Although most of the growth of the brain occurs in the first two years and is 95 percent completed by the age of ten, the synapses aren’t fully wired until a young person is in his or her mid- to late twenties. That means that the teenage years effectively extend well into adulthood. In the meantime, the person in question will almost certainly have more impulsive, less reflective behavior than his elders and will also be more susceptible to the effects of alcohol. “The teenage brain is not just an adult brain with fewer miles on it,” Frances E. Jensen, a neurology professor, told Harvard
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