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5 Facts About Contributing During Adolescence

5 Facts About Contributing During Adolescence

Throughout our adolescent years, we become increasingly capable of contributing to those around us in deeper, more meaningful ways than when we were younger. Opportunities to not only contribute but to reflect on the meaning of our contributions and to have our contributions recognized are important to healthy development during our adolescent years.

Following are facts about contributing during adolescence:

  1. Brain and social development in adolescence increase our ability and our willingness to contribute to others. The network in our brain that activates in social interactions matures rapidly during our adolescent years, deepening our understanding of the complex feelings, perspectives, and needs of other people. In addition, brain regions associated with our sensitivity to rewards become more reactive, increasing the positive feelings we get from kind and helpful behaviors.
  2. Our environments play a role in encouraging contribution. For example, young people from families where contributing is a particular value, such as those from some ethnic and immigrant communities, seem to feel more of a sense of reward when helping. Being marginalized as a result of our race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or religion can also motivate us toward a sense of purpose to help others in our families, schools, or communities.
  3. Programs that provide a chance to make meaningful contributions and to reflect on those contributions can support mental and even physical health. Sports-based community service and mentorship programs can strengthen our prosocial values and promote our wellbeing during adolescence while increasing physical activity. Even volunteer activities that don’t involve physical activity may have physical health benefits. The opportunity to reflect on the experience through journaling, art, essay writing, or group discussion might be essential to ensuring positive effects on academic, personal, and social outcomes.
  4. We can make different types of contributions in the different contexts of our lives. For example, youth can provide emotional support to peers by making them laugh or being a shoulder to cry on. In families, young people can do chores, help siblings, and participate in family decision making. At school, students can be active in student government, clubs, or sports teams. Youth can work with organizations like 4-H or Boys and Girls Clubs of America that guide activities that make a difference in their communities.
  5. As adults, we need to make sure those opportunities to make meaningful contributions and to have those contributions recognized are available to all young people. Whether youth are contributing to a noteworthy social cause or helping a grandparent or sibling at home, giving to others supports positive development for adolescents and also benefits friends, family members, social groups, and communities.

For more research-based information about the importance of contributing during adolescence, visit the Core Science Key Concept page on Meaning and Purpose Through Contribution.

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Additional Resources

The Connecting Adolescent Brain

Fact Sheet

This fact sheet gives an overview of adolescent brain development and explains how access to resources, opportunities, and meaningful relationships during adolescence can build connections within our brains and with the world around us that support us into adulthood.

Brain development during adolescence is fundamentally a story of connections.

Around age 9 or 10, hormonal changes kick off a period of intense learning and development, when brain cells form, strengthen, and streamline connections in response to our experiences more rapidly than in any period of life after early childhood.

Activity increases especially in the brain networks that propel us to explore the world, learn from our mistakes, and connect with others in new ways. In turn, these new experiences prompt our brain cells to connect with other neurons in ways that help us adapt to new events and new information. These neural connections become stronger the more we use them, while unused connections are pruned away, helping the brain become more efficient at acquiring and mastering new skills and new ways of thinking.

This brain-building learning happens through direct experiences in our environments and interactive, responsive relationships—with our families and peers, in our classrooms and neighborhoods, in community activities, and even online. The resources, opportunities, and experiences we as adults provide in and out of school can help young people’s brains build the extensive networks of connections that will manage the complex knowledge and behaviors needed to navigate adulthood.

Learning by Exploring the World Around Us

One of the networks that changes significantly with the increase in hormones and dopamine at the beginning of puberty is the “reward system” in our brain. Heightened activity in this system increases the feeling of reward we get from exploring the world, taking risks, and learning from the results.

Meanwhile, the network of brain regions that make up the “social brain” also changes during adolescence. These changes help us tune into social and emotional cues, like facial expressions or social rejection and approval, and increase our desire to earn respect and contribute to others. It also enables us to learn the nuances of changing social contexts in ways that help prepare us for adult relationships.

The prefrontal cortex (the region of the brain that orchestrates critical thinking and behavioral control) undergoes its most rapid period of development during adolescence. It builds on many other systems within the brain to manage our responses to the flood of new information and intensifying emotions. Engaging with other people and our environment and learning from our successes and our mistakes, known as “action-based learning,” helps shape the prefrontal cortex by strengthening the connections within it and between it and other brain networks. We learn through repeated practice—which includes trying and sometimes failing—what is adaptive and appropriate in different situations and how to guide our behavior accordingly, in ways that equip us to pursue new forward-looking goals.

When adults provide youth with opportunities to try new things, to practice navigating emotions, and to learn from failures along the way, it helps build the brain connections that we all need to grow into healthy, thriving adults.

