Adam Hoffman on how to help teens become successful adults - Research Matters S2E11

On this week's episode of Research Matters, psychologist Adam Hoffman discusses research showing that even simple exercises — like asking teens to reflect on identities they value — can help them navigate stressful transitions. The conversation also examines how social media influences identity development and the unique challenges facing marginalized people, and offers practical insights for building more supportive, identity-affirming environments for adolescents. Watch here.

Transcript

Adam Hoffman: 0:04

Third spaces are really great places that people in the before times I said that in the context of, of social media in particular, where people could kind of gather, and we've seen increasingly as time has gone on, especially since the early aughts, that these spaces are disappearing, in terms of physical community.

Laura Reiley: 0:24

Hi, I'm Laura Reiley, and this is Research Matters, a show about Cornell researchers who are tackling some of the world's toughest problems and finding solutions that make a real difference in our everyday lives. Each episode we'll sit down with a researcher who's not just studying the world, but changing it, turning data into discoveries and ideas into impact. Today, we're joined by Dr. Adam Hoffman, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Cornell University. Today we're talking about identity, who we are, how we see ourselves, how young people, especially teens, build their sense of self, and how that affects mental health, well-being, self-esteem and success. Hi, Adam. So glad to have you today.

Adam Hoffman: 1:00

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Laura Reiley: 1:04

So let's talk first about kind of what social identity is.

Adam Hoffman: 1:09

Yeah, that's a great question.

Laura Reiley: 1:11

All right.

Adam Hoffman: 1:12

When I... when we talk about social identities in psychology, we're really referring to the different parts of ourselves to the social groups that we belong to. OK. So that can be things like race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation. Those are some of the main ones that we can think about in terms of social identities. And it's not just a label or a category that we have around our social identities, but it's actually the, the feelings and the meanings that come from these social categories, that, that really make up what our social identities are. And it's true that, you know, two people can have the same label. Let's say, for example, two adolescents, both identify as gay. But the meaning that comes behind that label can be vastly different depending on the ways that these youth have internalized different forms of things like oppression or celebrations of their identity, right? And so that can have very different meanings for different people around what social identities are for them.

Laura Reiley: 2:09

So has that changed over time? Is social identity different than it was pre-social media?

Adam Hoffman: 2:17

Absolutely. I would say it's definitely changed. I think that the salience of identities and the way that we think about our identities has changed in the past 50 years. Before people were much more homogenous in the United States, in particular. And now we have greater diversity of all of these different kinds of identities and acceptance towards a lot of them, as well. So it's definitely becoming more important and salient in the zeitgeist of our culture today around, you know, important aspects of the self that we need to be thinking more about.

Laura Reiley: 2:45

Talking about teens or adolescents, I think of it of the unfortunate necessity to kind of build a brand for yourself from a very crazy early age. What kinds of challenges does that prompt?

Adam Hoffman: 2:59

Yeah, well, it's completely normal, in many ways, because, this is the first time teenagers are actually able to begin to develop a sense of self. They have the social cognition, the abilities to kind of think about themselves in more complex and nuanced ways that they haven't had until they're teenagers. And so this is kind of a time of exploration. They're trying on new hats of different identities that they can start to explore and think more about that they just couldn't do before. And so it is a way that they are they're doing it. There is now this new added, you know, medium of social media kind of having to kind of build a certain brand and it can actually be a bit limiting because, you know, oftentimes people have to curate this image of who they are in social media and this identity of who they are. But it's... we really should be thinking of adolescence as a time when they can really kind of explore and try on these different hats of identities that they have. And so it's hard then, right, when you're challenged, when you're like, I've curated this image of who I am and my social media, but now that I've tried that on, it's not necessarily who I identify with anymore. So, it's a it is a challenge that I think, today's adolescents are grappling with. Right? This, this kind of, of I have created this, but actually I want to be something new and interesting.

Laura Reiley: 4:11

I mean, I feel like in my day I could try on different hats and discard.

Adam Hoffman: 4:15

Yeah.

Laura Reiley: 4:15

And there wasn't this incredible kind of documentation of the previous hat.

Adam Hoffman: 4:21

Sure. Yeah.

Laura Reiley: 4:22

Well, so in terms of these internalized identities, what are the challenges or what are the ramifications for kind of mental health or, success or kind of adaptability?

