For many parents the thought of the teen years holds more dread than all the sleepless nights of infancy and scraped knees of childhood combined. After all, teens are obstinate, inconsiderate, and defiant; they sulk and stress; they are prone to bad decisions and unreasonable behavior. Given the option, most parents would happily skip the storms of adolescence and move right in to the relative calm of young adulthood if they could. Who can blame them when popular wisdom tells them that their lovable twelve-year-old will be replaced by an unpredictable, emotional volcano at the age of thirteen? Although the word teenager has become synonymous with trouble, the evidence is clear: Adolescents have a bad rap—and according to groundbreaking new research, it’s an undeserved one. In The Good Teen, Richard Lerner lays bare compelling new data on the lives of teens today, dismantling old myths and redefining normal adolescence. Time and again his work reveals that in spite of the stereotypes, today’s teens are basically good kids who maintain healthy relationships with their families. Overflowing with real-life anecdotes and cutting-edge science, The Good Teen encourages new thinking, new public policies, and new programs that focus on teens’ strengths. Every teen, whatever their ability or background, has the same potential for healthy and successful development. In The Good Teen, Lerner presents the five personality characteristics, called the 5 Cs, that are proven to fuel positive development: Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character, and Caring. When the 5 Cs coalesce, a sixth emerges, Contribution: where young people contribute to their own development in an energetic and optimistic way. He also prescribes specific ways parents can foster the 5 Cs at home and in their communities.

The Good Teen: Rescuing Adolescence from the Myths of the Storm and Stress Years

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Lerner PH.D, Richard M.

Psychology & Counseling

Crown/Archetype

Who says the teen years have to be terrible? Although the word teenager has become synonymous with trouble, the evidence is clear: Adolescents have gotten a bad rap—and this according to a landmark eight-year study of 4,000 teens from twenty-five states. In The Good Teen, acclaimed researcher Richard M. Lerner sets the record straight. The book: • Explores the academic origins of “the troubled teen,” dismantling old myths and redefining normal adolescence • Presents the five characteristics of teen behavior that are proven to fuel positive development—Competence, Confidence, Connection,Character, and Caring—and specific ways parents can foster them • Envisions our children as resources to be developed, not problems to be fixed • Clearly shows parents what to do when things really go wrong—all teens, no matter how troubled they seem, can be helped • Encourages new thinking, new public policies, and new programs that focus on the strengths of teens “There is no one in America today who understands teenagers better than Richard Lerner.” —William Damon, author of The Moral Child, professor of education, and director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, Stanford University

Self-Help

Relationships

Harmony/Rodale/Convergent

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Books by Lerner PH.D, Richard M.