“First Love”: New book from Associate Professor Lisa Phillips is a guide to modern teen relationships
Associate Professor of Digital Media & Journalism Lisa A. Phillips’ newest book, “First Love: Guiding Teens Through Relationships and Heartbreak,” published by Rowman & Littlefield, will go on sale Feb. 4.
In “First Love,” Phillips chronicles the challenges today’s adolescents face as they navigate crushes, dating and breakups—and the challenges adults face as they strive to provide guidance and support.
Phillips sheds light on how the relationships teens have today are different from their parents’ generation, including their reliance on technology and social media, the rise of young people identifying as LGBTQ+, high rates of depression and anxiety and consent consciousness. She provides concrete strategies and insights from experts and teens themselves on ways parents and other adults can help young people cope with the timeless issues of love and heartbreak.
Told from the perspective of a professor, mother and award-winning journalist, “First Love” is a critical resource for parents, educators, mental health professionals and others who want to understand the new realities of teen relationships—and help teens become caring, self-aware and thriving young adults.
The book has already received praise from journalists and academics alike.
“As parents we fuss a lot about how to have the ‘sex talk’ with our kids, but we fuss far less about a topic that is certainly just as important: how to talk to our teens about romantic love and, specifically, about the riptides of first love. Lisa Phillips deftly guides us through these waters.”- Richard Weissbourd, faculty director at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Making Caring Common program.
“With a novel emphasis on feelings—both on the part of the adolescents and the adults—she tracks the life cycle of first relationships, from crush to break-up, and the result is one of the best books I’ve ever read about both parenting and parenthood.” – Jennifer Senior, 2022 Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author.
She has made several media appearances to share insights from her book, including interviews with Oprah Daily and Chicago’s WGN.
Phillips will share further insights from “First Love” in conversation with fellow author and journalist Noor Taguori on Feb. 5 at College Hall. This event is free and open to the public. Copies of the book will be signed afterwards.
As a published writer, Phillips is the author of “Unrequited: The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Romantic Obsession” and “Public Radio: Behind the Voices.” She’s written about relationships, mental health, and teens for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Psychology Today, Cosmopolitan, Salon and other outlets. Read more here about Phillips’ work.
Phillips’ scholarship is also extended to her “Love and Heartbreak” Honors Program seminar course at New Paltz, which explores discourse on romantic love.
Click here to learn more about the Department of Digital Media & Journalism at SUNY New Paltz.