Adam Hoffman: 4:33

Yes. Yeah. We know that these from our research, my own research and the research of others, that these social identities have implications for a host of different outcomes for, for youth. First and foremost is mental health and well-being. We know that teens who have been, or feel proud, who have been supported, who've been affirmed in their identities. This is oftentimes their social identities can be protective of for them. While those who experience stigma, prejudice, or other forms of discrimination, around their social identities, typically we'll see, you know, increased levels of depression, anxiety, or stress. And then also, just in terms of self-esteem and motivation, we know that it has implications for those, as well. We know that young people who have their identities that are valued and respected by people, they are more confident and they're more motivated, to be able to, you know, do what they need to do to be successful and be happy and productive. So, it has implications for our mental health, well-being, self-esteem and motivation for these kiddos.

Laura Reiley: 5:33

So I know you've done some work on writing exercises with youth. And and what does that look like and what have you found the outcomes are?

Adam Hoffman: 5:43

Yeah. For the for the intervention work that we've been doing on identities, it was it's such a cool opportunity for us. We know so much more about social identities now than we have, and we know that they're important. And so I was really interested in trying to find a way that we could leverage social identities to enhance well-being. And, and in this case, in particular in self-esteem, we know that, transitions in particular are exciting but also challenging for people.

Laura Reiley: 6:12

So transitions like moving to a new state —

Adam Hoffman: 6:14

Yeah .

Laura Reiley: 6:14

Or transitions like puberty?

Adam Hoffman: 6:15

Well, normative transitions that we see that are happening in adolescence, and one in particular is of course, the transition from middle school to high school. Right? This transition is one that most people go through, a lot of teens go through. And we knew that this was a time when we actually typically see dips in self-esteem. And so I thought, what ways could we leverage social identities to be able to help mitigate that dip in self-esteem that we typically see at this transition. And so what we had, we just decided to have these kids, engage in just about a five-minute writing exercise. And all they had to do was write about, take five minutes to think about themselves and their identity and an identity that was particularly important to them. It could be any identity that they wanted. And, just take those five minutes to really sit down and think about what's important to them, you know, and why this is important to them and how they feel good about this identity. And we had them do this right at the beginning of ninth grade and then, a couple of times throughout the academic year. And what we found was, is that those kids who engaged in that writing exercise, we saw a stability in their self-esteem over that, that time, the kids who didn't engage in that, that writing exercise, we saw the normative declines in self-esteem as they went through that transition through high school. And that's what we expected to see.

Laura Reiley: 7:35

That is really interesting. So is the takeaway more writing or more, more actual... I mean, is there anything when you are kind of reaffirming or reifying someone's identity, is there is there an othering that happens as a byproduct of that? Are you more likely to have people bully other people or make other people feel like outsiders to their identity group?

Adam Hoffman: 8:03

No, I don't think so. I think it's more about celebrating yourself and the self that you have and not necessarily bringing other people down. It's just celebrating the group that you have and that you belong to. I think that that's, that's it's not necessarily as much othering. It's just, you know, celebrating yourself in that way.

Laura Reiley: 8:22

Right. Well, and I know you've done a lot of work with, with Native American adolescents. Can you talk a little bit about how you got there and what you found?

Adam Hoffman: 8:33

Yeah, yeah. I started doing all of my research with ethnic racial minorities when I started graduate school. But really found community with the American Indian Center at University of North Carolina, which is where I earned my PhD. And from there, I was able to start working with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. And, it was such an amazing opportunity to get to work with them and to do research with the marginalized community that oftentimes is invisible, and bring their voices to, you know, and include their voices in the research process. I do this along the way with my, with my research is that I include my, my community partners and my community that I'm working with all along the way. So that way, we're doing this research really in tandem together, to create research that's hopefully meaningful and helpful and beneficial for them.

Laura Reiley: 9:24

Seems like you've done quite a bit of work on stereotyping. And kind of not just what adults think of, you know, a Native American tribe, but what they themselves perceive as stereotyping. So what did you find?

Adam Hoffman: 9:37

Yeah. So that was, in the literature, there was just not a lot out there on how Native Americans themselves understand stereotypes. And that's actually, I think, in many ways, the most important, right? Because they're the ones who are, you know, being stereotyped, right? Oftentimes. And so I really thought this was a really cool opportunity and something that my community partners also believed was a really cool opportunity to learn about, you know, what are some of these kids' perceptions of other people's perceptions of their group? Right. So we asked them just to list, you know, by giving them a blank sheet, and they just said, write down all the stereotypes that you know about your group. We did this with, middle schoolers who were in the sixth, seventh or eighth grade. And what we found was, is that those kids who were older, so those who were in seventh and eighth grade, in particular, could report significantly more stereotypes compared to those in the sixth grade. So we know that this is a time when kids are learning about these stereotypes Laura Reiley:

Laura Reiley: 10:36

So they're inundated with more kind of media.

