The Promise of Adolescence Realizing Opportunity for All Youth (2019) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 17-36
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From a social vantage point, the developmental tasks of adolescence include taking responsibility for oneself and forming relationships with others. This period of developmental maturation is under inned by unique changes in brain structure and function.
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The challenge of educating the public is compounded by a deeply ingrained tendency to view adolescence as mainly a time of vulnerability and risk -- a viewpoint that may have been reinforced in recent years by oversimplified headlines about a "mismatch" in the adolescent brain between intensifying desires and emotions (akin to "stepping on the gas") and a more slowly developing capacity for self-regulation ("stepping on the brakes)
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Sixteen prominent scholars and practitioners were included on the committee, representing a broad array of disciplines including neuro science, developmental and social psychology, economics, sociology, adolescent health and medicine, law, and education and learning. They met and deliberated over a 15-month period to reach the findings presented in this report.
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The study will aim to build off the first study in the National Academy of Medicine's Culture of Health study series and outline the implications of developmental interactions with the social distribution of risks and resources identified in the first study, Com munities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity. As appropriate to their review, the study committee will make evidence-driven recommendations to key stakeholders serving adolescents and their families in cluding government agencies and community institutions; federal, state, and local policy makers who guide allocation of resources; and the research community.
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Ultimately, the committee regards supporting and promoting flourishing during adolescence as essential for youth to transition into successful adulthood. This report therefore focuses on the youth-serving systems specifically tasked with supporting these capabilities -- the health, education, child welfare, and justice systems -- and discusses the role of families and neighborhoods in shaping experiences within those systems (see Chapters 6 through 9)
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Because higher education (including technical education) and the criminal justice system are designed to serve individuals of all ages and to effectuate much more complex social purposes than specifically serving ado
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Of course, more can be done, as far too many young children enter adolescence bearing the scars of childhood adversity, including toxic stress, exposure to environmental toxins, child maltreatment, food insecurity, and limited access to high-quality early care and education. Childhood Adolescence Adulthood Developmental Periods of Adolescence Age 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 FIGURE 1-1 Developmental periods of adolescence.
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Psychologist G Stanley Hall characterized adolescence as a "new" developmental phase resulting from social changes brought about by the industrial revolution and the introduction of public schooling occurring during the Progressive era, when reformers were advocating for compulsory education and legal restrictions on child labor (Arnett and Cravens, 2006; Hall, 1904)
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Currently, we understand adolescence as beginning with the onset of puberty and ending when young people take on various socially defined tasks signifying adulthood. Due to trends toward earlier onset of puberty and changing societal dynamics around the commencement of adulthood, adolescence, which once lasted only a matter of years, is now conceived as a much longer eriod -- lengthened at the beginning by the earlier onset of puberty and p at the end by the increasingly protracted transition of young people into careers, marriages, and financial independence (Steinberg, 2014)
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. This pattern is extremely important, because early life experiences, including social risks and disadvantages, have been shown to lower the age of pubertal timing, whereas delayed adulthood elongates the period of novel experiences and learning.
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population. According to the Census Bureau, there were approximately 73.5 million adolescents ages 10 to 25 in 2017, representing 22.6 percent of the U.S.
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Technology and the Digital Revolution These demographic and social changes are happening alongside and often intertwined with an extraordinarily fast-paced changing world of technology, all in the context of shifting political and economic change. Through the Internet and social media, youth have broad access to information and ideas in ways that were never before possible, giving rise to new forms of digital community among youth, as well as new forms of social 9 The Monitoring the Future surveys are funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
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Taken together, these broad trends have global as well as local impacts and make up the broader context for the typical developmental changes that characterize the period of adolescence for all youth. For adolescents, the technological and digital revolution have become a key context of their development, permeating nearly every aspect of their lives.
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Whereas in previous generations, such actions were often easily forgotten in time, for today's youth online personal histories become part of that person's digital footprint, which often remains connected to their name long after an initial posting (Madden et al., 2007)
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. In summary, the explosion of new communication technologies and the positive as well as compromising possibilities they offer, together with the shifting access to and demands for civic engagement that are now emerging, not only comprise key contexts shaping adolescents' lives today but also suggest the agency of young people.
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Brain development is complex and ongoing throughout childhood and adolescence, with different parts of the brain experiencing major changes at different times. The nature of these changes -- in brain structures, functions, and connectivity -- and the developmental plasticity unique to this period of life -- present remarkable opportunities for learning and growth as well as amelioration of the harmful effects of childhood exposures.
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In this way, key experiences interact with fundamental neurobiological processes to shape developmental trajectories. The salience of environmental influences in shaping development during adolescence, together with the critical developmental importance of adolescence, make a powerful case for remedial action.
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These young people described their experiences in the foster care and juvenile justice systems as well as the health and education systems, commented on the impact on their lives of ever-changing access to technology and social media, and reflected on their hopes for the future. Second, the committee commissioned an analysis from the University of Michigan's My Voice program to understand adolescents' own perceptions of this period of life as well as their perspectives on inequality in their communities.11 Finally, the committee invited the Maryland Youth Advisory Council to assemble a "youth reflection panel" to comment on possible committee recommendations.
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Chapters 6, o 7, 8, and 9 then focus on four key youth-serving systems -- education, health, child welfare, and justice -- in order to answer the question that lies at the heart of our charge: How can these systems be changed to help all adoescents flourish? Each of these chapters also discusses the ways l in which families, neighborhoods, and communities can most successfully interact with each system to improve the process and outcomes of adolescent development.12 Finally, Part II concludes with Chapter 10, in which the committee outlines several priorities for research on adolescent development.
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