What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about The Male Brain

The Male Brain: A Breakthrough Understanding of How Men and Boys Think is a book published in 2010 by Louann Brizendine, MD, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of California – San Francisco and the founder of the Women’s and Teen Girls’ Mood and Hormone Clinic. A counterpart to her first major work, The Female Brain, The Male Brain explains how hormones influence the brains of boys and men during different stages of life and how neurological and hormonal changes shape and influence the tendencies of boys’ actions, feelings, thoughts, and interests. Hormones are chemicals that are produced in one part of the body whose action affects a different part of the body. According to Brizendine, the hormones testosterone, vasopressin, and Müllerian Inhibiting Substance (MIS, also called Anti-Müllerian Hormone, AMH) play the most significant roles in males. In females, the hormones estrogen, progesterone, and oxytocin are considered the main players. 

In this article, I will share some insights from Brizendine’s book on boys and men with an eye toward what may be most helpful for parents and professional educators. Among the most significant findings of Brizendine’s research is that “the brain’s architecture is not set in stone at birth or by the end of childhood, as was once believed, but continues to change throughout life” (Brizendine, 18). I will organize her insights according to three stages of neurological development, discussed in the first two chapters of her book, which are most pertinent to parents and other educators of boys from childhood through late adolescence:

1. Mini-Puberty (roughly ages 0-1)
2. Juvenile Pause (roughly ages 1-10)
3. Adolescence and the End of the Juvenile Pause (roughly ages 10-19)

Before diving into these stages, however, I must offer a brief disclaimer. Brizendine presents ideas concerning men’s sexuality in a manner that is often crude and, at times, salacious. In this vein, she glosses over certain vices as normal and even excuses them as necessary habits rather than hindrances to a man’s psychosexual development. Brizendine also presents a simplistic interpretation of male psychology and physiology, largely isolating the brain from the broader nervous system. Moreover, her presentation aligns with a materialistic and deterministic anthropology with the real risk of reducing male behavior simply to functions of hormones and brain biology. Brizendine’s assessment of boys and men lacks a robust idea of man as both determined and free. In their freedom, boys and men are meant to both receive and guide their biological impulses in the pursuit of virtue. Notwithstanding the deficiencies of The Male Brain, Brizendine’s work of cataloguing and analyzing a tremendous amount of data and research is worthy of study, as it contains helpful insights into the neurobiology that undergirds typical male inclinations and behaviors.

Male and Female Brains Are Different

Over the past several decades, studies have demonstrated the remarkable differences between the brains of male and female human beings—differences that begin well before birth. When a child is still in utero, hormones begin to shape the brain according to the sex of the child. Every male child, therefore, begins life on a distinct trajectory which only amplifies over time. A key principle of Christian anthropology is confirmed by the growing scientific evidence in the field of sexual difference.

Each human person is created and exists as the unity of body and soul. Because of this unity, sexual difference is never external to the person but rather shapes and affects the person through and through. For this reason Joseph Ratzinger has written that “sexual difference is something that man, as a biological being, can never get rid of, something that marks man in the deepest center of his being” (Ratzinger, “Thoughts on the Place of Marian Doctrine and Piety in Faith and Theology as a Whole” in Communio 30, Spring 2003, 157). Since biology is a necessary part of who and what the human person is, parents and educators will benefit greatly from learning from what biology has to teach us about the development of our sons and daughters. “Whenever biology is subtracted from humanity, humanity itself is negated” (Ratzinger, 157). Knowing biological aspects of humanity are essential to understanding the person and working with his or her nature.

According to Brizendine, “The behavioral influences of male and female hormones on the brain are major” (Brizendine, 16). Some of these differences are attributable to the specific ways that the brain and neurological pathways develop. Different brain circuits are involved in the way men and women receive reality and process emotions (Brizendine, 17). As a result, males and females “hear, see, intuit, and gauge what others are feeling in their own special ways” (Brizendine, 17). Still, she takes care not to overstate these differences. The differences account not necessarily for different abilities but rather different ways of arriving at the same end. She writes, “Overall, the brain circuits in male and female brains are very similar, but men and women can arrive at and accomplish the same goals and tasks using different circuits” (Brizendine, 17).

Infantile Puberty (0-1)

The first stage of development after birth lasts for about a year, and it is called “infantile-puberty” or “mini-puberty.” During this time in a boy’s early life, “his brain is being marinated in the same high levels of testosterone as in an adult man. And it’s this testosterone that helps stimulate a boy’s muscles to grow larger and improves his motor skills, preparing him for rough-and-tumble play” (Brizendine, 25). 