Adam Hoffman: 10:38

Media or community. So we also found a kind of a community effect, actually. We had kids from the tribal school who went to school and were at the school that was run by the tribal government. We also had kids from the local public schools that were nearby. And what we found is that those native kids who were on the reservation and going to the reservation schools were reporting significantly fewer stereotypes compared to those kids.

Laura Reiley: 11:05

But that's just a total immersion, right? They have no —

Adam Hoffman: 11:08

They're kind of in this protective bubble, then, of understanding these stereotypes, whereas those kids who are in those public schools, they're a minority there. And so because of that, they're probably being exposed to more stereotypes. That's what we think compared to those kids who are on the tribal reservation schools.

Laura Reiley: 11:23

How does a show like, you know, Reservation Dogs was a big, big show, right? And and lovely in so many ways. And it is about stereotypes, right? How does a show like that impact adolescents? You know, because obviously, on the one hand, you want to have media that represents previously underserved populations, you know, you want the whole kind of you see it, you can be it, you know, in terms of... So you want shows about things like that, but if it is reinforcing stereotypes, is that dangerous in any way?

Adam Hoffman: 11:59

Yeah. I mean, I don't think that it's necessarily fully reinforcing stereotypes. It is... it is the lived experiences of many Native Americans. And it just was a really amazing TV show that was produced and written and directed all by Native Americans. All of the cast is predominantly Native American. And so they are able to show a lot of the lived experiences of Native Americans. And I think it's a really great representation of showing native life and real native life and understanding that other... And I think it's really great for native youth to have exposure to this. So that way they can know that people are seeing their stories and understanding the way that they live. And the way that their lives are, especially those that live on reservations, which it predominantly shows youth on reservations, and with their lived experience is like. And so, I think it's actually a really great, great TV show and representation of that. I actually have it as a segment in my Native American psychology course, you know, watch the first season of Reservation Dogs...

Laura Reiley: 12:58

I'm sure they're not mad about that.

Adam Hoffman: 12:59

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Laura Reiley: 13:01

Check, that's one I did.

Adam Hoffman: 13:03

But then they write about the themes that we talked about in the class that are portrayed through this TV show, of some of the psychological experiences that Native Americans and Native American youth in particular experience that are well demonstrated through this TV show.

Laura Reiley: 13:17

It also seems like there's been a real surge in, in Native American literature, especially like Two-Spirit, gay, gay, Native American, YA literature that seems so niche, but it's been a really exploding genre. How does that impact people's kind of sense of self and identity?

Adam Hoffman: 13:34

Yeah, absolutely. I think that for, you know, the minority of the minorities, they're oftentimes, just oftentimes seen as so invisible. And, and so it's —

Laura Reiley: 13:43

I love that phrasing. The minority of the minorities.

Adam Hoffman: 13:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so to be able to have some kind of representation again, just feeling like you're being seen or heard and these kids are oftentimes feeling this for the very first time is so affirming and so important that they're having these experiences that they get to see this representation. It's, it's a really beautiful thing for these kids that they can have this.

Laura Reiley: 14:06

To see themselves.

Adam Hoffman: 14:07

Yeah, to see themselves in these stories. So and also for kids who aren't don't have these identities necessarily to learn more about the experiences of other people and how other people can live and learn in the world today.

Laura Reiley: 14:19

And expand your, your empathy, your capacity to to see difference.

Adam Hoffman: 14:23

Exactly.

Laura Reiley: 14:24

So I also wonder in terms of people, adolescents' kind of experience of identity, are there risks with us telling adolescents who they are? I mean, I know we've had... We've come through a period where we have, you know, Richard Reeves saying, you know, boys are in trouble or, you know, John Haidt saying it's the anxious generation. We have a lot of kind of experts weighing in on what adolescents are like right now. Are there... Is that bad?

Adam Hoffman: 14:55

Yeah. Oh, that's a good question. Yeah, I think so. I think any time you're talking —

Laura Reiley: 15:00

That's what I thought.

