Research + News | Topic: Social Development

4 Reasons Why A Gap Year Might Be The Best Way For Students To Build SEL Skills (Even During A Pandemic)

A blog post from Steve Moore of Growing Leaders. Read the post here.

‘I’m In High School Again’: Virus Sends College Students Home To Parents, And Their Rules

Their college campuses closed, crestfallen students have journeyed back to their childhood bedrooms — and to chores, revived sibling rivalries and curfews. Read the article here.

Failure To Launch: Parents Are Barriers To Teen Independence

While most parents say they are doing enough to prepare their teen for adulthood, they gave low rankings of their teen’s ability to handle basic tasks. Read the article here.

14 Skills Your Kids Should Have Before Moving Out

Tim Elmore discusses some skills that you should work to develop in your teens before they move out of the house. Read his blog here.

The Research On What Creates Satisfied And Successful Kids

What Did the Most Extensive Longitudinal Study Discover About Kids? Read the blog post from Tim Elmore here.

Mis-Educating The Young

In this article for the New York Times, David Brooks says, “People in their 20s seem to be compelled to bounce around more, popping up here and there, quantumlike, with different jobs, living arrangements and partners while hoping that all these diverse experiences magically add up to something.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Adolescence Is a Gift, But Extended Adolescence Is a Trap

Nebraska senator Ben Sasse wants parents to get serious about shepherding kids into responsible adulthood. Read the article from Christianity Today here.

The Coddling Of The American Mind

In the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don’t like. Here’s why that’s disastrous for education—and mental health.

Read the article here.

Jaded Children, Callow Adults

This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education takes a look at what we lose when we expand adolescence. From the article:

“For some time, we’ve been seeing a curious trend: Young adults are attempting to delay adulthood, while preteen children are hurrying—or being hurried—into the roles and attitudes of young adults. It’s no accident that child psychologists have extended their definition of adolescence into the 20s or that primary-school kids are pushed into beauty pageants where they are dressed like Miss America.”

Read the full article here.

The Culture of Adolescence

George Will writes the following in an opinion piece on Philly.com:

As Penn State historian Gary Cross says, adolescence is being redefined to extend well into the 20s, and the “clustering of rites of passage” into adulthood – marriage, childbearing, permanent employment – “has largely disappeared.”

Read the full article here.