Policies, Experiences, and Mindsets Shape the Connecting Brain

Although we can continue to learn new skills and behaviors as adults, the adaptability of the brain during adolescence means that these connections are much more likely to form quickly in response to experiences. The extent of these changes make the adolescent years a critical window when investments in the right policies and programs for youth can shape long-term positive development.

Likewise, this makes the adolescent years a time when negative experiences including racism, other forms of discrimination, poverty, or abuse can create steeper hills for young people to climb toward a healthy adulthood. When adults ensure that all young people, especially those who have experienced earlier adversity, have what they need along their journey, they can build the skills and capacities they need to thrive as adults. This includes opportunities to explore and take healthy risks, to connect with and contribute to those around us, to make decisions and learn from the outcomes, to develop a healthy sense of identity, and to rely on support from parents or other caring adults.

Understanding how and why the brain develops during adolescence lets us provide the support young people need to build healthy connections—in their world and within their brains—that will help our youth and our communities thrive.

Addressing Chronic Absenteeism by Aligning School Settings with the Developmental Needs of Adolescents

Science Spotlight | Education | Community Engagement | Adversity, Bias, & Discrimination

This spotlight highlights adolescent development research aimed to help school leaders and policymakers more equitably meet the needs of adolescent learners and enhance their attachment to school.

Adolescence is a time of remarkable opportunity and growth. We know from extensive research about adolescent brain development that these are critical years for learning and development. In addition to academic learning, the social and emotional learning that occurs through lessons, experiences, and relationships within school settings are important for youth to thrive, making chronic absenteeism particularly concerning among middle and high school students.

High rates of chronic absenteeism–a measure that describes the number of students who miss, for any reason, at least 10 percent of school days in an academic year–have persisted since in-person schooling was first curtailed by COVID-19. School districts that served students from neighborhoods with high levels of poverty tended to see the highest rates of chronic absenteeism prior to the pandemic and the rate of chronically absent students significantly increased in these districts following the pandemic, raising urgent questions about how best to mitigate a trend that contributes to historical inequity.

Research indicates that there are multiple underlying causes of chronic absenteeism ranging from structural conditions, such as poor transportation infrastructure and teacher shortages, to student-level factors, such as students’ health, home responsibilities, and feeling of connectedness to supportive adults., Initial efforts to understand the continuing effects of the pandemic-specific spike in chronic absenteeism indicate that these causes remain relevant today.

For example, in spring of 2023, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) conducted a series of statewide interviews to investigate the root causes of student absenteeism and a range of societal, family, and school-related factors emerged. PACE also noted student-level factors, including inconsistent access to basic needs, uncertainty about safety, lack of a sense of belonging and connection, and inability to experience “competence, independence, and freedom” within school settings.

Approaches to addressing these underlying challenges at the middle and high school levels should be responsive to the developmental needs of adolescents, which can be distinct from those of younger learners. School leaders and policymakers can leverage insights from decades of research in the developmental science of adolescence to help navigate a path toward more equitably meeting the needs of adolescent learners and enhancing their attachment to school.

​Adolescence is a unique period for learning and development

Adolescents are motivated to explore, discover, and connect with the world around them. Regions in the brain responsible for motivation, learning, and feelings of reward become more active and responsive to social experience during adolescence. Connections between these regions and the networks responsible for planning and social cognition are strengthened and refined in response to experiences and relationships throughout the years between childhood and adulthood, providing new capacities for learning, emotional development, and social behavior.

Together, these changes create unique opportunities for adolescent learning and development. Youth are more likely to take risks to learn about the world around them. They also are more tolerant of uncertainty and more likely to update their prior knowledge in response to new environments or making errors. Adolescents are driven to understand the world and their place in it, both among their peers in school as well as broader society. Conversations with youth about their future goals can help them cultivate a sense of purpose and encourage a desire to have an impact upon their worlds. Understanding these unique capacities for learning can help spark ideas about how to ensure that schools can best engage adolescent learners as an attempt to address at least one contributing factor to chronic absenteeism.

There is no universal solution to chronic absenteeism, and experts in education suggest that districts will need to develop strategies tailored to their local settings. As leaders partner with young people and their communities to create and test new approaches to restore attendance, they should aim to close the gap between the developmental needs of adolescents and the school-based settings young people encounter. Specifically, they can:

➢ Provide compelling and supported ways for middle and high school students to explore and learn from experience. Thoughtfully designed efforts both inside the classroom (such as project-based learning) and after school (for example, interest-based clubs and activities) leverage the natural inclination to explore and learn from experience during adolescence.

➢ Incorporate ways for students to contribute to others at school and in their broader communities. Longstanding research on classroom environments points to the ways in which incorporating student participation in decision-making promotes motivation and achievement. Similarly, extracurricular programs that encourage adolescents’ contributions to their school, teams, and communities enhance students’ attachment to school.

