BOCYF Projects: The Forum on Adolescence

Adolescence is a time of tremendous potential and considerable risk, when fundamental needs must be met to assure healthy, constructive, and rewarding adult lives. Inattention to these needs imperils not only this generation of adolescents, but also the strength and competence of our future workers, parents, and citizens. Fortunately, knowledge of the adaptive capacities, as well as the vulnerabilities, of adolescents has grown exponentially in recent years. A variety of innovative efforts to address the needs of adolescents have been fashioned in a number of communities by schools, youth services organizations, health organizations, religious groups, and state and local coalitions. The contemporary context of adolescent development, however, poses new and formidable obstacles to these initiatives. Changing family structures, unprecedented demands on parental time, the erosion of community cohesion, growing cynicism about the role of government, dramatic shifts in the structure of the labor market, the rise in discretionary time and risky behaviors among youth confront these promising, yet fragile initiatives.

In the past decade, research on adolescence has grown from a small sub-specialty to a burgeoning field of its own, with both behaviorally- and medically-oriented research societies (Society for Research in Adolescence, Society for Adolescent Medicine). Among the more innovative research developments in this area are investigations into brain development during adolescence; the role of puberty and other biological mechanisms as triggers for behavioral shifts that occur during adolescence; the features of schools, communities and neighborhoods that promote constructive activities among youth; the unique health and mental health care needs of adolescents; and the ingredients of effective parenting during adolescence.

Much of this research came to the attention of policymakers and the public through the work of the Carnegie Council on Adolescence, which completed its decade of work in 1996.

To ensure that the legacy of this work would be continued and expanded, the Board on Children, Youth, and Families established the Forum on Adolescence in 1997. With core support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Forum became a national focal point for authoritative, nonpartisan analysis of research and policy issues that relate to adolescents and their families.

Since its inception, the Forum has made significant progress developing a rich portfolio of activities that range from new research on adolescent development to supporting families and communities to promote successful youth development. It also has focused discussion on key issues facing young people and their families today and worked to link the best thinking and knowledge from research to policy and practice.

One the Forum’s first efforts was an exhaustive review and synthesis of previously published reports of the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) on adolescent health and development.

To provide a setting for dialogue and exploration on key topics, a number of workshops have been held on:

The Forum’s success has provided impetus for its evolution into a standing committee within the NRC and IOM — the Committee on Adolescent Health and Development. As a standing committee, this group will have greater authority and flexibility. Unlike the Forum, the committee will be able to establish ad-hoc committees, convene workshops, and author reports. The committee will be formally established in November 2000 and its membership announced.

The Committee will be made up of approximately 20 individuals who represent a wide spectrum of expertise — adolescent medicine, public health, mental health, adolescent development (cognitive/social), family systems/parenting, neurology/endocrinology, education, youth service organizations, public policy (federal/state), local elected and appointed officials, labor market/economics, community development, religious organizations, social work, criminology, philanthropy, business/private sector, and statistics/methodology.

The Committee on Adolescent Health and Development will continue to be responsible for providing an interdisciplinary, national focal point for taking stock of what we know about adolescent health and development, applying this knowledge base to pressing issues facing adolescents, and stimulating new directions for innovation and inquiry. Its goals are to:

Synthesize reliable, science-based information about the essential requirements of adolescent development and communicate it in accessible formats for our nation’s decision-makers, those who design and run youth programs and institutions, and those who shape public opinion;
Stimulate new research directions and collaborations to encourage a better fit between the information needs of policy makers and the questions addressed by researchers, and to enhance recognition that the scientific enterprise is a resource requiring deliberate, coordinated planning;
Showcase exciting, emerging research that warrants rapid communication to those who shape public debates about adolescents and design policies to address their needs;
Convene and foster collaborations that capitalize on cross-disciplinary and cross-sector information sharing and charting new directions for research and action;
Disseminate and translate scientific information for a wide array of audiences in ways that illuminate the problems and opportunities of adolescent development and foster a climate of hope for enhancing the life prospects of young people.

Building on the solid foundation created by the Forum, the Committee will move on several substantive fronts to fulfill its mission. Here is a sampling of projects slated to begin shortly:

Understanding and preventing motor vehicle crashes involving young drivers. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among young people in the 15- to- 20 age group. Planning is under way for a new committee that will review and synthesize available research on the morbidity and mortality associated with these crashes as well as the developmental, psychosocial, and behavioral risk and protective factors involved; discuss prevention policies and programs; and make recommendations for both research and policy.
New research on brain development during the adolescent years. Exciting new evidence has shown that brain development continues well into the adolescent years. Because of its potential, the Committee is planning a workshop with experts from neuroscience, child and adolescent development, psychology, education, and behavioral genetics to examine the new research and consider its implications.
Re-conceptualizing adolescent risk and vulnerability. Teens are often described as living in a fog of exaggerated personal invulnerability. Both scientific evidence and direct discussion reveal that teens are well aware of many threats to their health and well being – chronic diseases, violence in their communities, and continuing racial tensions. This workshop will reconsider our views of adolescent vulnerability and what a new framework will mean for policy and practice.
Changing realities, challenges, and stresses on families and what these mean for the well being of adolescents. Today’s families confront a changed landscape that has altered work, parenting, and general lifestyles. This proposed workshop will examine recent changes in U.S. families, their challenges and stresses, and the implications for children and adolescents.
Strengthening relationships between adolescents and their parents. This workshop would bring together researchers, policymakers, educators, service providers and others to review knowledge about the role of parents, families, and other caretakers in promoting adolescent development.
Promoting peaceful, respectful relations among youth. The increasing diversity of our population, particularly in the younger age groups, poses both challenges and opportunities for adolescents. Building on earlier work of the Forum, the Committee will consider developing a large-scale initiative in this area. To map the terrain for this effort, the Committee will convene a workshop to examine research on early child development and the origins of racism.

The Committee will also develop a major new initiative on education and urban school reform in middle and senior schools. Among the topics that may be explored are building a knowledge base on child and adolescent development and education, bolstering family and community supports to enhance school reform, linking education, youth development, and social capital, and school to work programs. The Committee will grapple with these issues through commissioned research reviews and synthesis; small working group meetings for experts in the field; and workshops and/or national conferences.

In response to the public’s growing interest supporting healthy adolescent development and recent and sizable public and private investments in community-based youth programs, this ongoing committee is reviewing and synthesizing existing evidence regarding community-level programs designed to promote positive youth development. It will conclude its work in April 2001 with the release of a final report. The report will be framed around the essential elements of adolescent well being and healthy development, linking to these the program features that contribute to successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. It will examine what we know about the current landscape of development programs for America’s youth and how programs are meeting their diverse needs, and discuss national, state, and local funding and how to best use available resources for building and enhancing youth development programs. The report will also examine both the theory and practice of program evaluation and suggest strategies practitioners can use to evaluate their programs. It will offer recommendations for policy, practice, and research to ensure well-designed programs that meet young people’s needs. As with other efforts, the findings and recommendations will be widely communicated in community forums around the country.

For further information, contact the Board on Children, Youth, and Families, at 202-334-1935.