A couple of points about this “dual systems” framework are noteworthy. First, from where I sit as a generalist in adolescent development, this neuroscientific model of adolescence is the first new “grand theory” of adolescence to be proposed in the last 50 years. I noted about a decade ago (Steinberg & Morris, 2001) that the field has more or less abandoned the major grand theories of adolescence that previously had dominated research (psychoanalytic theory, Erikson's theory of identity development, and Piaget's theory of cognitive development), but nothing as ambitious or sweeping has replaced these viewpoints. The emergent neuroscientific perspective described in this commentary and in several of the contributions to this issue (I use the term “emergent” because the framework is still developing) has the potential to structure a new, overarching model of normative and atypical adolescent development. Notably, the basic notion that early adolescence is characterized by a dramatic increase in appetitive drive that remains relatively unchecked until self-regulatory systems mature is eerily similar to the basic Freudian model of adolescence (change “appetitive drive” to “libido” and “self-regulatory systems” to “ego development” and see for yourself) that modern-day empiricists have derided. As they say, “plus ça change.”
