The Crisis of Connection Among Youth:
Its Roots, Consequences, and Solutions

WCPA Members - $40.00

Non-members - $65.00

WCPA Student Member: no cost

WCPA Members save on registration!  Click here to learn more about membership.

You must RSVP by Monday, April 13.

A social hour with breakfast will be held from 9:00–10:00 AM, followed by a 2 hour CE presentation. Participants will also have the opportunity to meet and speak with Dr. Way after the event.

Program Description:

This presentation will draw from the speaker's 40 years of longitudinal and mixed method research with adolescents and young adults. She focuses on her findings regarding the “crisis of connection” among youth around the world, as reflected in her data with boys and young men. The crisis stems from a culture that is fundamentally “anti-social” and thus clashes with our social nature and need. The consequences of the crisis are depression, anxiety, loneliness, suicide, and all forms of violence. The solutions entail creating a culture that nourishes our nature rather than gets in the way. Dr. Niobe will walk through the five-part story that is told not only in her data but in data across the 20th century on the roots, consequences, and solutions of our crisis of connection. The presentation offers critical and empirically driven insights into the reason why only 17 Percent of those under 30, according to a Harvard study, report having at least one meaningful connection with another person. It also offers empirically supported strategies for solving our crisis of connection and creating a more just and humane world in which all of us can not only thrive but also simply survive. 

Learning Objectives. Participants will be able to:

1.Discuss the roots of the crisis of connection or why young people are struggling so much with their high rates of depression, anxiety, loneliness, suicide, and violence.

2. Understand the empirically supported solutions to effectively address the crisis of connection. 

This event is targeted towards:

1. Mid Career PhD Professionals

2. Early Career PhD Professionals

3. Recent Graduates

4. Graduate Students

Presenter's Bio:

Dr. Niobe Way is a Professor of Developmental Psychology at NYU, the founder of the Project for the Advancement of Our Common Humanity (PACH; pach.org), co-founder of agapi and the Center for Youth and Connection-by-Design technology, the PI on the Listening with Curiosity Project, the Science of Human Connection Lab (https://niobewaylab.squarespace.com), and the PI on a 20-year longitudinal study of 1200 Chinese families. She was President of the Society for Research on Adolescence, and received her B.A. from U.C. Berkeley, her doctoral degree in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard, and was an NIMH postdoctoral fellow at Yale in the psychology department. Dr. Way served on the Aspen Digital group on humanizing AI; was a consultant for Tiktok, and currently serves as a senior fellow for the Carnegie Foundation.

Dr. Way’s mixed method and longitudinal research examines the social and emotional development among children and adolescents and how macro ideologies shape families and child development in the U.S. and China. Alongside her team, they created the Listening with Curiosity Project (LCP) to address the crisis of connection in schools by teaching the skills of relational intelligence necessary for human connection. The LCP has been integrated into classrooms across NYC and has been empirically proven to foster social and emotional skills and wellbeing, and a sense of a common humanity. Dr. Way also developed a core NYU course "The Science of Human Connection.”

Her latest sole authored book is Rebels with a Cause: Reimagining Boys, Ourselves, and Our Culture (Niobe-Way.com). Her latest co-edited book is: The Crisis of Connection: Its Roots, Consequences, and Solution (NYU Press). She has authored or co-authored over a hundred journal articles and 7 books, including Deep Secrets: Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection (Harvard University Press), which was the inspiration for "Close" a movie that was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film and won the Grand Prix Award. Her research with boys and young men has helped change the guidelines for division 51 of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Way’s book in progress is: Our Social Nature in a Anti-Social Culture: A Five part Story (Harvard University Press).

Additionally, Dr. Way’s research is often cited in mainstream media and she has been profiled in the New Yorker and the New York Times.

Cancellation policy: A full refund will be given if cancellation is made 5 business days before the presentation.