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androstenedione . This increase in testosterone signaled the dawn of puberty.
    A rise in testosterone sparks a new interest in girls--or at least in their female body parts. That curiosity is what got David into trouble at school in fifth grade. David's fourteen-year-old cousin texted him a photo of a bare-breasted woman, and the boys in his class were huddling around to sneak a peek. Earlier that day, they'd all been disappointed in their sex-ed class's lack of detailed information. This was more like it. Even though sex-hormone levels are quite low during most of the juvenile pause, once boys approach puberty, they begin to relentlessly pursue every scrap of sexual information they can get their hands on.
    When David's teacher called, Jessica was upset, but when she told Paul what happened, he felt a little surge of "that's my boy" pride and couldn't help cracking a smile. While Jessica thought this was a big deal, Paul knew that looking at naked photos was tame compared with what David would soon be doing. When his male hormones turned back on and the juvenile pause ended, Paul and Jessica would have more to worry about than David's sexual curiosity. Soon, his action, exploration, and risk-taking brain circuits would be running at high speed, urging him to prove himself again and again. The anger and aggression circuits that were formed before he was born and strengthened during boyhood were about to be hormonally fuel-injected.
    When that happens, every trait and tendency set up in his male brain during childhood--action, strength, desire for dominance, exploring, and taking risks--will be magnified. His brain circuitry and rising hormone levels will cause him to question and disobey his parents, seek sexual partners, strike out on his own, fight for his place in the male hierarchy, find a mate, and come into his own by entering manhood. With testosterone driving his reality, he will soon feel strong, brave, and invincible. Feeling cocksure, he will be blind to consequences and deaf to his parents' warnings.

TWO

The Teen Boy Brain
    TURN OFF your computer now , Jake! No gaming until that homework is done!" shrieked Jake's mother as she pounded on his bedroom door. Opening the door a crack, Jake gave her a blank stare and grumbled something under his breath before shutting the door in her face. Kate knew he'd probably turn the computer back on without the volume. But what she didn't know was that free porn sites were beginning to be more enticing to him than the war games he played online with his buddies.
    Kate was a patient of mine, and up until this past year, she'd described her relationship with Jake as close and rewarding. But when her formerly happy and cooperative son turned fourteen, he became sullen and irritable. Struggle, struggle, struggle is all they seemed to do these days. When Kate and her husband, Dan, found out that Jake hadn't turned in a single English assignment in weeks, they worried that he might be drinking or experimenting with drugs. That's when they scheduled a family appointment with me. During our session, Jake stared out the window and Dan listened politely as Kate wrenchingly complained that their son had suddenly become unreachable and secretive. Not only had Jake gotten into a fight with another freshman, named Dylan, but he also had a new group of friends, including a girl named Zoe whom Kate described as "fast." Dan spoke up in disagreement, saying, "I'm not too worried about the fight or Jake's new friends. But I do expect Jake to keep his grades up."
    Meanwhile, Jake, with his curly brown hair and long, lanky limbs, seemed dazed and oblivious to his parents' worries about him. When I turned and asked him, "What do you think of your parents' concerns?" he merely shrugged. It was clear that Jake, like most teens, wasn't going to say much of anything in front of his parents, so I suggested that he come in for a private session the following week. Since my own teen son had recently left