The Office of Population Affairs offers helpful resources for parents and other adults who care for and work with adolescents: Adolescent Development Explained.
Teens’ lives are complex, can change quickly, and can present issues that did not exist (e.g. social media) or were not fully acknowledged (e.g. mental health disorders) for prior generations of adolescents.
If parents and caring adults understand the challenges and opportunities that adolescents face today, they can provide more effective support and encouragement for the young people in their professional and personal lives.
Outline:
Adolescence is a time of enormous transition. Although adolescence may appear to be a turbulent time, it’s also a period of great potential as young people engage more deeply with the world around them. Adolescents typically grow physically, try new activities, begin to think more critically, and develop more varied and complex relationships.
The Office of Population Affairs worked with the Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Adolescent Health to create Adolescent Development Explained, a guide that examines the major developmental changes that occur in adolescence and provides suggestions on how parents and caring adults can support young people as they navigate through this critical period.
It builds on The Teen Years Explained: A Guide to Healthy Adolescent Development1, the seminal report also developed by the Center for Adolescent Health, as well as on other important sources of information. The guide focuses specifically on five areas of adolescent development:
- Physical – hormonal changes and development
- Cognitive – changes in the way the brain functions
- Emotional – how adolescents process emotions and stress
- Social – changes in familial, social and romantic relationships
- Morals and values – how adolescents regard their place in the world
MORE INFORMATION:
Parents and other adults who care for and work with adolescents need to learn about adolescent development and continuously educate themselves about the realities of adolescent lives today. Teens’ lives are complex, can change quickly, and can present issues that did not exist (e.g., social media) or were not fully acknowledged (e.g., mental health disorders) for prior generations of adolescents. If parents and caring adults understand the challenges and opportunities that adolescents face today, they can provide more effective support and encouragement for the young people in their professional and personal lives.
ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT EXPLAINED GUIDE contains:
- Printed handout
- Webinar Series