Adolescence in the life course spotlight

Abstract

The articles in this special issue were inspired by the late John Schulenberg's long view of adolescence, a perspective that emphasizes the integral role that the teens and twenties play in the life course. Using multiple longitudinal data sources to explore myriad developmental topics, the authors delve into the ways that adolescence connects, disrupts, and stands out from childhood and adulthood as a means of integrating rather than isolating these developmentally dense years. In this commentary, I highlight what this collection of studies does to drive home some basic tenets of the long view of adolescence and point out some other tenets that should garner more attention moving forward. Specifically, I discuss the need to connect multiple periods of life before and after adolescence, voice some caution about not letting the long view of adolescence keep us from continuing our in-depth exploration of adolescence itself, and encourage more macro-level conceptualizations of context to go with more common micro- and meso-level connections in order to better interrogate inequality. John's career has taught us a great deal about how to think about adolescent development, and just because he left us too soon does not mean that we will stop learning.