The “journey as well as the destination” tenet highlights the fundamentally dynamic nature of brain and cognitive development in children. Adolescence is a particularly critical stage of neural development, and the relationship between typical maturational changes and the onset of psychopathology in this age group is an area of active investigation. The onset of several classes of psychiatric illness in the teen years (e.g., anxiety and mood disorders, psychosis, eating disorders, and substance abuse) (Kessler et al., 2005) may be related to the many brain changes occurring during this time (Paus et al., 2008). More broadly, understanding the mechanisms and influences on structural and functional brain development across childhood may help us to harness the brain’s developmental plasticity to help guide interventions for clinical disorders and for elucidating the path to promote optimal healthy development.