Adam Hoffman: 15:02

If you telling anyone who they are, I think that's a problem. Right? I think you should let people, and especially for teenagers, as I mentioned, adolescence is a time of just exploration and figuring out who you are. And it's the first time that you're really encountering that. Identity development is a lifelong process, but our teenagers are encountering this for the first time. So I think it's just important for us to be able to let them explore and grow and flourish in whatever way that they want. I think guardrails are important. Again, as I mentioned, this is the first time that they're, they're experiencing this. So being able to provide, you know, parental supports or supports in schools where our teenagers are, to be able to help provide them some guidance along the way, especially with things like social media, to be able to, you know, engage in identity exploration and figuring out who they are, but also, you know, protecting them in ways that, you know, could be potentially harmful for them, as well.

Laura Reiley: 15:55

So I want to talk about... expand on that a little bit and talk about kind of practical things, because obviously listeners here are going to say like, well, what do I do with my kids? Or how do I how do I let them figure out who they are while keeping them safe? Like what what kinds of guardrails do you recommend for adolescents themselves or their parents or caregivers?

Adam Hoffman: 16:14

Yeah, absolutely. I think the thing that I always say to parents all the time is focusing on having just explicit conversations with our kiddos about their digital lives, right? Taking that time, you know, intentionally to say, hey, what are you seeing on like, what's the latest thing that you've seen in your news feed or, the feed that you're scrolling through these days, like, what's something cool that you found?

Laura Reiley: 16:39

Do you ask to see? I mean, as a parent, I want to respect privacy, but at the same time...

Adam Hoffman: 16:43

As long as you're asking, and if they're willing to show you, then I think that that's completely fine. You know, for them to show you something cool that they've they've found on social media that they think is interesting, that can give you an idea of the kinds of things that they're seeing, without being too intrusive, right? And being, you know, like just actually taking their, their, their phone and looking through the whole scroll, of the feed yourself by just kind of getting a little taste of an idea of the things that they're seeing or even just talking to them about it, also just talking to them about their habits that they have in terms of the ways that they're exploring their identities, especially online. It's important as —

Laura Reiley: 17:15

Habits meaning how many hours you're spending scrolling or —

Adam Hoffman: 17:22

But also even who they're following, right? We can think about, you know, who who are their role models, who are the things that they're kind of looking to in these digital spaces to kind of, you know, understand themselves and who they are? Are these people kind of helpful and beneficial? Are they affirming their identities and who they are, or they kind of just kind of these upward social comparisons that end up being, you know, unattainable and problematic and kind of then impacting their self-esteem negatively in that way.

Laura Reiley: 17:46

Do you think that there are platforms that are... Do you have a ranking of, of social media platforms in terms of like toxicity?

Adam Hoffman: 17:57

That's hard to say. Yeah, I think that it depends...

Laura Reiley: 17:59

Well, I think that there are some subreddits that are deeply dark and murky down there.

Adam Hoffman: 18:05

There are definitely different parts of the internet that are more problematic than the others. I think that, you know, some of the more innocuous ones might be especially things like, well, I don't know, they're all they can be problematic in different ways.

Laura Reiley: 18:18

Oh, yeah.

Adam Hoffman: 18:19

You know —

Laura Reiley: 18:19

I think of Instagram as just being very difficult for adolescent girls and all the filters...

Adam Hoffman: 18:23

The likes, the followers, all that and yeah, the filters, unrealistic kind of photos. But then you know there's, there's Twitter or X where you're, you know, people are just saying all kinds of things...

Laura Reiley: 18:36

 Say anything and the trolls come for you...

Adam Hoffman: 18:36

Right. So they each have their own, you know, benefits but also their own drawbacks. And so I think, again, teaching our children how to engage with, you know, and think about these things critically is going to be critical in promoting positive mental health around social media. And identity exploration, right. Just by like, who are we following? Using trusted resources, thinking about those things more critically, and talking to our kids about how do we do that, is a really great way to to kind of help safeguard some of their, their mental health in that way.

Laura Reiley: 19:09

Great. So for you, kind of what are your next questions? And, and, and what are the things that kind of concern you about the direction we're moving in terms of identity and social media?

