Pope Francis surprised thousands of teenagers by personally hearing confessions for more than an hour in St Peter’s Square on Saturday. The Pope administered the sacrament of Reconciliation to 16 teenage boys and girls. It was part of a three-day Jubilee for Teens, for young people aged between 13 and 16, which is an initiative Read more
This is a review of Beyond the Screen: Youth Ministry for the Connected But Alone Generation by Andrew Zirschky (Abingdon 2015). When it comes to teenagers and social media, many of the headlines and much of the prevailing conventional wisdom—including within our churches—is that social media is a danger and a threat. This not only Read more
The rate of teenage pregnancy in England and Wales has halved in 16 years and currently stands at its lowest level since records began 50 years ago. Newly released figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 23 young women under the age of 18 out of every 1,000 became pregnant in 2014, compared Read more
Eighteen years ago, Lisa Miller, now the director of clinical psychology at Columbia University’s Teachers College, had an epiphany on a New York subway car. She had been poring over the mountains of data generated by a three-generation study of depressed women and their children and grandchildren. The biological trend was clear: Women with severe—and Read more
Teenagers can do the craziest things. They drive at high speeds. They stand around outside loud parties and smoke weed in front of the cops. They guzzle liquor. They insult their parents – or lie to them – and feel no remorse, because, of course, their parents are idiots. It is easy to blame peer Read more
As I make my way to meet parenting gurus Janey Downshire and Naella Grew for a nice grown-up cup of tea in a smart London café, it dawns on me that, if I am really going to test their teenager parenting skills, I ought to turn up in role. First I should be late, irked Read more
What can be more painful to a parent than losing a child to suicide? The problem of cyberbullying was brought to national attention several years ago by the passing of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who committed suicide subsequent to cyberbullying by Lori Drew, the mother of another girl. Despite years of public campaigns and passage of Read more
Eating Disorders are among some of the most serious and challenging mental illnesses that affect our children and adolescents. Recent research suggeststhat up to 75% of adolescent girls view themselves as overweight or needing to lose weight and around a quarter of our teenagers are experimenting with dangerous dieting behaviour, such as taking laxatives and severely restricting Read more
Pacific parents need encouragement to acknowledge and listen to teenagers by negotiating which traditions best support their wellbeing, says a Samoan sociologist. Fiva Faalau, who graduated with a PhD from Massey University’s Albany campus last week, says while her study of 45 Samoan teenagers revealed diverse family structures and parenting styles, some parents need to Read more