Juvenile Pause (1-10)

After the first year of life outside the womb, the male child enters what is called “the juvenile pause,” which lasts until about age ten. During this time, “a boy’s testosterone drops, but his MIS hormone remains high” (Brizendine, 25). Although more study is needed, researchers have conjectured that the “MIS hormone may form and fuel his male-specific brain circuits during this ten-year period, increasing his exploratory behavior and rough play” (Brizendine, 25-26). The juvenile pause is an extremely important phase in the life of a male child. It is during this period that boys are unencumbered by the worries and cares of adolescence. During this stage in a boy’s life, it is important for parents to know: 

1. Boys are particularly impressionable to ideas of masculinity and manhood.

During the juvenile pause, boys naturally cordon themselves off from girls and play in a world of boys with rules made by boys for boys. A study of a classroom setting found that “boys paid the most attention first and foremost to what other boys said” (Brizendine, 33). They gave higher attention to other boys than to teachers. The girls in the classroom were “a distant third—if they placed at all. As a matter of fact, ignoring girls altogether was the most common” (Brizendine, 33-34).

Brizendine writes, “During the juvenile pause, boys imitate their dads, uncles, and older male cousins” (Brizendine, 32-33). On account of this, it is extremely important for boys to have opportunities to be in close proximity to men who represent the very best of masculinity. One can think of how boys are drawn to look at and admire firefighters, police officers, soldiers, sanitation workers, and construction workers due to the very physical nature of their work. In the men they are closest with and see on a daily or routine basis, boys receive a conception of manhood which they may either aspire to or rebel against. The presence of men as teachers, coaches, and mentors, is extremely important at this stage of their development.

It is during the juvenile pause that boys are most impressionable to ideas about manhood and masculinity. It is during this time that it is important for boys to hear stories of men, past and present, who represent the virtuous life. Fairy stories as well as lore of both boys and men taming the wild frontier often resonate with a boy’s heart in a particularly powerful way during these years. One is reminded of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as epitomes of this stage of boyhood. Mark Twain masterfully captures something of the boy in this stage by these famous characters.

2. Boys’ brains gear them toward play fighting, defending turf, and competition.

Much of what Brizendine tells us about the differences between boys and girls will not come as a surprise to those with any experience as a parent or a teacher. The natural preferences and tendencies typical of boys and girls correspond to differences in brain structure and the hormones at work in children. Studies have shown that boys spend 65% of their free time in competitive activities, while girls spend only 35% of their time in these kinds of activities (cf. Brizendine, 29). 

According to Brizendine, boys thrive on challenges and view losing as “unacceptable” (Brizendine, 31). On the other hand, girls are more inclined to engage in cooperative play, such as playing house or dressing dolls. Understanding these natural desires and tendencies can help adults support children’s development and activities in ways that align with their natural tendencies. Studies have shown that girls “take turns twenty times more often than boys” while playing (Brizendine, 29). Working with a boy’s nature means respecting the fact that he is inclined to use a toy or a tool to the exclusion of others until he is finished and ready to move on to something else. To expect a boy to share in the same way and at the same rate that girls are already naturally inclined towards is unrealistic and potentially damaging. Montessori schools can be looked to as a model to help boys thrive by respecting the fact that boys are not inclined to collaborate in the same way as girls. These schools employ methods which respect a child’s play as work, which can help to mitigate unnecessary interruptions based on the well-intended, but often misguided, emphasis on trying to force boys to share while they are in the midst of play.

During the juvenile pause, boys will engage in much more physical play than girls. This includes activities such as wrestling, mock-fighting, and defending of territory. These are natural forms of aggression which provide boys with a huge dopamine rush in their brains—creating a rewarding feeling of wellness and delight. Providing space and time for these boyish activities can contribute to their health and well-being. Realizing that a boy’s need for competitive movement is a natural, healthy tendency can help parents and teachers manage their responses to such behavior—and not to stifle what ought to be shaped.

This dopamine release encourages boys to seek out challenges and take risks. Teachers should understand that this need for physical and competitive play is crucial for boys’ development and that providing safe, structured opportunities for them to challenge themselves is essential for their growth. Understanding that this behavior is part and parcel with male development can help educators to prepare environments for boys to flourish. Outdoor space, for example, where boys can create forts and play at defending these fortifications are an important part of a boy’s development, his self-confidence, and the camaraderie that results from playing with other boys in these ways. Likewise, it is important that boys’ games involve competition with real winners and real losers. This can be done in a way that is also sensitive to the way habitually losing can be detrimental to a boy’s sense of self. Competitive games that play on the physical and mental strengths of different boys in a class can be helpful to this end. It often happens that a boy who is not as agile on the football field is more clever with words, dexterous in art and artifice, or more talented in music or drama. Boys thrive in an environment where their efforts for excellence are met with the opportunity for achieving victory.

