Early Adolescence: A Window of Opportunity for Educators to Support Positive Mental Health

Downloadable PDF: Early Adolescence: A Window of Opportunity for Educators to Support Positive Mental Health

Overview

Early adolescence—roughly ages 10 to 13, or the middle school years—is a unique time in development. During these first few years of adolescence, young people experience accelerated physical changes related to puberty, rapid brain development, changes in self-image, and more intense peer relationships. These changes make young adolescents particularly sensitive to the relationships and experiences around them, creating a window of opportunity to support youth to build positive mental health.

Middle school educators can be a crucial first line in promoting each young person’s well-being. Teachers are not mental health professionals, but the time they spend with their students during this pivotal period of development puts them in a position to help youth build positive mental health and reduce the likelihood that mental health challenges become more severe over time.

This report from the National Scientific Council on Adolescence offers recommendations and resources for educators to support students based on four key areas that are especially important to positive development during early adolescence:

• Independence, exploration, and learning
• Emotion and behavior regulation
• Building strong relationships
• Sleep

Resources cited in this brief

For more information, visit the resources called out within this brief:

• Protecting Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory, 2021
• Do School-Based Depression Prevention Programs Support Youth? Analyzing School-Based Interventions for Primary and Secondary Prevention of Depression, The HEDCO Institute for Evidence-Based Educational Practice, College of Education, University of Oregon, 2023
• Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being in Schools: An Action Guide for School and District Leaders, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health, 2023
• Suicide: Blueprint for Youth Suicide Prevention, American Academy of Pediatrics, 2024

Online Panel Discussion

In this online panel discussion, report authors Jennifer Pfeifer, Leslie Leve, Rhonda Boyd, and Joanna Williams, discuss with sleep expert, Ariel A. Williamson, what the research says on how we can effectively promote positive mental health during early adolescence.