RICHARD M. LERNER, Ph.D. is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and the director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University. He has been teaching and researching the characteristics of successful teens for more than thirty years, and his renowned work has appeared on Good Morning America, and in Newsweek and USA Today, among others. Dr. Lerner currently directs the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development that is funded by the National 4-H Council.
The most prolific developmental psychologist of our era has distilled his decades of insight into The Good Teen, a very accessible analysis of adolescence as it deserves to be understood. --Graham Spanier, President, Penn State University With unchallengeable research and analysis, Dr. Richard Lerner's terrific and very important book, The Good Teen, totally refutes and rejects the fear and demonization of teenagers so prevalent in America today--and shows us how we must recognize the treasure that teens are and work to develop fully their great potential, for the teens themselves and for our society. --Former U. S. Senator Fred Harris, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation. There is no one in America today who understands teenagers better than Richard Lerner. The Good Teen overflows with gem-like insights based on Lerner's own groundbreaking research, his positive youth perspective, and his own experience as a caring and successful parent. Readers will find lots of useful advice about questions that arise everyday in contemporary family life. --William Damon, author of The Moral Child, Professor of Education, and Director, Stanford Center on Adolescence, Stanford University This outstanding book, written by one of the nation's leading authorities on adolescent development, is a critical read for all interested in youth. It merges scholarship with anecdote to produce a volume that is as informative as it is engaging. For any parent, youth worker, educator or health professional as well, The Good Teen provides valuable insights that debunk the myth that this is an age of storm and stress. --Robert Wm. Blum MD, MPH, PhD, William H. Gates Sr. Professor and Chair Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health At a time when poverty, inequality and school segregation are increasing in a country with over 2 million incarcerate