Hierarchy of Needs! What teens want

In a previous volume there was a book review in regards to gang members living at home with their mothers while they continued to sell drugs and work a minimum wage job to pay the bills. What was clearly identified in that book was that drug dealers at the street level are not making millions of dollars and that long term benefits do not exist.

But what many of us also learned from that book and the research that was conducted by Abraham Maslow’s was that in all things “need” is an important motivator in all things.

For those who have not seen Maslow's Hierarchy of needs here they are:

1. Psychological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.
2. Safety and security; out of danger
3. Belonging and love: affiliation with others, being accepted.
4. Esteem: to achieve, to be competent, gang approval
5. Self-Actualization: to find self-fulfillment and realize one’s potential
6. Self-Transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego and to help others find self fulfillment and realize their potential.

Many of America’s youth have so many of these issues going on that they are not apparent, beyond the first needs of hunger, thirst and food. If we examine the remainder we learn that young people desire all of these at the same time, with urgent immediacy.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs are broken down further into deficiency needs and growth needs. If the deficiency needs are met then the person will seek out the growth needs. Deficiency needs are items 1 through 4 and growth needs are items 5 through 6.

We must  inspire young people to seek out and learn about themselves in items one through four first, guiding them as they move through these areas and then allowing them to move into items 5 through 6 on their own, to learn their own path through trial and error.