Abstract

The public narrative on adolescence frames young people as dangerous threats and adolescence as an unfortunate time of life. This narrative shapes how we see and think about young people. And, in turn, how we as a society choose to support them and their development. But we can change this narrative and shift the thinking it shapes. Words can unlock new ways of thinking and open up opportunities for change. We know this to be the case from change efforts on issues ranging from civil rights to gay marriage and tobacco to mental health.

A concerted effort is required to put forward a new frame from which people can think more productively about adolescence and the cultural and social change necessary to better support their agency and well-being. And then we need discipline and innovation to repeat this new frame creatively from multiple channels over an extended period of time so that it can have an effect on our thinking and actions.

We need to move our thinking from adolescence as a time when we close our eyes and just hope a young person gets through—without being arrested, addicted, or otherwise damaged—to a time of opportunity when lifelong skills and relationships are built and passions spark and ignite. We need to move from policies that prioritize protection to those than enable engagement and empower young people. We need to reframe adolescence from eye roll to opportunity. The title of the 2020 Annual Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine meetings—Adolescent Health: Transforming Risk to Wellness—is a great example of this frameshift.

Changing how we communicate—the examples we use, the pronouns we choose, the tone we take, and the agency we ascribe—is a core feature in this culture change work. These choices in how we communicate are about framing, and this is why tapping into the science and practice of framing is part of shifting how we see and support young people.