Laurence Steinberg: Age of Opportunity : Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence

In Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence, Lawrence Steinberg, a leading adolescent development scholar, argues that adolescence is not only a time of risk but also a time of immense opportunity for young people to develop into successful adults. To do so, the book first discusses scientific discoveries and explanations for adolescent brain development, which are then later used to support the effects and potential of adolescence and why it is such a critical period. He explains concepts or factors when combined can be used to depict the importance of adolescence and support his argument for change. Steinberg successfully uses scientific data to back up his transformed view of adolescence and argue its significance and changes in approaches that should be made. He addresses a wide variety of issues and their probable causes as well as areas in which society can better excel in raising its children. In the last few chapters and conclusion, Steinberg gives recommendations for parents, schools, employers and policy makers in the form of broad goals and specific ways of achieving them. In the introduction of the book, Steinberg argues that there are conflicting ideas of adolescence and that parents, teachers, and the legal system need to take a different perspective on adolescence. The purpose of his book then is to demonstrate how adolescence should be viewed differently than it is today, how to do this and what positive results can come of it. Age of Opportunity is a well-written work that includes innovative theories supported by scientific explanations. Its goal is to change the way we view adolescents and it seems to do just that, at least it calls our attention to the issues of the current view. Chapter one, ‘‘The Importance of Self-Regulation’’, opens the idea that adolescence is a time of tremendous opportunity and great risk for individuals as their brains are at a time of heightened sensitivity and development and their environments can have a huge effect on later behavior and achievement. Steinberg argues that this is especially important because U.S. adolescents are not faring well in comparison to their international counterparts. Some data he uses to make his point are the fact that there have been no improvements in standardized test results since the 70’s, graduation rates are extremely low, rates of teen pregnancy are high as well as rates of aggression and violence in highschoolers, high rates of adolescent obesity and mental health problems such as high suicide rates. He suggests that we need to consider the quality of experiences young people are offered today and attributes many of these to lack of self-regulation, as it is a critical factor in success. ‘‘The Plastic Brain’’, chapter two, begins with an explanation of why people have the most vivid memories of their adolescence than any other time period in their lives, which leads to a discussion of the brain’s ‘‘plasticity’’ and a more neurological approach to adolescent development. In reality, these vivid memories really have nothing to do with the nature of the events, but the emotions that were triggered while experiencing it. When strong positive or negative emotions are triggered, neurotransmitters are released, making the event more memorable. After explaining this, Steinberg continues to define ‘‘plasticity,’’ which will later be used as the core of his opportunity argument. Plasticity refers to the ability of our brain to be molded and learn from experiences or how the outside world affects us. During the adolescent period, our brains are very malleable and then later become more stiff or rigid. Developmental & Cayla Ebert cdebert@indiana.edu