As a scientist who has been working in the field of adolescent development long enough to remember when such a field didn't exist, I can say with great certainty that there has never been a more exciting time to be studying this phase of life. Much of this excitement comes from discoveries made within the laboratories of brain scientists, but the real excitement will come when this work is more fully integrated with psychological and contextual studies of this period of the life cycle. It is my hope that the next decade will be a time of great progress in the pursuit of this goal.
