Can you tell us about Young Life’s new RELATE Project?

The RELATE Project is a research study focused on today’s adolescents, which studied both Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s relationships, their sense of belonging, their identity and self-confidence, motivation to make a difference in the world, and their faith backgrounds and beliefs. It was conducted with the intention of learning more about teens and young adults ages 13-24 and how they can flourish in their lives.

The study surveyed 7,261 adolescents across eight countries and regions around the globe, including the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, India, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania.

Our hope with these findings is that we can move the narrative about Gen Z away from anxiety and overwhelm to one of resilience and potential. We desire to see all people investing in adolescents in a way that encourages flourishing for them now and in the years to come.

What are some key findings and conclusions from the research?

Our findings helped us learn more about today’s younger generations across different cultures.

In this research, our findings helped us learn more about today’s younger generations across different cultures. We were interested in seeing the similarities and differences, and we want to use this data to help adolescents flourish in their lives. We’re excited to share these insights with others so that people around the world can better care and show up for kids. Below are some key findings that help us to do that.

Relationships matter.

In the life of an adolescent, having at least one non-family-member adult “who really listens to them” makes a significant difference. Emotional connection is especially important for teens and young adults. 

Person-to-person contact still matters greatly to teens.

55% of teens worldwide most often communicate with their closest friends face-to-face. In-person connection is vital to relationships, and young people need adults’ undivided attention. Putting down our phones, pulling up a chair, and spending quality time with someone we care about indicates that person is worthy of our love and attention. 

Gen Z needs to know they are deserving of love.

Nearly 60% of teens and young adults are likely to believe they are “worthy of being loved.” This means, though, that more than 40% of adolescents worldwide do not feel they are “worthy of being loved.” To help adolescents understand their worthiness of love, we can demonstrate it to them by giving them time, attention, asking thoughtful questions, and showing genuine curiosity about their lives. 

Both literally and figuratively, adolescents want to be invited to the dinner table.

Authenticity matters deeply to teens and young adults, and they want to belong. The dinner table can be a place to build trust and listen closely to what adolescents are sharing. In our research, we frequently heard from young people just how much they appreciate being welcomed into a family’s home for dinner. Having an adult spend time with them, ask them questions, and share a meal together conveys value and love. 

Gen Zer’s are resilient.

As written in the research report, “Teens and young adults say that adversity has had more of a positive impact on them than a negative one.” And, about 50% of adolescents worldwide say adversity makes them stronger or motivates them to change something in their lives. Some adolescents, though, struggle in the face of challenge, with about 25% of the respondents reporting that adversity makes it hard for them to function, or they avoid and withdraw as a result.

Can you share insights on creating cultures of belonging for GenZ?

One’s sense of belonging begins with feeling loved, heard, valued, understood, and being fully yourself with others. Belonging contributes toward someone’s flourishing and overall well-being.

Belonging contributes toward someone’s flourishing and overall well-being.

It’s important that trusted, caring adults are a constant and reliable presence in adolescents’ lives. Asking questions, supporting adolescents in their struggles and times of transition, and cheering them on in their extracurriculars has an incredible influence on their development and wellness.

In The RELATE Project, we saw that adolescents’ sense of belonging with their friends holds steady until about 19 years old. But then it drops, and it’s not until age 22 that number bounces back up. This is important to note because it indicates that as adolescents grow older, it takes more time for them to build trust and solidify strong relationships with others. During those years where adolescents’ sense of belonging drops, there is an opportunity for adults to continue showing up and offering support and stability.

Young Life has also developed the Flourishing Model. Can you explain it, and who it is designed to help?

Three constructs – belonging, close relationships, and positive self-concept – could be said to make a triangle, with self-concept at the top as the driver of flourishing, but all three moving in coordination, making either a bigger or smaller “triangle of flourishing” as the constructs grow or shrink. These three constructs all have a strong impact on flourishing and overall well-being.

Self-concept includes identity and agency, and a person must believe they are worthy of being loved and that they can make a difference in this world to have a high self-concept.

Belonging and close relationships are highly correlated with self-concept. Belonging involves the ability to be fully yourself with others, and close relationships include people who you love and can talk to about things that matter.

When one of the three constructs increases, the other two will likewise increase. Or if one is negatively impacted, the others also decrease. An increase in belonging and close relationships can increase self-concept. And the stronger one’s self-concept, the stronger sense of flourishing Gen Z reports.

The Role of Faith

It’s also worthy to note that faith is statistically related to belonging, close relationships, and self-concept. A good way to think of this is that faith acts as a frame through which we see the world, which can increase the three variables. There’s a mutually beneficial relationship: faith helps create a place for the triangle of flourishing to grow, and faith itself is strengthened in the process. Similarly, a poor self-concept or the absence of close relationships and belonging are correlated with less faith.

Young people can experience flourishing apart from faith, but our research found that those without a faith affiliation (e.g., atheists, agnostics, and nones) report less levels of flourishing.

This model was designed to help caring adults recognize the elements of flourishing and to then apply that within their own relationships with adolescents, helping them to flourish in their lives.

We used the flourishing scale to help measure flourishing in our research, which was developed by researchers at Harvard University: a multi-pronged measure of physical, mental and social health as well as life satisfaction, purpose and character.

Looking forward, how can organizations bolster their GenZ workforce and volunteers?

Adults have an important role to play in influencing an adolescent’s self-concept, well-being, and future potential. By actively pursuing a healthy, close relationship with a teen or young adult through mentorship, coaching, or just being a friend, the chance of flourishing and healthy development increases.

With this in mind, organizations can strengthen and support Gen Zer’s in their midst. By offering opportunities for employees and volunteers to participate in workshops, training, mentorship, or coaching, young people are more likely to feel supported and in turn demonstrate success.

Get to know the young adults in your midst! Intentionality, consistency and reliability are integral to building trusting relationships, along with curiosity and authenticity. By slowing down, asking questions, listening, seeking understanding, and being slow to insert your own advice, our younger generations will thrive both in the workplace and beyond.

What are you most encouraged about in the next generation of Christian leaders?

Gen Z cares about issues concerning their communities, countries, and the world.

As I consider the adolescents I’ve encountered in my own life and reflect on this research, I’m encouraged to see that Gen Z teens and young adults are empathetic. In describing themselves, kindness – or some synonym of this – showed up consistently across demographics and countries. We’re also seeing that peace and flourishing are important to adolescents and that they want to be known as loyal, responsible, and calm. There is much hopefulness in this! It’s important that older adults encourage these qualities in Gen Zer’s and exhibit the characteristics in their own lives as well.

In thinking about the upcoming generation of Christian leaders, I see their potential for great impact. Gen Z cares about issues concerning their communities, countries, and the world. Not only this, but this generation also believes they can make a difference in others’ lives and that their generation can make a meaningful impact on the world.

The data is resounding! And now knowing this information, we want to pose the challenge to caring adults across the country and world to step into the lives of teens and young adults, encourage them in their beliefs that they can make an impact, and walk alongside them as friends and mentors to cultivate and support health and flourishing.

Ultimately, we have a responsibility to care for and nurture today’s adolescents so that they may someday be in a position to care and show up for the younger generations to come.

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