Valerie Grison Blog

One of the most important aspects of tween psychology is the development of skills needed for managing their own lives, making good choices, and becoming self-reliant. At this in-between stage tweens are leaving the familiar surroundings of elementary school, and entering middle school where their decision-making and independence will be tested every day. The way […]

  Teen literature has seen a great boom in recent years. This is an encouraging trend for parents and educators. It is not merely a passing fad, but appears not only to be holding its own, but has become a powerful, profitable market niche. The explosion began with J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, and […]

A 2013 research article published in the journal Judgment and Decision Making illustrates that teens have unrealistic perceptions of potential risks. Data from over 3,400 teens was examined over a two year period, where self-risk assessments were compared to actual risk outcomes. Teens almost always reported that there was little – even no – chance […]

Have you already heard about “planking” or the “cinnamon challenge”? These quirky and potentially dangerous trends went viral on the Internet and are especially popular among teens. Originating in France as an artistic gesture, ‘planking’ as we know it took on its present day form thanks to two British teens in 2006. They uploaded their […]

“What we’ve learned from working with 16-18 year olds in the UK is that Facebook is not just on the slide, it is basically dead and buried. Mostly they feel embarrassed even to be associated with it” “…the young are moving on to cooler things” Daniel Miller, Professor of Material Culture at University College London People […]

This article about teen retailers is interesting. But what is  surprising is this part: “We survey a good portion of teens for our research, and since 2010 the one theme has been this: ‘We want to save Mom and Dad money,’” This is a new behavior and that would be very interesting to go deeper on […]

A “tween” is a kid between 8 and 12, defined as “in-between” – meaning in-between being child and teenager. This is a rough time for the youngster who is still a child, but wants to appear more mature in front of friends. At this difficult crossroad, tweens are still psychologically children, but they are bursting with […]