[Episode 90] Today's episode is well-nigh adolescence. I spoke with Laurence Steinberg, who wrote the mass Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence.He is the writer of some 350 articles as well as essays on growth as well as evolution during the teenage years, as well as the author, co-author, or editor of 17 books. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Psychological Association’s Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to developmental Psychology inwards the Service of Science as well as Society as well as its Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research inwards Public Policy, equally good equally the National Academy of Sciences Henry as well as Bryna David Lectureship. In 2009, Steinberg was named the inaugural off winner of the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize for Productive Youth Development. In 2013, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts as well as Sciences.
In today's interview Dr. Steinberg as well as I spoke well-nigh the growing gap betwixt onslaught of puberty as well as the halt of adolescence; challenges facing parents, providers, as well as policy makers to render adolescents with experiences as well as skills needed to live successful; as well as how reconceptualizing adolescence equally an historic catamenia of chance rather than an historic catamenia gamble is an essential reframe to address the needs of this youth inwards this developmental stage. We ended our conversation with recommendations for practitioners, educators, as well as policy makers.
In today's interview Dr. Steinberg as well as I spoke well-nigh the growing gap betwixt onslaught of puberty as well as the halt of adolescence; challenges facing parents, providers, as well as policy makers to render adolescents with experiences as well as skills needed to live successful; as well as how reconceptualizing adolescence equally an historic catamenia of chance rather than an historic catamenia gamble is an essential reframe to address the needs of this youth inwards this developmental stage. We ended our conversation with recommendations for practitioners, educators, as well as policy makers.
One note, fifty-fifty though Dr. Steinberg as well as I move inwards following buildings at Temple University, I interviewed him over Skype because he was out of the state.
Bio
(from Temple University website: http://www.cla.temple.edu/psychology/faculty/laurence-steinberg/)
Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D., is the Distinguished University Professor as well as Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology at Temple University. He received his A.B. inwards Psychology from Vassar College as well as his Ph.D. inwards Developmental Psychology from Cornell University. Dr. Steinberg is a old President of the Division of Developmental Psychology of the American Psychological Association as well as of the Society for Research on Adolescence, old Director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development as well as Juvenile Justice, as well as a fellow member of the MacArthur Foundation’s Research Network on Law as well as Neuroscience. An internationally recognized practiced on psychological evolution during adolescence, Dr. Steinberg’s inquiry has focused on a make of topics inwards the report of contemporary adolescence, including adolescent encephalon development, risk-taking as well as decision-making, parent-adolescent relationships, school-year employment, high schoolhouse reform, as well as juvenile justice. He served equally a fellow member of the National Academies’ Board on Children, Youth, as well as Families as well as chaired the Academies’ Committee on the Science of Adolescence. Dr. Steinberg was the Pb scientist inwards the preparation of the American Psychological Association’s amicus briefs submitted to the USA Supreme Court inwards Roper v. Simmons, which abolished the juvenile expiry penalty; Graham v. Florida, which banned the exercise of life without parole for juveniles convicted of non-homicide crimes; as well as Miller v. Alabama, which prohibited the exercise of mandatory life without parole for all juvenile crimes.Dr. Steinberg is the writer of some 350 articles as well as essays on growth as well as evolution during the teenage years, as well as the author, co-author, or editor of 17 books. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Psychological Association’s Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to developmental Psychology inwards the Service of Science as well as Society as well as its Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research inwards Public Policy, equally good equally the National Academy of Sciences Henry as well as Bryna David Lectureship. In 2009, Steinberg was named the inaugural off winner of the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize for Productive Youth Development. In 2013, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts as well as Sciences.
Transcript
[00:13]
Jonathan Singer: Hey at that spot podcasts listeners, Jonathan here. Before nosotros acquire into today’s episode on adolescence. I desire yous to convey a infinitesimal as well as cry upwards well-nigh your ain adolescence.
- How old were yous when yous realized, I’m non a kid anymore?
- How old were yous when yous thought of yourself equally an adult for the inaugural off time?
- What’s that thing yous did equally an adolescent which, at the fourth dimension made no sense to the people around you, as well as ane time yous stopped to cry upwards well-nigh it, perhaps it didn’t brand much sense to yous either?
