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan bat mitzvahed his daughter, Judith, at New York City's Society for the Advancement of Judaism, a temple that's still around today. As Balin notes, it was personal.

"He always joked that he initiated the rite for four reasons - Judith being the first, and his younger daughters being the second, third and fourth," Balin says.

The first U.S. bat mitzvah left out important coming-of-age practices

The actual details of that first bat mitzvah may be somewhat surprising to today's congregations. Unlike girls today, Judith Kaplan didn't actually read from the Torah. She was summoned to the bimah, the stage where the Torah is read, only after her father had read the weekly portion.

Judith also didn't climb up to the top of the bimah, but rather stood at the bottom, reading from a separate book. This difference, as Balin explains, was kind of the point of the ceremony her father created. "He never intended it as a gateway to full and regular involvement in religious life as it is for boys," she says.

In the decades following Judith Kaplan's bat mitzvah, the ritual spread slowly, often through disciples of Mordecai Kaplan or at summer camps where they didn't risk offending an established congregation. At other temples, rabbis also pushed on behalf of their daughters.

In 1950, Rhoda Shapiro had one of the first bat mitzvahs at her temple in Cleveland - as part of a small cohort including the rabbi's daughter. Shapiro didn't read from the Torah. And her bat mitzvah was Friday night instead of the big Saturday morning service that boys had. But it was still groundbreaking.

"Oh my gosh, my knees were shaking, that's all I can tell you," Shapiro laughs.

Over time, girls push for more equal rituals and more equal roles in Jewish life

By end of the 1950s, Rabbi Carole Balin says that half of Conservative temples and one third of Reform congregations reported holding some sort of bat mitzvah. As the ceremony spread, girls wanted it to be more than just symbolic.

"Girls sort of start to take the bull by the horns and not only ask, but in some cases demand that they be given full rights, like their male counterparts," Balin says. "And that's what happens."

With more bat mitzvahs taking place in the 1960s, and with the help of second wave feminism, girls argued that they should read from the Torah and be counted in a minyan, the quorum of adults required for community prayer. Their mothers began joining temple boards, or seeking out bat mitzvahs of their own that weren't available when they were younger.

"These girls, at the age of 12 or 13, they step into the spotlight, and transform Jewish life," Balin says. "So that by the time the first woman is ordained as a rabbi in this country in 1972, she has girls half her age to thank for paving the way."

Over the past 100 years, the bat mitzvah has gone from radical innovation to mainstream expectation. And now congregations are expanding the ritual, adapting it for trans and nonbinary people or for people with disabilities.

There's a temptation to see all ritual as ancient, handed down from God on Mt. Sinai. But the bat mitzvah is young. The ceremony is the embodiment of how religions change and adapt. It's a testimony to the perseverance of 12 year old girls.

It's a legacy Nomi Kline Solmsen is proud of.

"I feel kind of stronger, because I'm adding to it, and I'm making it more powerful," says Nomi. "It's almost like a gift, and I'm really happy to receive it."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The bat mitzvah turns 100. It marks more than a coming-of-age for Jewish girls

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For 12-year-old Nomi Kline Solmsen, preparing for her upcoming bat mitzvah is a family affair. Her grandfather, a rabbi, is helping her learn to chant the words from the Torah. Her aunt, also a religious leader, is working with her to translate the Hebrew and come up with her own interpretation of the words.

# data[].attributes.headline
In the NPR recording, "The bat mitzvah turns 100. It marks more than a coming-of-age for Jewish girls". They talk about how bat mitzvah used to be for boys and now girls do it too and they started having parties to celebrate their adulthood in the Jewish community. Having a bat mitzvah is their choice when they are 12 or 13 so they can continue their Jewish practice.

# data[].attributes.subject
In the NPR recording, "The bat mitzvah turns 100. It marks more than a coming-of-age for Jewish girls". They talk about how bat mitzvah used to be for boys and now girls do it too and they started having parties to celebrate their adulthood in the Jewish community. Having a bat mitzvah is their choice when they are 12 or 13 so they can continue their Jewish practice.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rumspringa: Amish Teens Venture into Modern Vices

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When Amish children turn 16, the rules change. They’re encouraged to experiment and explore. The idea is that teens will come back to the church after tasting the modern world. A new book explores this ritual, called rumspringa.

# data[].attributes.headline
In the NPR recording, "Rumspringa: Amish Teens Venture into Modern Vices". They talk about how when the kids turn 16 they get to experience modern teenage things. For some that could be going to the movies and for others its going to parties, drinking and having sex, diving cars. They go out and do this but then they have to decide if they will stay with the church or leave the church but if they leave the church they are disown for their families and hated by the church.

# data[].attributes.subject
In the NPR recording, "Rumspringa: Amish Teens Venture into Modern Vices". They talk about how when the kids turn 16 they get to experience modern teenage things. For some that could be going to the movies and for others its going to parties, drinking and having sex, diving cars. They go out and do this but then they have to decide if they will stay with the church or leave the church but if they leave the church they are disown for their families and hated by the church.