National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×

ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT AND THE BIOLOGY OF PUBERTY

SUMMARY OF A WORKSHOP ON NEW RESEARCH

Forum on Adolescence

Michele D. Kipke, Editor

Board on Children, Youth, and Families

Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

National Research Council

Institute of Medicine

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

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The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.

The study was supported by Grant No. B6509 between the National Academy of Sciences and Carnegie Corporation of New York. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×

FORUM ON ADOLESCENCE

DAVID A. HAMBURG (Chair),

Carnegie Corporation of New York

(President Emeritus)

HUDA AKIL,

Mental Health Research Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

CHERYL ALEXANDER,

Center for Adolescent Health, Johns Hopkins University

CLAIRE BRINDIS,

Institute for Health Policy Studies, Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

GREG DUNCAN,

Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University

JACQUELYNNE ECCLES,

School of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

ABIGAIL ENGLISH,

Adolescent Health Care Project, National Center for Youth Law, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

EUGENE GARCIA,

School of Education, University of California, Berkeley

HELENE KAPLAN,

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom, New York

IRIS F. LITT,

Division of Adolescent Medicine, Stanford University

JOHN MERROW,

The Merrow Report, New York

ANNE C. PETERSEN,

W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, Michigan

KAREN PITTMAN,

International Youth Foundation, Baltimore

ANNE PUSEY,

Jane Goodall Institute's Center, University of Minnesota

MICHAEL RUTTER,

Institute of Psychiatry, University of London

STEPHEN A. SMALL,

Department of Child and Family Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison

BEVERLY DANIEL TATUM,

Office of the Dean, Mt. Holyoke College

CAMILLE ZUBRINSKY CHARLES,

Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania

BARUCH FISCHHOFF, Liaison,

Council, Institute of Medicine; Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University

ELEANOR E. MACCOBY, Liaison,

Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Department of Psychology, Stanford University (emeritus)

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×

Michele D. Kipke, Director

Zodie Makonnen, Associate Director

Amy Gawad, Senior Project Assistant

Elena Nightingale, Adviser

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×

BOARD ON CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES

JACK P. SHONKOFF (Chair),

Heller Graduate School, Brandeis University

DAVID V.B. BRITT,

Children's Television Workshop, New York

LARRY BUMPASS,

Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison

SHEILA BURKE,

John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

DAVID CARD,

Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley

KEVIN GRUMBACH,

Department of Family and Community Medicine, Primary Care Research Center, University of California, San Francisco

MAXINE HAYES,

Department of Community and Family Health, Washington State Department of Health

MARGARET HEAGARTY,

Department of Pediatrics, Harlem Hospital Center, Columbia University

ALETHA C. HUSTON,

Department of Human Ecology, University of Texas, Austin

RENEE JENKINS,

Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Howard University

SHEILA KAMERMAN,

School of Social Work, Columbia University

SANDERS KORENMAN,

School of Public Affairs, Baruch College

CINDY LEDERMAN,

Circuit Court, Juvenile Justice Center, Dade County, Florida

SARA McLANAHAN,

Office of Population Research, Princeton University

VONNIE McLOYD,

Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan

PAUL NEWACHECK,

Institute of Health Policy Studies and Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco

DEBORAH STIPEK,

Graduate School of Education, University of California, Los Angeles

PAUL WISE,

Department of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×

EVAN CHARNEY, Liaison,

Council, Institute of Medicine; Department of Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Medical School

RUTH T. GROSS, Liaison,

Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Institute of Medicine;

Professor of Pediatrics Emerita,

Stanford University

ELEANOR E. MACCOBY, Liaison,

Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Department of Psychology, Stanford University (emeritus)

MICHELE D. KIPKE, Director

DEBORAH A. PHILLIPS, Director (through July 1998)

EMILY PERKINS, Project Assistant for Communications

DRUSILLA BARNES, Administrative Associate

ELENA NIGHTINGALE, Scholar-in-Residence

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×

WORKSHOP ON NEW RESEARCH ON THE BIOLOGY OF PUBERTY AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT

Participants

MELVIN GRUMBACH (Chair),

University of California, San Francisco

DAVID A. HAMBURG,

Carnegie Corporation of New York

(President Emeritus)

HUDA AKIL,

Mental Health Research Institute, University of Michigan

ADRIAN ANGOLD,

Duke University Medical Center

CHERYL ALEXANDER,

Center for Adolescent Health, Johns Hopkins University

FRANK BIRO,

Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

CLAIRE BRINDIS,

Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco

JEANNE BROOKS-GUNN,

Teachers College, Columbia University

WILLIAM DAMON,

Center on Adolescence, Stanford University

GREG DUNCAN,

Northwestern University

JACQUELYNNE ECCLES,

School of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

ANKE EHRHARDT,

New York State Psychiatric Institute

GLEN ELLIOTT,

University of California, San Francisco

ABIGAIL ENGLISH,

National Center for Youth Law, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

