News
Falling Behind in School Hurts. Belonging Can Help Students Trust and Learn
December 2, 2024For students who are having a difficult time excelling in school, building trust with teachers and caring adults can help them cultivate confidence and a sense of belonging in academic settings. In a new KQED article, Co-Executive Director Andrew Fuligni explains that “adolescents are building an identity, which involves discovering things that you are good at,” and “many students mistakenly believe that academic ability is fixed rather than a developed skill.” By cultivating a growth culture in the classroom and providing positive feedback and affirmation, adults can help students cement a sense of belonging that can benefit their academic success and overall wellbeing.
Press Releases
January 17, 2023: New Guides Help Organizations Build Effective Youth Engagement Programs
August 16, 2021: New Report Examines Intersection of Anti-Black Racism on Youth Development
November 30, 2020: Center for the Developing Adolescent Announces New Advisory Board Members
October 1, 2020: Center for the Developing Adolescent Announces New Leadership
Stay in the Know
Embracing Teens as Strategic Risk-Takers
November 22, 2024Co-Executive Director Adriana Galván answers questions from the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) about her life and research prior to her upcoming keynote lecture at the 2025 CNS Meeting in Boston. “I hope that the public can gain a more positive perspective about adolescents. This period of life helps propel us into adulthood and the willingness to explore the world is a key attribute of adolescence that helps us learn through trial and error,” says Galván.
Checking in with the UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent: Using science to better understand this transformative time of our lives
November 15, 2024A new article from the UCLA Newsroom highlights the CDA’s work, mission, and recent projects, including STEPS for Youth and the Adaptivity podcast. “If the center fulfills its mission, we will see a greater investment — at the federal, systemic, and educational levels — in young people,” said Co-Executive Director, Adriana Galván.
Election Blues: Strategies to Cope with Anxiety and Confusion on Election Day
November 5, 2024Jennifer Pfeifer, Co-Director of the National Scientific Council on Adolescence (NSCA), and Leslie Leve, member of the NSCA, speak with Michael Dunne on KLCC, the Oregon NRP affiliate station, about how we can support young people feeling uncertain about the election. Pfiefer and Leve discuss the new NSCA note, “Elections as Opportunities for Positive Adolescent Development.”
Elections are an Opportunity for Young People and for the People Who Care About Them
November 5, 2024National Scientific Council on Adolescence member Stephen Russell tackles how to support young people during elections in a new article published by UT Austin. Russell offers a number of things that adults in young people’s lives can do to help them overcome strong emotions during these significant and sometimes uncertain events.
Are Parents Giving Their Kids Too Many Mental Health Days?
October 21, 2024“It’s not that we want to dampen strong emotions, we want to support adolescents’ ability to work with those emotions to think about what they mean and how to regulate them and put them to good uses,” said Co-Executive Director Andrew Fuligni in a new Education Week article discussing whether or not parents are allowing their kids too many days out of school due to mental health.
Do Cellphone Bans in Middle School Work? It’s Complicated.
September 26, 2024National Scientific Council on Adolescence member Jacqueline Nesi, PhD, was quoted in the recent article published by the Bay Area’s NPR and PBS member station, KQED. Nesi explains that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to smartphones for early adolescence, but research suggests that kids need “increasing independence as they age [and] there’s value in giving them opportunities to solve problems.”
Teen Girls’ Brains Aged Rapidly During Pandemic, Study Finds
September 10, 2024A new study suggests that adolescent brains may have matured more rapidly during the pandemic. Ron Dahl, founding director of CDA and host of the CDA’s Adaptivity podcast, spoke with New York Times reporter Ellen Barry about why we shouldn’t jump to negative conclusions about what these changes mean.
Don’t Just Blame Social Media for Kids’ Poor Mental Health—Blame a Lack of Sleep
September 9, 2024“The evidence for sleep and mental health is much stronger than the evidence for social media and mental health,” said our Co-Executive Director Andrew Fuligni in a recent briefing for reporters about youth mental health.
Is ‘Crisis’ Thinking About Youth Mental Health Doing More Harm Than Good?
September 9, 2024At a recent media briefing, FrameWorks CEO Nat Kendall-Taylor explained how crisis framing hinders solutions that could support youth mental health. Our Co-Executive Director Andrew Fuligni reviewed what research tells us about those solutions, and how we can help young people thrive.