Adolescence in the 21st Century

What is wrong with young people today? This question has captured the concerns of the older generationabout the habits and attitudes of the adolescents in their midst. The assumption is that there is indeedsomething wrong with young people. Even Plato must have rolled his eyes as he relates his diatribe aboutthe adolescents of Greece. Is the current generation of adolescents less motivated or less focused than theirparents? How will they respond to the challenges facing them as they progress to adulthood? When infact do they become adults? Although every generation draws upon their own unique and variedexperiences the speed of our current societal changes has created a very different adolescent passage forcontemporary youth than ever before.The world as we know it has changed significantly and because of it much of today's youth is decidedlydifferent from their parents. Adolescence itself has shifted dramatically. Young children are displaying adolescent behaviors well before they are readyto act on or understand their meaning and older adolescents are staying perpetual children. As one writer put it the conveyer belt that transportedadolescents into adulthood has broken down. This book provides an interdisciplinary collection of research on the constants and challenges faced byyoung people today. Failure to launch? Social media? Economic stagnation? For the generation that is coming of age in a post-terrorist world and inthe midst of economic upheaval the challenges might seem insurmountable. However in this book scholars from across the academy fromsociology psychology education philosophy science and business explain how the young people today are responding to the constants of growthand change in adolescence and the unique challenges of life in the 21st century.