Adolescence by Laurence Steinberg

Adolescence Reviews

• 
  Nikoya

  Everyone knows that reading a traditional textbook is a challenge. I don't care if you love the topic a textbook is dry as hell. However, I have read ones that I didn't mind but this textbook was probably one of the worse textbooks I've read.
  
  I found Steinberg's writing to be problematic (lack of study on P.O.C and the LGBTQ+ adolescents), he referenced BMI as a way to address obesity (Which in today's times we know that BMI is a terrible way to gauge obesity), it is all reference to other studies, and it is repetitious. The chapters could have been 10-15 pages shorter due to the constant repetition of facts; especially when it came to "duh" moments in the book. I don't think one man should write a textbook on their own; especially an old white man who is clearly out of date on some issues. This book needed a variety of specialists to write on this topic. Furthermore, it has been proven time and again that girls/women are not nearly studied enough; so I find it hard to believe all of his "facts."
  
  There were topics that should have been more of a focus than jam-packing it with endless studies. I want information, not endless citations. I wish I had written down some of the quotes in the textbook but honestly, I just wanted to get it over with. This textbook really killed the joy of this class but since it isn't part of my major I'm not worried about it.
• 
  Lixcy

  Read this book for a college class and it was amazing. I gained a lot of knowledge and understanding of our minds, how adolescents think and why, and even got to reflect back on my adolescence.
• 
  Sevda T.

  Bu kitabı alıp, fotoğraf çektirdiğimi hatırlıyorum :) üniversitede başucu kitabımdı, efsanedir
• 
  marissa

  i'm finally done 😭
• 
  Saphira Moonstone

  Wizard101 crowd
• 
  Richard

  This was the required textbook for one of my classes for a certificate in Secondary Education, SED 800, entitled Adolescent Development. No one in the class liked it very much, and it didn’t get much respect.I think I disliked it somewhat less than most of my cohort, and for different reasons.
  
  It was common in discussions to dismiss the text by saying “Steinberg thinks this” or that, but I felt a great deal of what he was accused of was his reporting of what researchers had concluded. But I never really investigated; I never asked, “Wait, are you sure this was the author, and not something that was then attributed to cited author or study?” Because the book also wasn’t anything I wanted to put effort into defending.
  
  I suspect the primary purpose of the text is for an undergraduate psychology class. There were plenty of citations, but the overall treatment of the material was mostly at a simple level. I often forget that at least some of my fellow students are barely done with their first bachelors’ degree, when mine was several decades ago. And that I’ve been reading books and academic journal articles on some of this stuff (especially cognition) for almost as long as those other students have been alive. So very little of the material we were assigned was challenging.
  
  The class instructor acknowledge that the book wasn’t ideal for the course and would try to find a new one. What would be much, much better would be a book on adolescence as a teacher should understand it. There are peculiarities to the teacher-student relationship that really need to be addressed.
  
  For example, some students will respond well to being gently teased, because it is a relationship modality they are familiar and comfortable with from other adult interactions. But others will recoil and retreat. Some are so sensitive to signs of hostility that even witnessing teasing can bring forth negative emotions that it is “triggering”, to use the modern lingo. In another class we studied the research done on “Adverse Childhood Experiences” and how such sensitivity develops, but that discussion was present neither in this textbook nor in the class. I should note I was reading the 10th edition of the book, not the newest (because the latter is going for well over $200 instead of the $20-40 that would buy used copies of the previous edition), but my edition was only four years old.
  
  For an undergraduate adolescent psych text, I don’t think it’s horrible, but for anyone curious about current research it’s probably too superficial.
• 
  Qasim Zafar

  This book is a very accessible read but lacking in so many ways. This book does not present any information which you don't already intuitively know. What I liked about this book was that it includes the influence of culture, race and economics, but it is monotonously repetitive - so often I found myself thinking how the information has already been covered in different forms earlier. Also, even though this book present the challenges which are faced in adolescence, it does not present anything on how to circumvent those challenges at an interpersonal level. It only addresses possible systemic/ecological solutions, if at all. Some of the information is backed up by facts and statistics, and at others it was just opinion and generalizations without evidence.
  
  I don't know if newer versions of this textbook are better, but definitely don't get the 10th edition. You could even go through the table of contents and then look up studies, focusing heavily on what happens biologically, socially and cognitively in adolescence, and you'll have the knowledge this book aims to embark within a few weeks.
• 
  Angela Adams

  Read 11th Ed. - The chapters moved quickly through a large amount of information, which is to be expected in an overview text for an entire life stage. The concepts were easy to follow, but I cannot give it 5 stars; they were one sided and focused on risk factors with very little focus on protection factors. One could easily come away with the opinion that most American adolescents are doomed to be "broken" adults. This text is best read by those already aware of protective factors and the complex dynamic of development.
• 
  jacky

  This was the textbook for my Adolescent Psych class. I don't remember it being particularly interesting, even for a textbook, but it wasn't the worst textbook I've read. It was weird for me to be reading this though considering I was barely out of adolescence at the time. I remember a lot of the course and thus this text seeming like common knowledge from living through adolescence.
• 
  Milan

  Yes I did read this whole book, however it was for a class. I actually found myself enjoy reading this, but some of the chapters the information was repetitive. It's very insightful and gave new perspective on adolescents. First textbook I ever read completely. So I give it 5 stars for the fact that I was able to do that.
• 
  Jeanne

  Some of the chapters were quite interesting, but others were really boring.
• 
  Melike Ilkay

  a thorough, well prepared text for undergrad. adol. psyc. classes.
• 
  Garth Mailman

  Reading a sample. The $117.00 AMD price tag is scary. I'm glad I'm not buying books for college these days!
• 
  Morgan Witter

  Phew!
• 
  Becca

  Very well written text book! It was easy to read and informative! It's one that I will definitely be keeping for future reference.
• 
  Jessica

  Read for school. Mostly interesting.