Child and Adolescent Development

FrameWorks has the world’s largest body of framing research on children and adolescents. It is used around the world to create change.

This research provides an overarching framing strategy to effectively communicate about a wide range of issues that affect children and young people.

Certain assumptions about children, youth, and families come up again and again.

To communicate effectively, advocates need to be able to navigate these dominant beliefs.

The tested frames come from research on six continents and have pushed policy in progressive directions at local, state, national, and international levels. Join this global narrative shift effort by exploring these resources.

Featured Work

Toolkit

Reframing Adolescence and Adolescent Development

This toolkit is a resource for communicators who want to change the narrative about adolescence and adolescent development.

Report

Collective Caregiving: A Frame for Talking About What Kids and Families Need to Thrive

We all love our kids. We often love our neighbors', friends', and coworkers' kids. So why haven't we, in the U.S., built systems that support all of our kids? If we want to build demand for...

Report

Talking About Racism in Child and Family Advocacy

As the field seeks to lead a more public conversation about the impacts of racism on children and families—and about how racism structures the systems that children and families interact...

All work

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Report

Communicating About Disparities in Children’s Oral Health

The disparities in oral health by economic status and race are important, and deserve the full attention of advocates. If this information isn’t communicated carefully, this can lead to...

Report

Where’s the Learning? An Analysis of Media Stories of Digital Media and Learning

Distance learning and online learning are the new normal. What are the explicit and implicit messages embedded in media coverage of educational technology?

Report

Where is Early Childhood Development on the International Child Advocacy Agenda?

This analysis of organizational communications explores patterns in the ways that international advocacy groups talk about children’s issues.

Report

How to Talk About Children’s Mental Health: A FrameWorks MessageMemo

This MessageMemo provides advocates with a communications map for improving the public's understanding of children's mental health and the value of solutions.

Toolkit

Talking About Children’s Mental Health

Included in this toolkit are applications materials, based on the research findings, that can help engage the public in understanding children’s mental health, thereby improving the public...

Report

Refining the Options for Advancing Support for Child Mental Health Policies

This report tests the impact of frame elements, specifically interdependence and prevention, on support for progressive children's mental health policies.

Report

The Power of Levelness: Making Child Mental Health Visible and Concrete Through a Simplifying Model

This report presents "Levelness" as an explanatory metaphor that helps people understand early child mental health. It helps people understand that young children have mental health, what promotes...

Report

Moving North: Translating Child Mental Health Values and Models to Canada

This paper presents the results of a survey conducted in Alberta that demonstrates the impact of values on policy support related to children's issues.

Report

Between Cowboys and Barn Raisers: The Challenges of Explaining Child Mental Health and Development in Alberta

This research demonstrates the power of dominant and unproductive understandings of early childhood development and child mental health among Albertans.

Report

More to Genes Than That: Designing Metaphors to Explain Epigenetics

This report presents "Signature Effect" as an explanatory metaphor that helps people reason about the scientific concept of epigenetics.

Report

Air Traffic Control for Your Brain: Translating the Science of Executive Function Using a Simplifying Model

This report presents "Air Traffic Control" as an explanatory metaphor that helps people reason about the concept of executive function.

Article

Framing in the field: A case study

Framing in the field: A case study CHILD AND YOUTH POLICY ADVOCATES are constantly called on to craft messages to support better policies for children and their families locally and nationally....