How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence (Paperback or Softback)

"This is essential reading for parents." — Dr. Vivek Murthy, former U.S. Surgeon General

Greatly expanding his award-winning New York Times series on the contemporary teen mental health crisis, Pulitzer Prize–winning science reporter Matt Richtel delivers a groundbreaking investigation into the science of adolescence, the pivotal life stage undergoing profound—and often confounding—transformation.

One of The New Yorker's Best Books of 2025

The transition from childhood to adulthood is a natural, evolution-honed cycle that now faces radical change and challenge. The adolescent brain, sculpted for this transition over eons of evolution, confronts a modern world that creates so much social pressure as to regularly exceed the capacities of the evolving mind. The problem in this compelling parenting book comes as a bombardment of screen-based information pelts the brain just as adolescence is undergoing a second key change: puberty is hitting earlier. The result is a neurological mismatch between an ultra-potent environment and a still-maturing brain that can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges. It is a crisis that is part of modern life but can only be truly grasped through a broad, grounded lens of the biology of adolescence itself. Through this lens, Richtel shows us how adolescents can understand themselves, and parents and educators can better help.

For decades, this transition to adulthood has been defined by hormonal shifts that trigger the onset of puberty. But Richtel takes us where science now understands so much of the action is: the brain. A growing body of research that looks for the first time into budding adult neurobiology explains with untold clarity the emergence of the “social brain,” a craving for peer connection, and how the behaviors that follow pave the way for economic and social survival. This period of child development necessarily involves testing—as the adolescent brain is programmed from birth to take risks and explore themselves and their environment—so that they may be able to thrive as they leave the insulated care of childhood.

Richtel, diving deeply into new research and gripping personal stories, offers accessible, scientifically grounded answers to the most pressing questions about generational change. What explains adolescent behaviors, risk-taking, reward-seeking, and the ongoing mental health crisis? How does adolescence shape the future of the species? What is the nature of adolescence itself?

Grounded in the latest science and moving personal stories, How We Grow Up LP offers a vital toolkit for parents, educators, and teens themselves.

• The Adolescent Brain: A clear explanation of the “neurological mismatch”—why a brain sculpted for a different world struggles with today’s social pressures and screen-based information overload.
• Early Puberty: Understand the science behind why puberty is hitting earlier and how this profound shift impacts the teen mental health crisis, including rising rates of anxiety and depression.
• Child Development: Learn how the “social brain” emerges, what drives adolescent risk-taking, and why peer connection becomes the most powerful force in a teen’s life.
• Science-Based Parenting: Discover accessible, scientifically-grounded answers to help your teen navigate this pivotal life stage and build resilience for the future.

MATT RICHTEL is a health and science reporter at the New York Times. He spent nearly two years reporting on the teenage mental-health crisis for the paper’s acclaimed multipart series Inner Pandemic, which won first place in public-health reporting from the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism and inspired his book How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence. He received the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting for a series of articles about distracted driving, which he expanded into his first nonfiction book, A Deadly Wandering, a New York Times bestseller. His second nonfiction book, An Elegant Defense, on the human immune system, was a national bestseller and chosen by Bill Gates for his annual Summer Reading List.