This video profiles a group of researchers working at UC Berkeley as part of a Social Science Matrix Research Team. The initiative, called “Network for Adolescent Wellbeing and Development” (NAWD), aspires to develop innovative approaches for research into key issues related to adolescent health, including technology and adolescent well-being, violence prevention, methodological innovations, and reproductive health. This team brings together some of the numerous faculty and students across campus whose work is relevant to the contexts and factors that shape adolescent development, including experts in diverse fields such as psychology, medicine, economics, neuroscience, social welfare, sociology, public health, education, policy, and information science.

Led by Emily J. Ozer, PhD, Professor of Community Health and Human Development in the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, the team focuses its work in two key areas: 1) the integration of developmental science into intervention and policy efforts to improve adolescent well being, and 2) consideration and focus on settings and structures—not just individual adolescents—in efforts to improve adolescent well being and health. Members of the NAWD are innovators in developing and advancing theoretical and methodological approaches (quantitative, qualitative, and integrative) in diverse areas including health-related ethnography, social and affective neuroscience, communications, sexual values for Latino teens, social learning/modeling effects, health behavior, psychological empowerment, and respondent-driven sampling. The integration of these disciplinary approaches is innovative and will inform new contributions to re-shape the field’s approach to adolescent health and development.

Click here to learn more about this initiative.