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 few years ago, ane of my favorite podcasts, an Australian demo called, All inwards the Mind, had an episode called, The Teenage Brain: Myth or Marvel?
“And this is all inwards the mind, Natasha Mitchell with yous on Radio National abc.net.au/rn. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 warm welcome. You would’ve seen all the press coverage inwards recent years well-nigh the teenage brain. That it’s a move inwards progress. That major structural changes are going on during adolescents as well as that this explains piece we’re teens were sometimes impulsive, gamble takers, emotional, explosive, you’ve got the picture.”
I loved this episode because Natasha Mitchell sounds so cool. And because it addressed a key question: Is adolescence existent or is it precisely a social construction? And it got me wondering, have got I been thinking well-nigh adolescence all wrong?
Well according to today’s guest, Larry Steinberg, the response is, yes, nosotros have got been thinking well-nigh adolescence all wrong. And he wrote a whole mass called Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence in monastic enjoin to alter our minds. Dr. Steinberg is ane of the most influential developmental psychologists of the 21st century. His bio is so long, that if I read it all, at that spot wouldn’t live whatever fourth dimension for the actual interview. So, here’s some highlights: He’s the writer of over 350 scholarly publications, including the classic textbook Adolescence. Dr. Steinberg is a swain of the American Academy of Arts as well as Sciences, American Psychological Association as well as the Association for Psychological Sciences. Dr. Steinberg was the Pb scientist inwards the preparation of the American Psychological Association’s amicus briefs submitted to the USA Supreme Court inwards Roper v. Simmons, which abolished the juvenile expiry penalty; Graham v. Florida which banned the exercise of life without parole for juveniles convicted of non-homicide crimes, as well as Miller vs. Alabama which prohibited the exercise of mandatory life without parole for all juvenile crimes. And on September 9th, 2014, Eamon Dolan published his book, Age of Opportunity which Martin Seligman, virile individual parent of positive psychology, described, equally quote, “Simply the best mass I have got ever read well-nigh adolescence.” Which is a pretty glowing recommendation. In today’s interview, Dr. Steinberg as well as I spoke well-nigh the growing gap betwixt the onslaught of puberty as well as the halt of adolescence, challenges facing parents, providers as well as policy makers to ensure that adolescents have got experience as well as skills needed to live successful as well as how reconceptualizing adolescence equally an historic catamenia of opportunity, rather that an historic catamenia of gamble or merely surviving, is an essential reframe inwards monastic enjoin to address the needs of youth inwards this developmental stage. We ended our interview with implications for practitioners, educators, as well as policy makers.
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 quick greenback well-nigh the interview, fifty-fifty though Dr. Steinberg as well as I move at following buildings at Temple University, I interviewed him over Skype because, he was out of province as well as I genuinely wanted to acquire this interview. If yous desire to acquire to a greater extent than well-nigh Dr. Steinberg delight depository fiscal establishment check out his website at laurencesteinberg.com or follow him on twitter @ldsteinberg. To connect with the global community of social worker podcast listeners, delight see our Facebook page at facebook.com/swpodcast or follow us on twitter @socworkpodcast. And if yous similar what yous heard today as well as are curious to acquire more, consider buying his mass Age of Opportunity, online or your local independent mass store.
And now, without farther ado, on to episode ninety of the Social Work Podcast, Adolescence, the Age of Opportunity: An interview with Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D.
Interview
[05:05]
Jonathan Singer: Larry, cheers so much for beingness hither on the Social Work Podcast to verbalise to us well-nigh adolescence.
[05:10]
Laurence Steinberg: Sure, I’m glad to live here.
[05:12]
Jonathan Singer: In your novel book, yous advise an exclusively novel way of thinking well-nigh adolescence. So, 2 related questions, first, how have got nosotros been thinking well-nigh adolescence? And second, how should nosotros live thinking well-nigh adolescence?
