Teenagers and Adolescence

January 12, 2024

When Mean Girls Grow Up: ‘Queen Bees and Wannabes’ in the Workplace

Rosalind Wiseman regularly receives emails from women who think they are going to surprise her with the following divulgence: “You are never going to believe this: […]
October 16, 2023

Gen Z Americans Embrace Nostalgia With Miffy, the Dutch Bunny

Hordes of young adults in North America are embracing joy and childhood nostalgia with Miffy, a poker-faced, fictional, Dutch bunny. Three years ago, Nancy Miah had […]
October 7, 2023

Minnesota Teenagers, Looking for Trouble

A teenager tries to break out of the usual routine before school starts up again. I drove my big blue boat of an Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera […]
October 5, 2023

2000s Tween Pop Is Back. (Thank Disney Channel and Nickelodeon Nostalgia.)

From Disney Channel bops to Nickelodeon theme songs, tween pop from the 2000s is proving to be an unironic draw at parties across the country. It’s […]
August 1, 2023

Tiny Modern Love Stories: ‘I Felt Like a Particle of Light’

Modern Love in miniature, featuring reader-submitted stories of no more than 100 words. The Cusp of Adolescence In the 11th summer of my life, I befriended […]
June 15, 2023

For Black Debutantes in Detroit, Cotillion Is More Than a Ball

In a heady swirl of bright white silk and lace, the young ladies of the Cotillion Society of Detroit Educational Foundation are presented as debutantes. The […]
August 3, 2022

In the Late ’70s, Teen Punks Ruled New York. These Are Their Stories.

High school students spent their nights forging a colorful late-night scene marked by big choruses and few rules. The bands didn’t last, but the taste of […]
March 28, 2022

After Covid, Are You ‘Mask Fishing’?

Tanushri Sundaram, 17, thinks everyone at her school is a bit of a “mask fisher.” “When you have a mask on, you only get to see […]
March 23, 2022

Modern Love Podcast: Confessions of a Late Bloomer

Listen and follow Modern LoveApple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher “While I am grateful for an ever-deepening pool of queer love stories, watching them in adulthood […]
January 18, 2022

In Arkansas, Trans Teens Await an Uncertain Future

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — For years, Zara Banks had been looking forward to her 14th birthday — the moment, last June, when her life would no longer […]