"Fixing adolescence" as a cause area?

Abstract

Here are my key takeaways: Adolescence comes with substantial suffering for a large fraction of humanity.While we accept this suffering as normal and perhaps necessary, our perception might change in the coming decades or centuries.Impact: Taking published data on life satisfaction scores during adolescence seriously, “solving” adolescents’ suffering might well be cost-effective up to a cost of one trillion dollars.Tractability: We do not have simple and/or highly effective strategies to tackle the problem.Ideas might come from a societal angle (improving factors that alleviate adolescents’ suffering), group dynamics angle (reducing school bullying and cyberbullying), or individual angle (understanding the developmental factors underlying puberty).Neglectedness: Existing trends (overall improving the quality of life) and initiatives (anti-bullying) could “solve” adolescents’ suffering in due time.The basic research on the neuroscience of suffering during adolescence appears neglected and could be accelerated.Due to the considerable uncertainty in my analysis, I do not recommend any particular course of action beyond “more research desirable”.