BARUCH FISCHHOFF,

Carnegie Mellon University

JAY GIEDD,

National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health

RUTH GROSS, Professor Emerita,

Stanford University

CHRIS HAYWARD,

Center on Adolescence, Stanford University

CHARLES IRWIN,

University of California, San Francisco

IRIS F. LITT,

Stanford University

ELEANOR MACCOBY,

Stanford University

ANN MASTEN,

Institute of Child Development, Minneapolis

JOHN MERROW,

The Merrow Report, New York

ANNE PETERSEN,

W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, Michigan

KAREN PITTMAN,

International Youth Foundation, Baltimore, Maryland

ANNE PUSEY,

Jane Goodall Institute's Center, University of Minnesota

DAVID ROWE,

University of Arizona

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×

STEPHEN SMALL,

University of Wisconsin, Madison

STEPHEN SUOMI,

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health

ELIZABETH SUSMAN,

Pennsylvania State University

CAROL WORTHMAN,

Emory University

MICHELE D. KIPKE, Director,

Forum on Adolescence

FAITH MITCHELL, Director,

Division on Social and Economic Studies

ELENA NIGHTINGALE, Scholar-In-Residence

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×

Preface

On March 23 and 24, 1998, the Forum on Adolescence gathered an interdisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners to review the state of knowledge about adolescent development at a workshop entitled New Research on the Biology of Puberty and Adolescent Development. This workshop focused both on puberty—a set of physical changes rooted in biology that can be timed and measured—and on adolescence—a more general and gradual coming of age that occupies much of the second decade of life and is, as one researcher has written, ''rooted in society" (Crockett and Petersen, 1993:45). Participants represented diverse fields and brought to the workshop knowledge about an exceptionally wide range of research, including the fields of pediatric and adolescent medicine, public health, neuroendocrinology, behavioral genetics, anthropology, psychiatry, psychology, sociology, animal behavior, law, and others. Using this knowledge, participants were asked to address five key questions:

  1. What changes have taken place in the knowledge base of adolescent development?

  2. What key findings have emerged from recent studies?

  3. What are some of the most pressing research challenges?

  4. What are the policy implications of this research?

  5. Which messages need to be communicated in order to mobilize the public to support the development, health, and well-being of adolescents?

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×

Drawing on participants' presentations and discussions, this workshop summary addresses each of these questions. Of necessity, it reflects the particular emphases of the workshop discussions, as well as specific statements made by participants during the workshop.

It is important to note that this workshop was an effort intended to take stock of the current knowledge base on adolescent development and highlight key findings from recent research. It was also convened to help inform the future work of a new, cross-cutting initiative of the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council called the Forum on Adolescence. Given limitations of both time and scope, this workshop could not address a variety of issues that are certainly very important when considering the development, health, and well-being of adolescents. Four particular issues that were only touched on briefly during the workshop are the role of genetics and the interaction between genetic, individual, social, and environmental influences on adolescent development; the role of nutrition and dietary habits; the role of sleep to the healthy development of adolescents; and the role of socioeconomic status, family income, and poverty on adolescent development. The fact that they were not discussed should not suggest that they are not important issues, nor that they are issues undeserving of consideration.

It is also important to note that this workshop report summarizes material presented and discussed at the workshop. Although it references published materials suggested or provided by participants, it is not intended to provide a comprehensive or thorough review of the field. It is our hope that this report will help to illuminate important issues in the field of adolescent development that deserve further attention and consideration.

We offer our appreciation to all of the presenters and participants for their time and contributions. Special thanks go to the planning group—Huda Akil, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Anne Petersen, Anne Pusey, and Elizabeth Susman—who gave freely of their time to set the agenda, select participants, contribute to the meeting, and review the initial draft of the report. A special note of appreciation is due Melvin Grumbach, chair of the planning group, for his thoughtful attention and continual assistance in planning and running the workshop. Thanks are also due to Rima Shore for a distillation of the major themes that emerged from the workshop in her work on this summary report, and to Amy Gawad for her assistance in preparing the document prior to publication. Carnegie Corporation of New York provided support for this activity through its core funding of the Forum on Adolescence.

Page xiii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC's Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report: Sarah Brown, National Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy, Washington, DC; Michael I. Cohen, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Elizabeth McAnarney, Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center; Elena Nightingale, Scholar-in-Residence, National Research Council; Jack P. Shonkoff, Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare, Brandeis University; and Ruby Takanishi, Foundation for Child Development, New York, NY.

Although the individuals listed above have provided constructive comments and suggestions, it must be emphasized that responsibility for this final report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

We hope this report will stimulate and encourage researchers, service providers, and policy makers to search for new ways to ensure that all adolescents grow to become healthy, happy, and productive adults.

David A. Hamburg, Chair

Michele D. Kipke, Director

Forum on Adolescence

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 1999. Adolescent Development and the Biology of Puberty: Summary of a Workshop on New Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9634.
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Adolescence is one of the most fascinating and complex transitions in the human life span. Its breathtaking pace of growth and change is second only to that of infancy. Over the last two decades, the research base in the field of adolescence has had its own growth spurt. New studies have provided fresh insights while theoretical assumptions have changed and matured. This summary of an important 1998 workshop reviews key findings and addresses the most pressing research challenges.

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