[05:31]
Laurence Steinberg: Well, I cry upwards that the conventional view of adolescence is, that it’s a fourth dimension of inherent difficulty, difficulty for parents, difficulty for educators, difficulty for other people who move with teenagers. And I cry upwards that piece sure at that spot are many immature people who have got problems as well as many families who have got problems during this fourth dimension period, that that’s the incorrect way to cry upwards well-nigh what adolescence is. And what I endeavour to struggle is, that nosotros ought to cry upwards well-nigh adolescence equally a fourth dimension of chance as well as non merely a fourth dimension of trouble. Now, if nosotros don’t convey wages of that opportunity, it tin become, yous know, a catamenia that is characterized past times problems. But ane way to cry upwards well-nigh it is, that a lot of messages nosotros ship to people- if yous aspect at books written well-nigh adolescence for parents, that this is a fourth dimension when the best nosotros tin do is hold out as well as I’m suggesting, instead, that nosotros should cry upwards well-nigh it equally a fourth dimension when people tin thrive. And as well as then inquire what does it convey to aid kids do this?
[06:50]
Jonathan Singer: Hmm, Fascinating. Now I’m going to inquire yous to elaborate on that inwards a minute, but before nosotros acquire there, I’m curious - Why are yous suggesting that nosotros should cry upwards differently well-nigh adolescence, has the inquiry changed?
[07:07]
Laurence Steinberg: Yeah. So, ane of the most exciting breakthroughs inwards our agreement of adolescence, this novel agreement that I depict inwards the book, comes from encephalon science. What I cry upwards nosotros tin tentatively conclude is that adolescence looks similar a 2nd catamenia of heightened encephalon plasticity. Lots of people know that the encephalon tin live affected past times experience. That at that spot are some developmental periods during which it’s quite malleable as well as I cry upwards most people recognize that the early on years 0-3 constitute a catamenia when the encephalon is especially influenced past times experience. What novel inquiry is telling us, is that adolescence looks similar a 2nd catamenia of heightened encephalon plasticity. And to me what this agency is that nosotros genuinely demand to pay careful attending to the kinds of experiences that nosotros render immature people, because the experience that they have got during adolescence may have got a profound trial on how their encephalon develops as well as thus a profound trial on the residue of their life.
[08:11]
Jonathan Singer: And I cry upwards ane of the things that people frequently say well-nigh adolescence is they don’t realize how profoundly their lives could live changed past times their decisions. In the introduction of your book, yous told a footling storey of a teenage daughter cast a good to do theatre unit of measurement who was caught store lifting. You suggested that cry for her to explicate why this happened was almost an exercise inwards futility. What’s going on inwards the adolescent encephalon that would live an declaration against that form of insight seeking?
[08:44]
Laurence Steinberg: Those of us who have got raised as well as worked with teenagers have got recognized that lots of fourth dimension kids precisely acquire carried away inwards the moment. And they don’t genuinely sympathise why they do what they do. And I don’t cry upwards that necessarily trying to acquire them to sympathise why they did what they did is going to live especially productive. Now that doesn’t hateful that talking well-nigh experiences that nosotros wishing they wouldn’t have got had isn’t valuable, but I wouldn’t approach it equally a affair of insight. I powerfulness approach it equally form of, well, when yous are inwards this form of situation, what could yous do to halt “X” from happening. As I described, some of our ain inquiry that we’ve done at Temple on adolescence suggests that when teenagers are with their friends, this genuinely activates sure encephalon regions that powerfulness brand them do risky as well as reckless things that they wouldn’t do past times themselves. And that’s how I connect this opening storey with some of the move we’ve been doing on peer influence as well as the adolescent brain.
[09:48]
Jonathan Singer: So, what are the implications of this changing brain, this plasticity job with self-control or rewards for pleasing peers, that brand adolescents do things that they wouldn’t do? I’m thinking specifically well-nigh implications for social workers who move with youth inwards schools, yous know, mental wellness settings, adjudicated youth, etc. etc.
