Defiance and Impulse Control: Late-Onset Versus Early-Onset

If you are the parent of a teenager, there is no doubt you have experienced, firsthand, the spectrum of personalities and behaviors your child can exhibit. For many teenagers, the period of adolescence brings about a time when there is great hormonal fluctuation, often contributing to delinquent behavior or behavior that is deemed antisocial.

Impulse control is a key factor in controlling delinquent behavior during the period of adolescence. For many teens, impulse control is a difficult task to achieve. Without proper impulse control, especially early in the adolescent period, many teenagers will grow up and have a great risk towards delinquent behaviors as adults.

In general, you can define your child's delinquent and anti-social behavior as early-onset, late-onset or maybe your child is considered a non-offender. As a parent, it is important to identify where your child falls in this spectrum as it will more appropriate define the course of care, supervision, ultimately affecting long term outcomes.

If your child shows tendency early in adolescents, around age 12, 13 or 14, of lack of impulse control, this may be indicative of the complications associated with lack of inhibition control in the brain. Without proper regulation, it is this demographic of teenagers who most likely produce adults with complications, especially when the impulse control is not managed effectively.

Beyond age 15 or 16, if lack of impulse control sudden occurs, without any prior history, this is most likely a late-onset adolescent complication that will resolve by the age of 18 or 19. In many cases, children who develop impulse control complications at this age are not experiencing a lack of inhibitory responses in the brain but, instead, simply influenced by peer pressure.