SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

May 13, 2019 by Karen Jensen, MLS

Teen Services 101: Foundations – Understanding Teens Today

May 13, 2019 by Karen Jensen, MLS   Leave a Comment

I’ve been working on doing some training in various avenues with staff that are new to working with teens in public libraries. I recently outlined what I think is necessary to make a comprehensive and successful teen services plan here, and now I’ve been working on pulling out some of those pieces and fleshing them out. Today I’m going to be talking about understanding who teens are, the foundations. I believe when we understand who teens are, break down our personal biases and truly flesh out what motivates teen behavior, we better serve them. In subsequent posts I will be talking about what teens want from public libraries, the challenges we face in serving teens, and going over some programming fundamentals. We’ll wrap up with a brief overview and timeline of YA literature – I’ve been working on an inforgraphic! But for today, let’s delve into the life of teens and see if we can serve them well by understanding who they are.

The Teen working on some digital media

The Foundations: Understanding Teens

Basic Stats

In general, teens make up around 13.2% of the population. Though that number is expected to decrease in the next few years, the overall number of teens will still grow because the population is growing. A failure to serve teens and serve them well means that we are failing more than 10% of our local communities. And like any population, teens are not a monolith, they are diverse and complicated and always changing. Knowing some basic statistics about teens helps us better understanding who they are and how to serve them. Some things we know:

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • 46% identify as a person of color and that percentage will keep growing
  • 10-20% identify as LGBTQIA+, though recent polls suggest that number may be much higher
  • Around 1 in 5 faces food insecurity, meaning they aren’t sure where there next meal is coming from and they often go to bed hungry
  • Around 1 in 6 teens of all genders will be the victim of sexual violence by the age 18
  • Around 1 in 4 struggle with a mental health issues

These are just a few of the statistics that help us identify who our teens are. More importantly, what they remind us of is the fact that in one way or the other, in ways that we often will never know, our teens are struggling with a wide variety of issues that can influence behavior. It never hurts to have compassion for the teens walking through our doors.

You can find more statistics here: see https://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2015/01/serving-full-t-i-l-t-making-the-case-with-demographics/)

Basics of Adolescent Development

In addition to having some basic statistical knowledge, we know that adolescence having their own unique challenges in terms of development. When we talk about adolescent development, here’s what we know:

  1. Teens are social and relationship oriented
  2. Identity formation is an important task during this period
  3. Teens are working on gaining independence and often straddle two worlds and receive conflicting messages about who they are and what is expected of them.
  4. Hormones and body changes take a lot of physical energy and teens often need a lot of sleep
  5. Teens are under intense pressure, literally & peer pressure

For more information on adolescent development, see
https://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2015/01/serving-full-t-i-l-t-sarcasm-spice-and-everything-awesome-the-developing-teen-by-rebecca-denham/

Teen Brain Science

We now know through teen brain science studies that the adolescent brain functions differently then an adult brain. In fact, young adults don’t begin to think like adults until the age of 24 or 25. Teens don’t utilize their frontal lobes in the same ways that adults do. Since the frontal lobe is responsible for things like complex decision making, impulse control and understanding potential consequences, we find that teens are often impulsive and act in ways that don’t make sense to most adults, especially those who have forgotten what it is like to be a teenager. It is critical that those working with teens understand how the teen brain differs from an adult brain and adjust their expectations accordingly.

See this complete infographic at
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-6-things-to-know/teenbrain6thingstoknow-508_153233.pdf

For more on teen brain science see:
https://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2015/01/serving-full-t-i-l-t-teen-brain-science-101/)

The 40 Developmental Assets

Research from the Search Institute focuses on a concept known as The 40 Developmental Assets. These are 40 assets, or attributes, that researchers have identified that benefit teens and help them to grow into healthy, successful people. The more assets a teen can check off of the list, the less likely they are to engage in risky behavior. Risky behavior is defined as things like drug use, drinking, unprotected sex, etc.

You can read more about the 40 Developmental Assets here: https://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2015/02/serving-teens-full-t-i-l-t-asset-building-101-how-using-the-40-developmental-assets-can-help-us-plan-and-evaluate-teen-programming/ and https://www.search-institute.org/our-research/development-assets/developmental-assets-framework/.

Understanding Generation Z

Defined: Born between 1995 – 2014

Largest group of teens yet: Roughly 60 million

Life Defining Moments: 9/11, Recession of 2018, Today’s group of teens have never lived in a time when the United States was not involved in multiple wars in other countries

Characteristics

•Digital Natives – Multi-taskers, visual, less focused (average attention span is 8 seconds)

•Entrepreneurs (want to turn interests into $, but they are bargain hunters)

•Prefer quality over quantity and do most of their shopping online •Socially conscious and engaged (March for Our Lives, Little Miss Flint, Climate change protests)

•Like making money but saving it (they are bargain hunters)

•Although they are online, they care about privacy and personal contact

•More diverse and accepting than previous generation

For more information on Generation Z, check out these 5 Infographics on Gen Z.

What else do you think we need to know about teens today? Drop us a comment and add to the discussion. Next Time: What do teens want from public libraries?

Filed under: Uncategorized

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments
Adolescent DevelopmentGeneration ZProfessional DevelopmentTeen BrainTeen Services

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

December 2022

Book Mail: Romances, thrillers, mysteries, dystopias, and more!

by Karen Jensen, MLS

December 2022

The Difference Between YA and NA, a former teen now new adult reader perspective

by Karen Jensen, MLS

December 2022

Post-It Note Reviews: Quick looks at 9 new titles

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2022

Reclaiming Queer History, a guest post by James Brandon

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2022

I Wrote a Book About the Pandemic. I'm Scared No One Will Want to Read It, a guest post by Sara Saedi

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

2023 Caldecott Jump

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Creating a Collective Black Ancestry: Researcher Kimberly Annece Henderson Discusses Dear Yesteryear

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Recent Graphic Novel Deals, Early Mar 2023 | News

by Johanna

Heavy Medal

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Book Review: Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave with illustrations by Tom de Freston

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Newbery Medalist Amina Luqman-Dawson visits The Yarn

by Colby Sharp

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

14 New Installments in Popular YA Series

12 YA Titles Publishing in 2022 That Feature Asian American Protagonists

Best Young Adult Books 2021 | SLJ Best Books

17 Middle Grade and YA Books That Spotlight #BlackJoy

Three Creepy and Kooky Books for 'Wednesday' Fans | Read-Alikes

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023