News: Exploration & Risk Taking
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.
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
The Stages of Adolescent Brain Development With UCLA’s Adriana Galván, PhD
October 24, 2023In this presentation for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, our Co-executive Director Adriana Galván presents insights into adolescent brain development and shows how better understanding this developmental period can inform and improve programs and services focused on youth well-being.
Want to understand your adolescent? Get to know their brain.
May 23, 2023NPR science corresponded Jon Hamilton spoke with our Co-Executive Director Adriana Galván and other researchers about why the adolescent brain is "a marvel."
Reframing Adolescent Risk Taking and Resiliency
March 23, 2021The Bezos Family Foundation highlights CDA's work to change the narrative around youth stereotypes with science.
Adolescents Are More Likely to Take Risks, and That’s a Good Thing
April 17, 2019It's true: adolescents are more likely to take risks and more sensitive to social feedback than adults. At the DIBS Center for Cognitive Neuroscience on April 5, Center board member Dr. Adriana Galván reviewed the neuroscience and explained how these qualities are, in fact, perfectly adaptive to the developmental tasks of adolescence. Medical Xpress reports.
The Science Behind Tweens’ Risky Behavior—and Why It Can Help Them in The Long Run
September 18, 2018Center board member Dr. Adriana Galván, UCLA, talked to the Washington Post about the importance of healthy risk taking for adolescents, and why we need to stop creating narratives that pathologize this key developmental window.
Teens aren’t just risk machines – there’s a method to their madness
February 6, 2018Adolescent risk-taking strikes fear in the hearts of many parents. Center board member Dr. Jennifer Pfeifer and her colleagues at the University of Oregon explain how adolescents' appetite for risks is essential for learning about themselves and exploring the wider world.