Recognizing Adultism and Increasing Alternative Caring Behaviors

Adultism refers to behaviors and attitudes that discriminate against young people. It’s based on the assumption that adults are better than young people and entitled to act upon young people without their agreement. This mistreatment is reinforced by social institutions, laws, customs, and attitudes.³

To counteract adultism, adults can instead act in supportive and respectful ways toward youth; these are known as alternative caring behaviors. Increasing alternative caring behaviors is an important step to addressing adultism.

Use this reflection form independently or with your team to reflect on how (and how often) adultism shows up in your TPP project and to consider what alternative caring behaviors you might implement or strengthen.

This tool is part of the Effective Facilitation & Youth Engagement: A Toolkit for Working with Youth.