News
Advisory Board Member Karen Pittman Awarded the NEA’s 2026 Outstanding Service to Public Education Award
February 24, 2026Advisory Board Member Karen Pittman has been awarded the National Education Association’s prestigious 2026 Outstanding Service to Public Education Award. Previous recipients include Kent McGuire, Linda Darling-Hammond, Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, and President Clinton. Frequently referred to as the godmother of positive youth development, Karen has spent her career bringing research on adolescent development into policy and practice to help leaders realize they can do more than help a few young people “beat the odds” — they can make systemic changes that actually “change the odds.”
Press Releases
February 25, 2025: Announcing the UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent’s 2024 Annual Report
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
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Founding Director Ron Dahl Receives the 2026 Huttenlocher Award
February 13, 2026Ron Dahl, founding director of the CDA, has received the 2026 Huttenlocher Award. The Huttenlocher Award reflects transformative contributions to the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience that inspire future generations of researchers through unique insights. As well as CDA’s founding director, Ron is a NSCA member, pediatrician, developmental scientist, and professor of Public Health at UC Berkeley. For more than 30 years, he has worked with interdisciplinary research teams to advance understanding of child and adolescent development, behavioral/emotional health in youth, adolescent brain development, and the clinical, public health, and policy implications of this research—work that has resulted in more than 300 publications.
The Science of Connection
February 12, 2026The UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent was featured in a new UCLA Magazine article highlighting the different UCLA researchers and Centers studying human connection. “Adolescents seek out bonding with other people,” said Adriana Galvan, our co-executive director. “During this time, our brains are reshaping themselves in a way that facilitates bonding. We are better at reading facial expressions, identifying what someone is feeling, and taking someone else’s perspective.”
Too much alone time has a startling effect on the teenage brain
December 22, 2025Co-Executive Director Adriana Galván was quoted in a recent National Geographic article discussing the effects of social isolation and how social interactions can promote positive development during adolescence. “The success of ‘reversing’ negative impacts depends on the nature of the social isolation, the individual’s developmental history, and current context,” says Galván, “But, in general, greater engagement in social interactions, establishing meaningful relationships, and genuine support from others can help mitigate any negative impacts of social isolation.”
Gen Z and Career Journeys: Navigation in a Time of Economic Uncertainty and Personal Development
December 9, 2025Adolescence is a critical time in development when we form our identities, explore the world around us, and build the skills we need to succeed economically in adulthood. Today’s young adults are coming of age in a world of uncertainty, with changing technological and economic landscapes. In a new joint blog post with the ASA Center for Career Navigation at JFF, Jobs for the Future’s Erica Bouris and CDA’s Natalie Saragosa-Harris explore how adolescents navigate their careers and build their economic lives during adolescence, and offer ways to support young people as they navigate educational and career decisions during periods of economic uncertainty.
A Smartphone Before Age 12 Could Carry Health Risks, Study Says
December 4, 2025NSCA member Jacqueline Nesi was quoted in the New York Times discussing the recent Pediatrics article that suggests giving smartphones to adolescents before the age of 12 could pose health and well-being risks. “Giving a child a device with access to everything on the internet is going to be risky,” says Nesi, but “it’s incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to get that kind of causal evidence on this topic.” Caregivers “do not need to wait for perfect evidence to make these kinds of decisions,” she explains; they should feel empowered to trust their gut and to hold off on giving their child a smartphone until everyone is ready.
NSCA Member Candice Odgers Joins World’s Most Influential Scholars
November 19, 2025For the third time in her career, Candice L. Odgers, a member of the National Scientific Council on Adolescence, UC Irvine’s Chancellor’s Professor of psychology, and UC Irvine’s director of research and faculty development, has earned a spot on Clarivate’s 2025 “Highly Cited Researchers” list.
The Middle School Transition Is Tough. How Educators Can Help
November 13, 2025A new Education Week article, quoting NSCA members Joanna Williams and Rhonda Boyd during a UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent media briefing, highlights how educators can play a pivotal role in supporting early adolescents’ social, emotional, and physical needs when given systemic support and instruction informed by developmental science.
CDA Founding Director Ron Dahl on the Getting Smart Podcast Episode, “Why is Adolescence a Powerful Time for Growth, Agency, and Mattering?”
November 5, 2025In a new Getting Smart Podcast episode hosted by Tom Vander Ark, Adaptivity podcast host and CDA founding director Ron Dahl discusses how adolescence is a critical developmental phase featuring unique opportunities for fostering agency, contribution, and authentic mattering.
A 6-year research project found a surprisingly simple route to happiness
October 27, 2025In a new Washington Post article, NSCA member Anthony Burrow discusses his study on purpose during adolescence. During a six-year project, Burrow and his researchers selected around 1,200 adolescents to receive $400 no-strings “contributions” to pursue something that benefits their community, family, or even themselves. Eight weeks later, those who received the contributions scored significantly higher than the non-recipients on all measures: latent well-being, sense of purpose, sense of belonging, sense of feeling needed and useful, and affective balance.