Professor Hill will give a keynote address titled, The End of Adolescence:  The Lost Art of Delaying Adulthood

Is Gen Z resistant to growing up? Are our images of youth as trapped in an extended adolescence—coddled, unaccountable, and more reluctant to take on adult responsibilities than previous generations—valid? Is coming of age so different today than it was 50 or 100 years ago? The keynote address takes on these questions based on new research on an abandoned archive of recordings of college students from half a century ago. These archival data provide a unique opportunity to understand the processes of coming of age across generations, as it happened in its historical context, and relate these experiences to the experiences of today’s youth. Based on their new book, Hill and her colleague debunk the stereotypes of today’s youth.  Hill argues that what experts and the general public perceive as stalled development is in fact typical across generations.  Like many of today’s young adults, those of two generations ago also felt isolated, anxious, and that the path to success is fearfully narrow. This earlier generation, too, worried about whether they could make it on their own. Yet, among today’s young adults, these developmentally appropriate struggles are seen as evidence of immaturity. By understanding similarities across generations in the processes of coming of age in real time, Hill offers an alternative view of delaying adulthood and identifies the benefits of taking additional time to construct a meaningful future.

Keynote: The End of Adolescence:  The Lost Art of Delaying Adulthood 

Many families and schools feel the crunch as youth navigate high school and enter the high stakes of college. Current media suggests that today’s youth are often trapped in an extended adolescence, stalling as they make the transition to adulthood.  Rather than understanding the challenges that youth face, our societies are often quick to judge youth and demean them, casting them as apathetic and reticent to take on responsibilities. Hill’s recent research challenges this negative narrative of today’s youth.  Based on an analysis of recently discovered archival interviews, Hill will prevent evidence that delaying adulthood and the insecurities that come with it are not new to today’s generation. Each generation has its own struggles and insecurities as they come of age.  These struggles are more pronounced when the job market is insecure or unstable. She will outline what youth gain from having more time to launch into adulthood.  Based on decades of research with teens, their families and schools, Hill will describe the relational supports from families and schools that teens need to develop character, purpose, and a plan as they make the transition from adolescence to the rest of their lives.

MasterClass: Connecting Character with Care: Creating Time and Space for Youth to Thrive

This master class will guide attendees in developing caring relational spaces for teens.  We will focus on implementing Hill and Redding’s (2021) mentorship framework, including cultivating the mirrors, windows and guiding lights that youth need to hone their inner strengths, sense of purpose, and persistence.  In addition, we will describe how parent-adolescent relationships are transformed over the course of adolescence and the challenges and opportunities that parents and youth renegotiate their relationship in a way that will carry youth through adolescence and into adulthood.  Finally, whereas extra curriculars are often considered “extra” or “resume builders,”  they are a prime context for the development of character, purpose, and skill that will prepare youth for college and beyond.