[10:07]
Laurence Steinberg: Well I cry upwards that at that spot are a duo of of import implications here. The inaugural off implication, I think, has to do with what nosotros hateful well-nigh plasticity. So, when the encephalon is really plastic, it’s highly influenced past times experience. And plasticity, yous see, cuts both ways, because when the encephalon is highly influenced past times experience, that agency that people tin genuinely do goodness from positive experiences equally good equally live harmed past times negative ones. So that’s what I hateful when I verbalise well-nigh an historic catamenia of opportunity, that it’s an chance to aid kids develop inwards positive ways with honor to how nosotros react to their bad behavior. And a lot of my research, equally yous know, is on juvenile offenders. I cry upwards nosotros demand to recognize that adolescents don’t have got the judgment that adults do as well as that, therefore, policies that come upwards downwardly on them equally good hard may live disproportionate as well as unfair inwards some ways. I cry upwards that null tolerance policies inwards schools brand for a goodness illustration of that. Kids precisely move through a catamenia where they do things that are to a greater extent than reflective of bad judgment than bad character. And I don’t cry upwards that nosotros should necessarily respond past times treating kids who do bad things equally if they are bad people. Which I cry upwards is a lot of what goes on inside the judge system.
[11:29]
Jonathan Singer: I’m really encouraged to hear yous say that the adolescent encephalon is really opened upwards to positive experiences. Are at that spot some experiences that social workers as well as other helping professionals could render for adolescents, or that they could aid parents render adolescents, that are amend for adolescent encephalon evolution than others?
[11:50]
Laurence Steinberg: Well I cry upwards that it’s useful to pace dorsum as well as say, what do nosotros desire to attain during this developmental catamenia as well as how tin individuals inwards helping professions as well as inwards pedagogy as well as parents, for that matter, displace kids toward this goal? And to me, I cry upwards the most of import undertaking of adolescence, the of import developmental task, is improving self-regulation, self-control, whatever to yous desire to telephone telephone it so that kids are amend able to convey command of their emotions as well as their thoughts as well as their actions. And what I cry upwards is encouraging is that at that spot is a motion forthwith mainly inside education, but I cry upwards it volition spread in all likelihood to the helping professions equally well. There’s a motion to aid develop, yous know, what people are calling “non-cognitive skills.” It’s a terrible phrase, but that’s the phrase that people are using as well as what they hateful past times that, I think, genuinely has to do with self-regulation as well as self-control. as well as there’s some things that seem to work. It turns out that there’s, yous know, a pretty goodness torso of inquiry that suggests that mindfulness meditation helps individuals develop amend self-control. And I cry upwards that’s really goodness intelligence because that’s something that counselors tin instruct kids how to do. It’s something that teachers tin instruct kids how to do. It’s something that parents as well as kids tin both acquire how to do, because it’s goodness for adults equally good equally kids. So, it seems to me, that helping to strengthen that muscle, if yous desire to cry upwards well-nigh it that way, ought to live a really of import goal of what those of us who move with kids endeavour to accomplish.
[13:51]
Jonathan Singer: When I cry upwards of someone who tin do mindfulness mediation I cry upwards of someone who already has a sure amount of maturity as well as self-regulation. I don’t to a greater extent than frequently than non cry upwards of adolescents, but your proverb that they are really appropriate for adolescents?
[14:09]
Laurence Steinberg: I cry upwards they’re non only appropriate for adolescents, but I cry upwards that they are really teachable. I cry upwards that nosotros have got to tweak the teaching inwards a way that’s developmentally appropriate. So I wouldn’t await an adolescent who’s non had whatever experience with mindfulness preparation to sort of trammel correct inwards as well as live able to do it for 10 minutes. It’s hard for most of us to do it for that long. But I cry upwards yous tin start with small-scale steps as well as growth the amount of time. And I’ve fifty-fifty seen some studies that they’ve done this with adjudicated offenders as well as helped them develop some self-control equally well. This is precisely one, yous know, ane approach. There are other things that plough out to live helpful. Various types of cognitive behavioral treatments that focus on self-control have got been shown to live effective with aggressive kids, for example. But I cry upwards that the full general regulation hither is that, acquiring the capacity to regulate one’s thoughts, emotions, as well as behaviors is what nosotros ought to strive to do when nosotros are working with kids inwards need.