➢ Build supportive relationships between adolescents and caring adults in their schools and communities. Having these relationships at home and in the school and community is predictive of virtually every aspect of healthy adolescent development, including engagement with school.

➢ Identify and eliminate inequities in the availability and quality of adolescents’ opportunities to have these vital experiences and relationships. Ensure that all youth, including those impacted by racial, ethnic, or other forms of discrimination as well as those facing challenges related to poverty or financial instability, can meaningfully access opportunities to explore, contribute, and form strong relationships with trusted adults.

Secure Relationships with Supportive Adults Continue to Matter for Adolescents

Fact sheet | Education | Community Engagement | Mental Health | Out-of-School Time | Foster Care | Juvenile Justice

This fact sheet offers insights from research about the critical role of adult support in our healthy development during adolescence and how policies and programs can ensure all young people have a caring adult in their corner.

Policies and programs that prioritize adolescents’ positive connections with supportive adults lead to healthier and more connected communities.

Adults in our families and communities continue to play a critical role in our healthy development during adolescence, even as we become less dependent on caregivers as we explore and expand our social world. Secure and supportive relationships with parents and other adults can help us build resilience, develop a positive sense of self, and navigate challenges. Circumstances that disrupt these connections can negatively impact our health and well-being during adolescence and into adulthood.

During adolescence, adult support remains essential to helping young people thrive. Youth need programs and policies that build on the strengths of families—including families who are facing challenges—and that ensure all young people have a caring adult in their corner.

Research shows that relationships with our parents during adolescence affect both our physical and mental health. Secure and supportive relationships with our parents during adolescence can promote well-being, prevent negative outcomes, and help us develop a clear sense of self and identity. Positive parenting behaviors—caring, validating, affectionate, or humorous interactions—affect the growth of brain regions involved in processing rewards and helping us regulate our emotions.

We’re not only affected by what our families do for us, but also by how we contribute to our families. ​​Contributing to the family can be an important source of belonging and identity. Helping our families can also increase our levels of happiness. A strong sense of obligation to family also appears to alter brain regions involved in reward sensitivity and cognitive control in ways that can help us develop the skills and motivation to avoid unhealthy risk taking.

These positive relationships can vary, with different benefits and outcomes among distinct cultural and social contexts. For example, young people from immigrant families might have more of a sense of interdependence and family obligation than youth in non-immigrant families. Families of youth of color, and of Black youth in particular, may also be a primary source of racial and ethnic socialization, cultural pride, and preparation for facing racism and discrimination. LGBT youth who are accepted by their families have higher self-esteem, social support, and general health than those without supportive families. Natural mentors—caring adults from a young person’s existing social circle—can play similarly positive roles, particularly sense of self and identity. Positive parenting behaviors—caring, validating, affectionate, or humorous interactions—affect the growth of brain regions involved in processing rewards and helping us regulate our emotions.

Because parents remain so important through the adolescent years, factors that disrupt these connections can have negative effects on development. For example, youth placed in foster care have higher rates of anxiety, depression, and eating disorders as well as substance misuse than young people who did not enter the system. Social inequities and biases can also interfere with positive family relationships, adding to stress in ways that affect the well-being of parents, in turn increasing depression and anxiety among youth.

Effective interventions can help reduce some of these challenges and bolster the essential connections we need. Research-informed, strength-based interventions that improve connections within families have been shown to improve mental health and reduce substance use. In addition, youth in the foster system can benefit from programs that offer foster parents training to support youth who have faced adversity and that help young people stay connected with their families.

➢ Programs and interventions that strengthen family bonds and give parents tools for communicating effectively with youth can support positive outcomes for young people. Learn more about one example, the Strong African American Families program.

➢ To meet the developmental needs of adolescents, policies and programs must also support the needs of the adults in their lives. Family-support programs can help support adolescent mental and behavioral health, either by treating mental health issues or preventing future mental health risks.

➢ Programs that connect young people with mentors who share their interests and advocate for their goals and ambitions can promote positive socioemotional, academic, and health outcomes. A review of formal mentoring programs for youth found positive benefits for adolescent development, including better academic performance, greater motivation, and fewer behavioral problems. Learn more about one example, the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

➢ Research suggests that having a natural mentor—a caring adult from a young person’s existing social circles—can support youths’ mental and physical health. Sports, extracurricular activities, or community- or faith-based activities can help introduce youth to natural mentors. Learn more about one example, the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program.

➢ Due to the importance of relationships with supportive adults to the healthy development of adolescents, youth and families may benefit from extra support to help mitigate the effects when these relationships are disrupted. Disruptions exist in all communities and could include: the absence of a family member (for example, due to military deployment), illness or loss of a family member (for example, due to COVID-19 or substance use disorder), involvement in the criminal legal system of the adolescent or an adult family member, or relocations due to housing insecurity or job demands.

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