Communicating the Core Science
Scientific research tells us that the years between childhood and adulthood are an amazing window of opportunity to establish positive trajectories for all adolescents and for the world they will someday lead. But this perspective is not always part of the public dialogue. Instead, the current narrative focuses on negative stereotypes and misunderstandings.
The popular story of risk and vulnerability misses the intense learning and adaptation that happens in these years, along with adolescents’ rapidly increasing abilities and their developmental needs for autonomy and intimacy. This inaccurate story of the adolescent years also creates barriers to effective legislation, policies, and programs for adolescents.
We need to change the narrative of adolescence.
The Core Science of Adolescent Development, developed with FrameWorks Institute, communicates evidence-based information, placing current scientific understanding of adolescent development in a narrative form to more accurately tell the story of adolescence.
Resources from FrameWorks Institute
FrameWorks Institute has created a research-based toolkit for effectively communicating the Core Science of Adolescent Development. Visit their website to find the following resources:
- What to Do, a description of how the public generally thinks about adolescence, and how to change negative narratives.
- Six Strategies for Talking about Adolescent Development, which offers guidelines for effective communications.
- Do’s and Don’ts, an overview of strategies to use and pitfalls to avoid when communicating about adolescence.
- Discovery Metaphor Card, ideas for applying this metaphor to describe the developmental needs of the adolescent years.
- Sample Slides for explaining adolescent development to diverse audiences.
For specific information on talking about racial equity in adolescence:
- Framing Racial Equity in Adolescence: Messaging Strategies for Social Change, a playbook with recommendations for talking about race and equity in adolescence.
You can also watch our workshop with FrameWorks Institute, “How We Talk About Adolescence Matters,” presented for the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA)‘s April 2022 webinar. Segments from that workshop can be found at these links:
- Section 1—Framing Adolescent Development: The Science of Shifting Minds, Nat Kendall-Taylor, PhD
- Section 2—Framing the Core Science of Adolescence, Adriana Galván, PhD, and Jennifer Pfeifer, PhD
- Section 3—Framing Racial Equity in Adolescence, Joanna Williams, PhD, and Marisa Gerstein-Pineau, PhD