How We Grow Up

Understanding Adolescence

Matt Richtel

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Hardback

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English

HarperCollins
28 August 2025

Age groups: adolescents; Cognitivism, cognitive theory; Child & developmental psychology; Teenagers: advice for parents

Building off his award-winning New York Times series on the contemporary teen mental-health crisis, the Pulitzer Prize–winning science reporter delivers a groundbreaking investigation into adolescence, the pivotal life stage undergoing profound—and often confounding—transformation.

The transition from childhood to adulthood is a natural, evolution-honed cycle that now faces radical change and challenge. The adolescent brain, sculpted for this transition over eons of evolution, confronts a modern world that creates so much social pressure as to regularly exceed the capacities of the evolving mind. The problem comes as a bombardment of screen-based information pelts the brain just as adolescence is undergoing a second key change: puberty is hitting earlier. The result is a neurological mismatch between an ultra-potent environment and a still-maturing brain that can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges. It is a crisis that is part of modern life but can only be truly grasped through a broad, grounded lens of the biology of adolescence itself. Through this lens, Richtel shows us how adolescents can understand themselves, and parents and educators can better help.

For decades, this transition to adulthood has been defined by hormonal shifts that trigger the onset of puberty. But Richtel takes us where science now understands so much of the action is: the brain. A growing body of research that looks for the first time into budding adult neurobiology explains with untold clarity the emergence of the “social brain,” a craving for peer connection, and how the behaviors that follow pave the way for economic and social survival. This period necessarily involves testing—as the adolescent brain is programmed from birth to take risks and explore themselves and their environment—so that they may be able to thrive as they leave the insulated care of childhood.

Richtel, diving deeply into new research and gripping personal stories, offers accessible, scientifically grounded answers to the most pressing questions about generational change. What explains adolescent behaviors, risk-taking, reward-seeking, and the ongoing mental health crisis How does adolescence shape the future of the species What is the nature of adolescence itself

By: Matt Richtel
Imprint: HarperCollins
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 26mm
Weight: 449g
ISBN: 9780063282063
ISBN 10: 0063282062
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 28 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Matt Richtel has been a reporter at the New York Times since 2000. He won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for a series that exposed the pervasive risks of distracted driving and its root causes, prompting widespread reform. He is the author of A Deadly Wandering, which the New York Times Book Review declared, ""deserves a spot next to Fast Food Nation and To Kill a Mockingbird in America's high school curriculum""; it was named a ""best book of the year"" by the San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor, Kirkus Reviews, and Winnipeg Free Press. He has appeared on NPR's Fresh Air, PBS Newshour, and other major media outlets. He lives in San Francisco, California.

Reviews for How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence

""Matt Richtel takes us on a powerful journey to understand the forces shaping the lives of adolescents. As we navigate a profound youth mental health crisis, this book could not be more important or timely. This is essential reading for parents, policymakers, educators and anyone who cares about helping our kids live their best lives."" — Dr. Vivek Hallegere Murthy, 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States ""In today's rapidly changing world, we've created fearful children instead of resilient ones. With this powerful new book, Matt Richtel addresses the mounting challenges that adolescents face, offering a path to transform anxiety into resourcefulness and opportunity. His insights give parents and educators practical tools to help young people navigate their complex reality and build the strength they will need for tomorrow. If you care about young people, this is one of the best books you’ll ever read."" — James P. Steyer, Founder and CEO, Common Sense Media ""This book should be at the bedside of every parent who believes they are alone but really aren’t. A vivid set of inquiries into the science, social history, and personal experience of adolescence."" — Kirkus Reviews ""A timely and essential consideration of the science of adolescence...The compassion of Richtel's book equals the rigor of his research....Should be on all library shelves alongside Jonathan Haidt's bestselling The Anxious Generation."" — Library Journal (starred review)