What Do Adolescents Need for Healthy Development? Implications for Youth Policy

Abstract

Summary National interest in how youth develop in healthy ways and how we can facilitate this process has intensified in recent years. This Social Policy Report summarizes what we know about healthy adolescent development and what this knowledge means for our ability to improve the lives of youth by raising and answering three questions. 1. What do adolescents need to develop successfully? Successful adolescent development includes the promotion of positive as well as prevention of negative actions, feelings, and thoughts. This can be done through the opportunities and supports, or assets, offered in families, schools, and communities. 2. How do the settings in which adolescents live, study, and play enhance (and, in cases, impede) their wellbeing? The research on the often overlapping worlds of the teenager—the family, peer group, school, work, and neighborhood settings—shows the influence of these different settings. The important aspects of the family setting are characterized by TLC TIME, LIMIT setting, Listening, and Laughter CONNECTEDNESS/Caring and Communication. The influence of the peer group lies in FRIENDs, offering opportunities for FRIENDSHIP, risks for not RESISTING negative influences, chances for developing shared or new INTERESTS, EXAMPLES of different attitudes and behaviors (and their consequences), the influential power in NUMBERS, and the danger of associating with DEVIANT youth. The ABC’s of the school world include the importance of a developmentally APPROPRIATE school environment for youth, particularly young adolescents, the influence of the BEHAVIOR of others in the school, and the powerful role of CONNECTION, to the institution of school as well as to teachers and other students. The ideal adolescent WORKplace would offer youth the chance to WIDEN their horizons, particularly in terms of future careers, develop ORGANIZATIONAL skills, learn about RESPONSIBILITY, and gain valuable KNOWLEDGE. Neighborhoods impact youth behavior and emotions through their Place, Space, and Face. 3. What are the implications of what we know about the worlds of adolescents for the development of youth programs? Beneficial youth programs promote successful adolescent development by creating opportunities and supports influen- tial in youths’ worlds. Successful programs mimic successful families and schools by providing TLC and ABC’s, encourage the benefits of FRIENDs while helping participants avoid their harm, and structure activities to capture the best of teen WORKplaces. Community-wide efforts to enhance youths’ lives rest on the recognition of the important intersection of the Place, Space, and Face of neighborhoods. Successful programs view adolescents as resources to be developed. We as a nation cannot hope to promote the healthy development of all our youth without a change in American’s negative views towards adolescents.