Alexandra Rodman wants to understand why “75% of all mental health diagnoses occur during the adolescent years.” What makes us, as humans, so vulnerable to social stressors in the years following puberty?

Rodman, an assistant professor in the department of psychology and Center for Cognitive and Brain Health at Northeastern University, points to what she calls a “window of plasticity” in the adolescent mind, when the developing brain is particularly responsive to life experiences.

Adolescence is a more prolonged period than most realize. It begins with the onset of puberty but only ends as an individual “settles into our independent roles in society, where our day to day becomes more routinized,” she says.

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Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University