Extended Adolescent???

The Immerse Journal served as one of the sponsors for The Extended Adolescent Symposium on Monday following the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta.  This event was hosted by the Youth Cartel (Mark Oestreicher and Adam McLane) and was moderated by Dr. Kara Powell.  The two presenters were Dr. Jeffrey Arnett and Dr. Robert Epstein.

Dr. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, and did three years of postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago. From 1992-1998 he was Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Missouri. He has been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and the University of Maryland.

Dr. Arnett's primary scholarly interest is in "emerging adulthood," the age period from the late teens to the mid-twenties (mainly ages 18-25). For over a decade he has conducted research on emerging adults concerning a wide variety of topics, involving several different ethnic groups in the United States. He also studied emerging adults in Denmark as a Fulbright Scholar in 2005.

Dr. Robert Epstein is an author, editor, and longtime psychology researcher and professor—a distinguished scientist who is passionate about educating the public about advances in mental health and the behavioral sciences. The former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today, Dr. Epstein is currently a contributing editor for Scientific American Mind and an occasional lecturer at the Rady School of Management at the University of California San Diego. He is also the founder and Director Emeritus of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in Massachusetts.

Through 2003, he served as University Research Professor at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University. He received his Ph.D. in psychology in 1981 from Harvard University.

Dr. Epstein's positions is that categorizing 18 to 25to? year-olds as "emerging adults" is a socially constructed western concept that serves as a self-fulfilling expectation not to grow up and embrace adult competancies.

While both of these scholars argue passionately for their positions, I found much that I agreed with from both of them and much that I disagreed with.  Overall, this was a great learning event.  Concerning the practical theological application of the content discussed, I found myself resonnating more with Dr. Epstein (although I found Dr. Arnett to be more winsome and likeable, Dr. Epstein has an aura of arrogance that was off-putting).

The biggest take away for me was affirmation (from Dr. Epstein's position) that our (Youthfront's/Immerse) posture toward treating young people as emergingly capable adults is essential in youth ministry and the Christian formation of young people.  We have heard this affirmed over and over again by young people who discover are exposed to a generous and hospitable Christian learning environment that allows them to dream and connect their story to God's mission and are encouraged to unleash their imagination to discover their vocation. 

The following video is a TEDx teen talk by 18-year-old Natalie Warne.  "Natalie was born in an underserved part of downtown Chicago, Natalie and her five siblings had to survive on her mother's humble teacher salary, moving from city to city to find work. No stranger to adversity, Natalie was determined to make something great out of her life.

At 17, Natalie saw the documentary Invisible Children: The Rough Cut, a film exposing Africa's longest running war. Compelled by this story, she applied to be a volunteer or "roadie" for Invisible Children, using her voice to help end this war.

She quickly stood out among the other interns, and was quickly given responsibility to help lead Invisible Children's largest project to date; an event in 100 cities worldwide called "The Rescue." Through her determination, tens of thousands of people came out to the event, sleeping in the streets for up to six days in order to raise the profile of this war.

Her efforts paid off when Oprah Winfrey invited Invisible Children, and Natalie, onto her show to add her voice to the numbers. The event was then highlighted on Larry King Live, CNN, and countless other news outlets. Natalie has natural charisma, astounding leadership qualities, and is now working in Los Angeles as a film editor, to continue to share stories of injustices." 

If you are a youth worker - PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO.  Below the video I added the twitter stream from the Symposium and a link to Gavin Richardson's notes from the day.

JOSHUA COOK's Notes

 Twitter notes below (start from the bottom to read chronologically)

immersejournal immerse journal

And now onto Advent! A fantastic weekend with our friends @NYWC & @YouthCartel! We were proud to be a part of both. #nywc11 #xad

ctcummings21 Chris Cummings

#xad it seems we make people sit in "the struggle with identity" until they finish school and then they can continue because they have to.

wloyw_us WeLoveOurYouthWorker

Dr. Epstein says, "The love a 14 year old experiences is the same love a 30 year old experiences." Thoughts? #xad

wloyw_us WeLoveOurYouthWorker

The divorce rate for males who marry in their teens is actually lower than males who marry later. #xad

gavoweb gavin richardson

@lillylewin thinking the need for mentor / apprentice relationships are more critical than ever #xad

YWCircuit YouthWorker Circuit

RT @timothyeldred: The teen brain in not a pulsing organ of misbehavior. -Arnett #xad

bethanystolle Bethany Stolle

Epstein and Arnett both agree that young people are capable of a lot more than we ask of them. #xad 

immersejournal immerse journal

Both Dr. Epstein and Dr. Arnett highly praise Christian Smith's work. Find his work here amzn.to/vmJxxU #xad 

immersejournal immerse journal

A very productive conversation here at the extended adol conf that is giving helpful articulation to our experiences as YWs. #xad

bethanystolle Bethany Stolle

What would Epstein say about the place of people with disabilities when our measure of adulthood is competency? #xad 

YouthCartel YouthCartel

Love that Kenda Dean, Kara Powell, and Jim Hampton have asked questions of Epstein, right alongside youth workers. #cartellife #xad

Comments

[Mike liebler]

Mike thanks for all your work in Youth Ministry. We posted this on The Youth Culture Report. Mike Liebler

Theyouthculturereport.com

[Mike]

Thanks for doing that Mike.

[Mike liebler]

Mike
I admire the work and direction you guys are going. Please feel free to submit articles that you or within your network have posted.

headlines@theyouthculturereport.com

[Gavin Richardson]

I'm glad you filtered some of my more 'spicy' tweets. Not everything that comes out of my smartphone are worthy of long tail notation.

[Joshua Cook]

Hey, the notes marked as Gavin's are actually mine. I think Gavin just shared them via Twitter.

Thanks for sharing the Natalie Warne video!

[Mike]

Thanks Josh, I'll get that changed. Great notes by the way. Peace.