[15:24]
Jonathan Singer: Social workers address issues at the micro, meso, macro flat as well as today we’ve been talking well-nigh a really micro perspective- adolescent neurobiology, self-regulation, things similar that. [15:34] Could yous give us an illustration of ane thing, that policy, yous know that macro flat folks, should sympathise well-nigh the novel scientific discipline of adolescence?
[15:51]
Laurence Steinberg: One really of import message that I endeavour to drive abode inwards the mass is that, adolescence itself, equally a developmental period, is changing inwards ways that should brand us rethink our policies as well as practices. And with the most of import of those changes is the shear lengthening of it equally a fourth dimension of life. So conventionally those of us who report adolescence, cry upwards of it equally starting fourth dimension inwards biological scientific discipline as well as ending inwards culture. So adolescence begins with puberty, a biological event, as well as it concludes when people brand the transition into the conventional roles of adulthood, so total fourth dimension employment, matrimony or something that looks similar marriage, parenthood. And what nosotros see, if nosotros rail those boundary marks, is that the historic catamenia of puberty is starting fourth dimension lower as well as lower as well as the historic catamenia at which people transition into adult roles has been getting afterward as well as later. So this developmental period, that non that long ago, I hateful let’s move dorsum to the 1950s, yous know, using those markers, adolescence in all likelihood took most people well-nigh 7 years. And forthwith it takes to a greater extent than than twice that amount of time. So nosotros run across kids who going through puberty before 10. One statistic that may genuinely astound your listeners is that information collected as well as published inwards the twelvemonth 2000, so that already form of old data, suggests that 20% of immature dark girls are developing breasts past times the fourth dimension they are 7 years old- that’s 2nd grade. If nosotros have got policies on sexual activity pedagogy that don’t start, yous know, we’re non going to start educating kids well-nigh sexuality until they are fourteen or 15 years old. I hateful that’s 7 years equally good tardily for a large population of kids. And so nosotros haven’t adapted the way nosotros process as well as bargain with adolescence. To the fact that it begins so much before as well as takes so much longer. The of import implication is, what it agency to succeed, forthwith equally an adolescent, is the powerfulness to delay gratification for a really very long time. So, when at that spot were jobs available for people who were precisely finishing high school, they could acquire on with their adult lives when they were eighteen years old. Well nosotros know those jobs are gone. One thing I was genuinely surprised to acquire inwards doing inquiry for the mass is that, at that spot is no longer whatever economical wages of precisely going to college for a duo years. You’ve got to acquire a college grade inwards monastic enjoin to reap the earnings benefits of that. Well that agency staying inwards schoolhouse until you’re at to the lowest degree 22. The average undergraduate forthwith takes half dozen years to destination a bachelor’s degree, so we’re genuinely talking 24, something similar that. Well, what do people demand inwards monastic enjoin to live able to stick it out for that long? Not everybody loves school. So how do nosotros aid people navigate adolescence when it’s such a long passage? And I don’t cry upwards that we’ve thought really carefully well-nigh that.
[19:04]
Jonathan Singer: I cry upwards that’s a genuinely of import thought that adolescence, at to the lowest degree inwards damage of an surface area of study, is a fifteen-year period. But I can’t imagine that the policies, interventions, or services that ane would develop for a 10-year-old, would also live appropriate or practical for a fifteen-year-old, or fifty-fifty someone inwards college. [19:33] So, inwards what sense is this catamenia inwards adolescence, ane catamenia equally opposed to discrete segments?
