On Tuesday, February 4, 2025, Alan Hu Foundation offered the first webinar in the 2025 Mental Health Lecture Series with a presentation by Dr. Laurence Steinberg, “Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence.” Dr. Steinberg explains, “Adolescence now lasts longer than ever, and the adolescent brain is surprisingly malleable. These new discoveries make this time of life crucial in determining a person’s ultimate success and happiness.” In this lecture, Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D., one of the world’s leading authorities on adolescence, discussed the teenage brain’s potential for change, the elongation of adolescence as a developmental stage, and the implications of each for how we parent, educate, and understand young people. The webinar was funded by the City of Pleasanton Community Youth Grant program.
5:17 Problems faced by U.S. adolescents
8:04 Elongation of adolescence
13:33 Adolescence as an opportunity
15:10 Brain plasticity
21:07 Benefits of “Authoritative Parenting”
37:20 Practical advice
39:40 Five protective activities (sleep, physical exercise, mindfulness, Authoritative Parenting, being challenged without being stressed in school)
43:46 Q&A
Dr. Steinberg is the Distinguished University Professor, and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Temple University. He is the author or co-author of approximately 500 articles and essays on development during the teenage years; the author of many books for parents, including Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence, You and Your Adolescent, and The 10 Basic Principles of Good Parenting; and the leading college textbook, Adolescence. His latest book is You and Your Adult Child: How to Grow Together in Challenging Times. Dr. Steinberg has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, and is a frequent guest on NPR.
The free webinar was held on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, via Zoom from 6:30 – 7:30 PST. It included 15 minutes for questions and answers following Dr. Steinberg’s presentation. The Mental Health Association for Chinese Communities at https://www.mhacc-usa.org provided simultaneous Chinese interpretation.
at https://www.mhacc-usa.org provided simultaneous Chinese interpretation.
We were honored and privileged that Dr. Steinberg shared his knowledge and experience of lessons from the new science of adolescence. We were grateful to our audience for tuning in across United States as well as from Afghanistan, Aland Islands, Australia, Cambodia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. Thank you, MHACC Founder and President Elaine Peng. Thank you, Ida Shaw, for simultaneous Chinese Interpretation.