There’s a Good Chance Your Teen Doesn’t Know Their Room Stinks
According to a new study, there might be a solid reason your child's room smells terrible.
Researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark conducted a study the was basically a giant smell test. 410 people under the age of 50 were quizzed on how well they could identify different odors, and the results were pretty interesting. There were some smells that the 12-18 year olds were able to identify better than the older people, like cookies, cotton candy, and Coke (so lots of healthy things), but overall, adults are much better at picking out scents. One of those scents that adults are better at identifying is sweat/body odor.
The lead author of the published study said, "Our findings in adolescents are in line with the hypothesis that children may lack odor-specific knowledge which accumulates throughout life," and that, "the ability to name odors is an acquired skill that takes years to master." So basically, your adolescent child's room might smell bad because they don't fully recognize the scent, yet. Unfortunately, that means parents are the ones who have to suffer. I remember back when I was a teenager, my mom ALWAYS told my younger brother that his room smelled. It continued all the way into adulthood! Hopefully now that he has his own home he has figured it out...
[Via Daily Mail]