LS: I’m not sure that identity is changing, but the ways in which adolescents express their view of themselves is, in the sense that it is much more public. How do you think the notion of identity is changing in adolescents today? CY: Social media have allowed adolescents to participate more than ever before in crafting their identity online. The similarities are far more striking than the differences. We’ve just finished a study of more than 5,000 adolescents and young adults in 11 countries. I think society has changed in ways that allow these inclinations to be expressed in new ways, but I think these are elements of adolescence that have always been with us. Adolescents have always been impulsive and interested in novelty and excitement. LS: My work on this topic focuses mainly on brain development and its connection to adolescent risk-taking. CY: Given the ethos of “instant gratification” encouraged by our society now, what are your thoughts around impulse control and risk-taking in adolescents today? Students also are interested in talking about where we should draw legal boundaries between adolescents and adults, which is a topic I’ve spent a lot of time writing about. A lot of my students are planning careers in which they will work with teenagers, and these topics lend themselves to applied discussions.
Although I try to downplay problematic development, topics like delinquency, drug use, and depression always generate a lot of interest. LS: The family always generates a lot of interest, as does the peer group. CY: What topics are your students most interested in? I try not to spend too much time on my own research, but I do have a lot of students who volunteer to work in our lab. I also have used a lot of literature there are so many great novels about coming of age. They do this anonymously, and we have class discussions that use these essays as jumping off points. In undergraduate classes, I often ask students to write about their own experiences growing up. That’s one of the joys of teaching adolescence-even in lecture classes there always is plenty of discussion. I’ve been teaching adolescence for 40 years, now, and I’ve never had a class in which I had to work hard to get students interested in the material. LS: It really depends on whether I’m teaching a large lecture class, a smaller discussion-oriented class, or a seminar for graduate students or advanced undergraduates. CY: How do you teach adolescence in your classroom? How does your research affect your class? Any particular threads or issues you like to weave into class discussion?
That’s important, but research shows that grit is more important than intelligence, at least as far as success in school and work goes. Currently, they focus too much on conventional academic skills. I’d like to see schools focus more on this. Unfortunately, we do very little in schools to help foster this capacity. LS: I think we’re coming to see how important the development of self-regulation is for psychological health and for success in life. CY: How should education as we know it change in light of recent discoveries about the nature of adolescence? That makes it both a time of tremendous opportunity, but also a time of considerable vulnerability. LS: Because the period is both so formative and so malleable. CY: Why are adolescent years so developmentally crucial? Because the age of puberty has dropped and the age at which people enter adult roles has increased, the stage is longer than it’s ever been in human history. By that definition, adolescence, at least in contemporary industrialized society, runs from around age 10 to age 25. Lawrence Steinberg: I’ve always felt that adolescence is best thought of as beginning in biology, with the changes on puberty, and ending in culture, with the transition into society’s main roles of adulthood. Christina Yu: How do you think adolescence should be defined? In your view, what are the most important recent discoveries around the duration of adolescence? To celebrate the publication, we sat down with Steinberg to discuss recent discoveries in the field, adolescent brain development, risk-taking, impulse control, and more. The personalized, digital learning environment enhances the program’s integrated, modular approach and affords maximum flexibility for both students and instructors. Steinberg’s Adolescence provides an authentic “real world” view into contemporary adolescent experience and deep insight into the way it is shaped by culture. We are thrilled to announce the publication of the new edition of Laurence Steinberg’s Adolescence.