[19:43]
Laurence Steinberg: Yeah, I hateful that’s sure a valid as well as goodness point. I cry upwards of adolescence equally genuinely comprising 3 dissimilar periods, the early on adolescent years which move from puberty to in all likelihood the starting fourth dimension of high school; Then the high schoolhouse period; Then this catamenia of fourth dimension that goes until the mid-twenties. There’s been a lot of give-and-take inwards the academic basis well-nigh what to telephone telephone that period, whether nosotros telephone telephone it, yous know, immature adulthood, or merging adulthood, or extending adolescence. And frankly, I cry upwards that conversation is a distraction, because I don’t cry upwards it matters what nosotros telephone telephone it. I cry upwards what matters is that nosotros recognize it’s taking people longer to displace into the roles of adulthood. Now dorsum to the query well-nigh whether policies as well as practices for ten-year-olds should live the same equally for 22-year-olds, of course of instruction not. But I cry upwards nosotros have got to halt looking at 10 as well as eleven years old equally if they’re children as well as start thinking about, what are their needs if they’re genuinely adolescents as well as non children. And yous know precisely inwards damage of educating people inwards social work, or pedagogy or psychology, I don’t cry upwards that many people going into those fields would automatically cry upwards of 10-year-olds equally adolescents. But inwards lots of cases they are. And what does this hateful for how nosotros develop people inwards our fields? And what kinds of cognition do they need? I’ll never forget this experience I had doing an in-service pedagogy for middle schoolhouse teachers inwards a really large urban schoolhouse district as well as I was going through teaching well-nigh adolescent development, psychological, emotional cognitive development, as well as I paused as well as asked if at that spot are questions. And a instructor raised her mitt as well as she said, “Isn’t it truthful that during this fourth dimension period, when the encephalon is developing so speedily that people are incapable of learning?” And I was thinking, Wow, this is precisely amazing that somebody who is an educator is viewing her students equally beingness incapable of learning. And so, I precisely cry upwards nosotros demand to do a amend chore of educating people who move with immature people well-nigh what adolescence is, when it begins, when it ends, what the dissimilar phases of adolescence are, as well as I don’t think, inwards many incidences, nosotros are doing a really goodness chore of that.
[22:05]
Jonathan Singer: Is it a reasonable distinction to say that we’re seeing a departure betwixt the biological catamenia of puberty as well as the social catamenia that we’re calling adolescence?
[22:22]
Laurence Steinberg: I cry upwards it’s a really reasonable distinction, but I cry upwards that, as well as then I think, it raises the query of, what does this disparity mean? What does this junction mean? So equally a psychologist, I cry upwards well-nigh the fact that kids’ engines are getting ignited at a much before historic catamenia than their breaking systems are becoming mature. So what does it hateful for immature people to start having sexual feelings as well as sexual urges when they are clearly non emotionally create to develop those kinds of relationships? And what kinds of capacities as well as skills do nosotros demand to impart to kids to acquire by that? And I don’t hateful precisely sexual urges. One of the interesting things that nosotros are learning from encephalon scientific discipline has to do with the impact of pubertal hormones on the brain. And they brand us much to a greater extent than wages sensitive. Not precisely sexually, but inwards response to all kinds of rewards. Having to acquire by those urges as well as those drives at a really immature historic catamenia is a challenge as well as it’s a dissimilar form of challenge than most of us would normally cry upwards about. So ane of the metaphors I exercise inwards the mass is that at that spot was a fourth dimension when parents would say to their kids that they should hold off until they are married before having sexual activity with somebody. Well that was tardily to do when yous went through puberty when yous were xvi as well as yous got married when yous were 21. It’s pretty hard to do when yous move through puberty when yous are 10 as well as yous don’t acquire married until yous are thirty. I hateful it seems completely unrealistic to inquire somebody to reign inwards that urge for 20 years. That’s what I hateful when I say that adolescence is changing inwards ways that is form of outstripping our thinking well-nigh it as well as the policies as well as practices that nosotros developed.
[24:08]
Jonathan Singer: Another thing that’s changed inwards the past times 30 years is the emergence of video games. Now’ you’ve created a driving video game inwards monastic enjoin to do inquiry on adolescents as well as gamble taking. And I know yous don’t do inquiry on video games, but I’m wondering if yous have got whatever opinions on video games as well as adolescence?
[24:27]
Laurence Steinberg: You know that I cry upwards nosotros have got a long history of confusing the medium with the message. So, I cry upwards that a lot of the bashing of video games, yous know, as well as network related activities that goes on now, is form of silly. It’s similar cry for whether tv is goodness or bad for kids. Well, it depends on if you’re watching PBS or Bailiwick of Jersey Shore. So cry for whether kids involvement inwards internet-based activities is goodness or bad for them, without cry for what the activities are, seems form of silly. And equally many of your listeners know, adults have got been worrying well-nigh the media kids have got been exposed to, ever since there’s been media. I hateful yous tin detect diatribes against comic books, yous know, inwards the 1950s. And against comic books that would live really tame past times today’s standards. So I cry upwards a lot of the concerns well-nigh kids’ video related activities forthwith are misplaced.