Adam Hoffman: 19:21

Yeah, the social media platforms are doing this already, but they're actually starting to create accounts that are specifically guided towards, you know, restrictions for our, our teenagers. I know that Meta is doing this specifically with Instagram, and making sure that they're kind of able to, to, you know, have some of the safeguards in place. And I think around, like, how long they're using these things. And just certain content creators and whether or not they can access some of them or not. And I think that that's really great. You know, I think that's, that's good. That's going to help us to be able to, you know, protect our teens as much as possible. To be able to, you know, have those safeguards. But I again, I really think that I view social media as a tool, OK? And I think that it's an important tool that can help people explore their identities. It can help us to be able to connect with communities that we necessarily haven't been able to connect with before. And I think that that's super helpful and beneficial for some kids and communities or to explore communities that they didn't even know existed or couldn't exist in, you know, real, real life, you know, situations and spaces. So I think I'm just excited for, for identity development to be able to occur through social media. But we just have to, again, kind of continuously be, be monitoring and be careful around these things to make sure that everyone's kind of engaging in the safest ways possible.

Laura Reiley: 20:41

So outside of social media, just let's let's go back to the real world. Yeah. So in terms of communities, schools, sports teams, etc. Are there things are there ways that that identity can be, nurtured? Are there ways that we're being flat-footed in how we kind of, reach out to, to teens and adolescents.

Adam Hoffman: 21:03

Yeah. I think again, from my own research, I'm thinking about ways that we can, you know, expand affirmations of identities, not just to kind of like these, these writing exercises that we're talking about, but finding ways that we can kind of affirm identities and kind of an ecological or a systematic way that we can continue to affirm identities. Through teachers learning more about identity development and also parents as well, and making sure that we can can continue to find ways to bolster and support identity exploration and and development for these kiddos, I think is, you know, where I'd like to see it to go beyond just, you know, these these little exercises that we're doing right now with them. But to really kind of infuse it in the daily life and experiences, I don't think... I think from the research that we're doing now, it's very clear to us that identities aren't, you know, just kind of incidental. And in the, in the well-being of, of teenagers, it's, you know, one of the main drivers and engines of resilience for our teens. And so we need to find ways to kind of infuse it, more broadly and systemically, I think, to help promote well-being for kiddos.

Laura Reiley: 22:08

So I think one thing I've, I've heard you talk about a little bit is kind of the end of third spaces or so, having places that people go to connect with other people, that's different than it used to be. So what what can people do or what what can adults do to facilitate third spaces for young people?

Adam Hoffman: 22:31

Yeah, absolutely.

Laura Reiley: 22:33

And, and I guess what explain what a third space is.

Adam Hoffman: 22:35

Yeah. Third spaces. Yeah. Listeners may not know here, but third spaces are really great places that people in the before times I said that in the context of, of social media in particular, where people could kind of gather, and be and they could be things just like, you know, coffee shops, they could be libraries. They could be any kind of community space, really, where there's actual physical space where people could come together around a shared experience. And, so that's what a third spaces is, and we've seen increasingly as time has gone on, especially since the early aughts, that these spaces are disappearing, in terms of physical community, and so where I can say that these have gone and are going are, you know, online. And so making sure that we can find community in online spaces is a good way to, to be able to do that. But there are still some community spaces out there that are dedicated towards like, and special certain kinds of identities that we have. So, for example, I work with, a couple of different community organizations that have physical spaces where LGTBQ youth can go and be with their community and have, you know, camaraderie, do different kinds of activities, events, and so I think it just takes some more... a little bit more intentionality, a little bit more effort to look for these spaces. But it's important for us to be able to gather on these, you know, shared identities that we have to find community and camaraderie. If we can do it in person, that's great. But if not, then we can start to look to those online spaces, as well, to find some ways to be able to connect with each other in that way. Yeah.

Laura Reiley: 24:11

Wonderful. So for listeners who may want to read more on this topic, do you have any book recommendations?

Adam Hoffman: 24:17

Yeah, I do, I have a book recommendation. A really good book that I've read. It's called, The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity. It's by Kwame Appiah. It's a really great book that talks about the different kinds of identities that we have and the ways that they kind of can shape or color our worldview, and experiences, and especially the intersections of these identities and the ways that they kind of, you know, these different lenses of these identities that we have that can sort of overlap —

Laura Reiley: 24:45

The venn diagram of a whole bunch of different circles.

Adam Hoffman: 24:48

— of our identities to then create a unique worldview and social position to color how we perceive and understand the world. And I think he does a great job of explaining that, yeah.

Laura Reiley: 24:58

All right. Well, Adam, thank you so much for for sharing your time and your vision. You have been listening to Research Matters from Cornell University. If you'd like to learn more about Dr. Hoffman's work, you can check the Cornell psychology or Human Ecology websites. I'm Laura Reiley, if you like this episode, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and share it with a friend who loves facts as much as you do. Thanks for listening. And until next time, take care of yourselves and each other.