3. Boys are attuned to movement: moving themselves, moving things, and watching things that move. 

Brizendine writes, and common experience will confirm, “Boys are programmed to move, make things move, and watch things move. Scientists used to think this stereotypical boy behavior was the result of socialization, but we now know that the greater motivation for movement is biologically wired into the male brain” (Brizendine, 22). And it is not only their brain but also their bodies which have been primed for this preference for movement. Boys’ toys “reflect their preference for using big muscle groups when they play” (Brizendine, 31). Boys have a need for big movements and even for crashing their bodies into the ground to feel the force of resistance. A boy’s love for roughhousing correlates with a release of neurotransmitters which contribute to the boy feeling well—confident and alive.

4. Boys are primed for embodied cognition. 

Boys have a natural need for physical movement that plays a crucial role in their learning. Research shows that boys’ muscles and nervous systems are more actively engaged in the learning process than those of girls (cf. Brizendine, 37). This is known as “embodied cognition,” which describes how our bodies physically respond to the concepts we are learning. When a boy learns the word “run,” his brain triggers his leg muscles, helping him to form a neurological and embodied connection to the word in relation to the action it represents. The connection between body movement and learning is especially important for boys. Understanding this can help parents and teachers embrace boys’ need for movement as essential to their cognitive development (cf. Brizendine, 37).

Brizendine’s research can help parents and teachers to work with male human nature rather than against it. The natural behavior of boys is different from that of girls. To have the same expectations for group work and cooperation in a classroom composed of boys and girls goes against the science. It may even be partly to blame for the overdiagnosis of ADHD and other disorders in boys. 

Adolescence and the Teenage Years (~10-19)

As boys approach adolescence, even before testosterone begins to surge once again throughout their bodies, the brain begins to go through a series of changes. This typically begins around ages ten or eleven when “the juvenile-pause stage of a boy’s life begins winding down” (Brizendine, 39). One of the signs parents may notice is a change in their son’s smell—a smell which Brizendine describes as something more akin to sweaty socks than typical BO. This is from a priming of the boy’s sweat glands, which are releasing androstenedione under the influence of rising testosterone (Brizendine, 39). Testosterone begins rising rapidly during this time and sets a boy up for a new set of challenges. There will typically be a dramatic, twenty-fold increase in testosterone between the ages of nine and fifteen. Among the most obvious changes is a new interest in girls (Brizendine, 39). This corresponds to significant changes in the brain. Here is what parents and educators need to know about this stage of development: 

1. The interest in girls awakens. 

The areas of the brain dedicated to sexual pursuit in the hypothalamus “grow more than twice as large as those in girls’ brains” (cf. Brizendine, 43). This is a crucial time for positive instruction in manly virtues of chastity and purity of heart. Boys need to know that their fascination with the female body is, in itself, nothing shameful. Through age appropriate instruction in theological anthropology, boys can come to a greater appreciation of their own bodies as ordered towards the female according to the divine plan. The sexual drive, they will learn, must be integrated so as to be placed at the service of authentic charity.

2. Boys’ desire for privacy and awareness of their self-image intensify.

 An awakening to the intrigue of girls is only one part of the changes occurring during the end of the juvenile pause. Testosterone and vasopressin both increase and, together, contribute to territorial behavior over a boy’s privacy and a rising sensitivity to how his peers perceive him and act around him (cf. Brizendine, 44). “Everything about a teen boy says he couldn’t care less about what other people think of him or how he looks,” writes Brizendine, “But in reality, just the opposite is true. Teens are painfully sensitive to the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, feedback they get from their peers” (Brizendine, 52-53). 

3. Their need for sleep and exercise increases. 

For those who teach in co-ed classrooms, it may come as no surprise that the majority of disruptions are caused by boys. Brizendine writes that “boys cause 90% of the disruptions in the classroom” and “80% of high-school dropouts are boys” (Brizendine, 46). Also, in co-ed classrooms, boys typically receive “70% of the Ds and Fs” (Brizendine, 46-47). According to Brizendine, many of the problems boys experience can be aided by ensuring that they get adequate exercise and sleep. According to studies, the ideal number of hours for a typical boy is at least ten hours, whereas “most teen boys report getting only five or six hours of sleep on school nights” (Brizendine, 47).