[25:31]
Jonathan Singer: A number of your previous books have got addressed parents.
[25:36]
Laurence Steinberg: Mhmm
[25:38]
Jonathan Singer: Do yous have got whatever advice for social workers, or genuinely whatever professionals who move with parents- how they should aid parents cry upwards differently well-nigh adolescence?
[25:50]
Laurence Steinberg: Well for starters, I cry upwards it comes dorsum to our before conversation well-nigh thriving versus surviving. If I said to your listeners, yous know presumably most of them are social workers or inwards related fields, as well as said, aspect I cry upwards yous should live happy if your kid gets through adolescence without beingness a drug addict, getting arrested, or having an unintended pregnancy as well as that’s the bar I’m going to set, yous wouldn’t convey that equally your goal equally a parent. So nosotros desire to a greater extent than than stopping kids from dropping out of school. We desire them to genuinely savour learning as well as honey beingness inwards schoolhouse as well as desire them to proceed on as well as destination to move to secondary pedagogy as well as move into post-secondary pedagogy as well as destination that. So I cry upwards ane alter inwards orientation is to endeavour to acquire parents to live to a greater extent than interested inwards what kinds of positive goals they have got for their kids, rather than merely form of surviving as well as preventing damage. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 2nd implication, as well as ane that I cry upwards is goodness news, is that a lot of the things we’ve been doing all along to endeavour as well as aid parents live amend parents are in all likelihood goodness for adolescents inwards ways that aid them improve self-regulation. So that there’s a trend that psychologists telephone telephone authoritative parenting, which is the combination of warmth as well as firmness as well as developmentally appropriate back upwards for independence. And these things, when done together, have got been shown to improve kids’ self-regulation as well as self-control. And nosotros know at that spot have got been experiments done where parents have got been taught how to do these things. So nosotros know that nosotros tin instruct parents to live amend parents. So I cry upwards those are 2 examples of things that I cry upwards social workers could do that would live helpful.
[26:43]
Jonathan Singer: One of the chapters of your mass is called, Winners as well as Losers, inwards which yous brand the connectedness betwixt adolescent evolution as well as income inequality. [27:53] Can yous verbalise well-nigh how the extension of adolescence, yous were mentioning earlier, translates into a widening gap betwixt winners as well as losers?
[28:03]
Laurence Steinberg: I cry upwards that kids who grow upwards inwards to a greater extent than affluent circumstances are the ones who are the winners here. I hateful it’s unfortunate as well as sort of an old storey well-nigh the rich getting richer, but I cry upwards that given what nosotros know well-nigh the impact of poverty as well as stress as well as trauma on the brain, as well as how those experiences specifically disrupt the evolution of encephalon systems that are of import for self-control, that kids growing upwards inwards poverty are beingness disadvantaged inwards ways that are making it to a greater extent than hard for them to delay gratification inwards the ways that are forthwith to a greater extent than as well as to a greater extent than of import for succeeding.
[28:45]
Jonathan Singer: So what’s an illustration of that?
[28:47]
Laurence Steinberg: If puberty is occurring earlier, that agency that kids are going through this surge as well as wages seeking before as well as they demand a stronger prefrontal cortex than ever inwards monastic enjoin to bargain with early on puberty. And if some kids inwards our guild are having experiences early on inwards life that are interfering with the evolution of their prefrontal cortex, that they’re going to live especially disadvantaged past times going through puberty earlier. So that’s ane illustration of a way inwards which I cry upwards this alter inwards adolescence is contributing to income inequality.
[29:19]
Jonathan Singer: So exposure to violent situations inwards neighborhoods, shootings, or constant police pull intervention, the vehement a business office of families equally a final result of the criminal industrial complex equally good equally abuse as well as neglect, these are some of the things that impair the evolution of the prefrontal cortex that’s so of import inwards impulse command as well as emotional regulation.
[29:45]
Laurence Steinberg: And that is so of import inwards those ways. And that it’s fifty-fifty to a greater extent than of import today because of the demand to live able to remain inwards schoolhouse so much longer. So I gauge I would say that, given the fact that nosotros forthwith demand to consummate college inwards monastic enjoin to live able to participate successfully inwards the labor force, that having goodness self-control as well as capacity to delay gratification for a long fourth dimension is to a greater extent than of import than it’s ever been. So anybody that has experiences that interferes with that capacity is going to live to a greater extent than disadvantaged than ever before.
[30:21]
Jonathan Singer: So what tin nosotros do to aid youth, especially youth inwards these depression income as well as economically disadvantaged communities, to develop impulse command as well as emotional regulation as well as move winners?
[30:30]
Laurence Steinberg: Yeah, well, I cry upwards that ane of the most of import implications has to do with schools as well as it has to do with asking, what tin schools do to aid facilitate the evolution of these form of non-cognitive skills. And yous know, there’s a lot of involvement forthwith around the province inwards schools for depression income families as well as non precisely focusing on the academic side of things. We can’t lose site of those goals, but that’s non all that schools should live thinking about. And asking, what tin schools do to aid facilitate the evolution of self-control as well as self-regulation as well as what some people are calling, grit. And I cry upwards if yous aspect at programs similar KIPP, as well as that’s a large focus of KIPP, is on graphic symbol evolution as well as non precisely on academic science development.
[31: 28]
Jonathan Singer: You know when yous mentioned grit, I of course of instruction thought of Angela Duckworth’s inquiry on grit. I heard her interviewed alive at WHYY inwards Philadelphia past times journalist, Mike as well as Scott, who asked her, why the concept of grit seemed to of taken off with the populace imagination so well. And she said, that inwards add-on to it beingness an old as well as familiar term, which it is, it also represented something that was inside our command to change, equally opposed to IQ, which is this elusive thing that yous are born with.
[32:05]
Jonathan Singer: So are yous proverb that educational programs that move on helping kids develop grit is ane of the solutions to the problems associated with an elongated stage of adolescence?
[32:15]
Laurence Steinberg: Yes. Angela Duckworth is a really closed friend of mine, as well as a collaborator, as well as nosotros precisely finished an article on the evolution of self-control. So I ‘ve been really influenced past times her thinking well-nigh this as well as I agree. And I cry upwards the inquiry suggests that, especially inwards the stage of adolescence, that I cry upwards it is a lot easier to influence the evolution of grit than it is to influence the evolution of IQ, which tends to live really stable after historic catamenia half dozen or so. But grit is not, grit is something that tin live facilitated, as well as I cry upwards nosotros amend endeavour to do that.
[32:52]
Jonathan Singer: Well Larry, give cheers yous so much for beingness on the podcast as well as sharing some of your insights from your novel book, Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science on Adolescence.
[32:01]
Laurence Steinberg: Sure, cheers a lot Jonathan.
END
[33:05]
Jonathan Singer: I'm Jonathan Singer as well as cheers for beingness with me today for some other episode of the Social Work Podcast. If yous missed an episode or have got suggestions for futurity episodes, delight see www.socialworkpodcast.com. If you'd similar to back upwards the Podcast, delight see our online store at www.cafepress.com/swpodcast. To all of the Social Workers out there, hold upwards the goodness work. We'll run across yous following fourth dimension at the Social Work Podcast.
Transcription generously donated past times Stacie Wentling, MSW, Program Manager, California Youth Crisis Line.
References as well as Resources
- Steinberg, L. D. (2014). Age of opportunity: Lessons from the novel scientific discipline of adolescence. Boston: Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
- Laurence Steinberg's website: http://www.laurencesteinberg.com
APA (6th ed) citation for this podcast:
Singer, J. B. (Producer). (2014, September 9). #90 - Adolescence, the Age of Opportunity: Interview with Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D. [Audio Podcast]. Social Work Podcast. Retrieved from /search?q=steinberg
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