4. Motivational structures change: boys respond less to punishment, more to positive reinforcement. 

During the teenage years, parents and teachers may witness an enthusiastic and gregarious boy change into a moody and disinterested shell of his former self. While some rapid personality changes warrant a professional assessment, many boys will go through a period during which they will appear significantly less interested and less enthused as they were during their younger years. Brizendine provides some helpful insights as to what in the brain may be contributing to these changes. According to Brizendine, researchers have found that “the pleasure center in the teen boy brain is nearly numb compared with this area in adults and children” (Brizendine, 47). Essentially, boys during the teenage years experience a drastic change in what is called the “reward center” of the brain, which now requires a much higher threshold of stimuli in order to activate. It simply doesn’t respond to those circumstances and events which once brought about feelings of enthusiasm and joy (Brizendine, 47-48).

One of the most significant takeaways for parents and teachers concerning boys during their teenage years comes from her analysis of what motivates them during this time. Heightened testosterone acts to “lower the sensitivity to punishment and increase the sensitivity to reward” (Brizendine, 154). Helping boys to see what they have to gain from virtuous behavior will go much farther than pointing out what they have to lose by pursuing a contrary course of action. Rewards for responsible behavior will, generally speaking, motivate boys in adolescence much more than the threat of punishment will ward off undesirable behavior.

5. The threshold for the fight-or-flight response lowers. 

The stereotypical “bored” teenager look has a clear correlation with the brain’s reward system. Being aware of this may help parents and teachers to be more empathetic and patient with teenage boys who are going through a challenging and difficult neurological stage in their development toward adulthood. Parents and teachers can be consoled by the fact that, for the typical teenage boy, this increased threshold is not permanent. What may come as an amazing juxtaposition for parents and teachers is that the very same boy who seems bored and apathetic one moment can fly into a fit of frustration and rage the next. It can resemble something like a second toddlerhood in terms of emotions and their regulation. During these adolescent years, the stress hormone cortisol is rising and is largely responsible for the speed at which a boy in this stage of development can so quickly find himself in a flight-or-fight stance before other boys as well as parents and teachers who are perceived as threats to his autonomy (Brizendine, 44). Just as in early childhood, parents must remain steady in the face of these unexpected challenges to their authority. What matters most is that boys learn their own power to regulate themselves as they navigate into adulthood.

Brizendine notes a key difference between what is going on in the brains of boys and girls during these adolescent years. “It’s testosterone and vasopressin that alter a teen boy’s sense of reality. In a similar fashion, estrogen and oxytocin change the way teen girls perceive reality. The girls’ hormonally driven changes in perception prime their brains for emotional connections and relationships, while the boys’ hormones prime them for aggressive and territorial behaviors. As he reaches manhood, these behaviors will aid him in defending and aggressively protecting his loved ones” (Brizendine, 48-49).

Conclusion

  Brizendine’s synthesis of the research on boys and men over the last several decades can help us to appreciate how sexual difference influences the way boys and men receive and approach reality. In light of what we now know about boys’ neurological and hormonal development, parents, teachers, and school administrators can benefit by looking beyond behavior management and toward the broader learning environment boys are placed in on a daily basis. Physical spaces, daily routines, and academic expectations make up school culture. These aren’t neutral and, therefore, can either support or strain a boy’s development. With this in mind, educators and parents alike are invited to think holistically: not only adjusting expectations, but actively reimagining classroom and home cultures in ways that align with how boys grow, learn, and relate during these formative years.

In light of the findings she outlines, parents and teachers can set reasonable expectations for boys at different stages of development. This may help parents and teachers to navigate impasses and decrease frustration. Finally, Brizendine’s work can contribute to the flourishing of our boys by helping parents and teachers understand the distinctive strengths and challenges they face as they mature into young men. Brizendine herself is convinced that a greater understanding of the stages of a boys’ brain development will lead to better outcomes for parents and teachers: “If men and women, parents and teachers, start out with a deeper understanding of the male brain, how it forms, how it is shaped in boyhood, and the way it comes to see reality during and after the teen years, we can create more realistic expectations for boys and men” (Brizendine, 19).

About the Author

Joseph Lanzilotti

Math, Classics

Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti joined The Heights School faculty in 2022. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a second major in Philosophy from DeSales University, a Master of Arts degree in Theology from Ave Maria University, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. Having grown up in rural New Jersey, Dr. Lanzilotti developed a great love for the natural world. He is a beekeeper and gardener. He enjoys trail running, swimming, and skiing. Joseph and his wife, Caeli, have a two-year-old son. They reside in Reston, VA.

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