First sex marks a significant transition for most adolescents, yet teens often report that it was unplanned. Seventy-four college students participated in exploratory focus groups about their first sex. Although initially asked whether their first sex was spontaneous or planned, many participants revealed evidence of forethought or anticipation,…

Leadership and developmental scholars have highlighted the need to enhance youth leadership skills. Yet, research that explains youths' perceptions of how and when role models influences their leadership growth processes is limited. To address these gaps and begin to develop an understanding of youths' perspectives, we employed a qualitative,…

Although research studies are important for social work students, the students rarely like research classes or see their value. At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, one group of BSW students was encouraged to carry out the required research in their field work setting, the Hadassah University Medical Center. Students used data mining, that is,…

Experiences of 10 high-achieving first-generation college students from low-income backgrounds were the focus of this qualitative research study. Family adversity and difficult personal experiences during adolescence were major themes; however, students benefitted from emotionally supportive K-12 educators and academic rigor in high school.…

This qualitative study explores the abstinence-only sex education experiences of a small group of young adults in the southeastern USA. Most participants felt that their abstinence-only sex education had mixed value and low overall impact in their lives. Perceptions about abstinence, virginity, and marriage varied significantly from those stressed…

This article aims to identify the difficulties that may arise when designing assistive devices for disabled children. Seventeen design projects involving disabled children, engineering students, and special schools were analysed. A content analysis of the design reports was performed. For this purpose, a coding scheme was built based on a review…

With conceptions of literacy growing beyond the traditional print medium, new understandings of multiliteracy practices and pedagogies are needed to better inform the preparation of secondary English teachers. This article presents the findings of a study examining five first year teachers' understandings of and experiences with multiliteracies.…

Self-determination theorists (SDT) argue that the satisfaction of the need for relatedness is essential for growth and well-being. However, the current research has yet to account for the unique ways in which adolescent males engage in behaviors to fulfill their need for relatedness within their peer groups. This qualitative study investigates…

Assessing self-harm through brief multiple choice items is simple and less invasive than more detailed methods of assessment. However, there is currently little validation for brief methods of self-harm assessment. This study evaluates the extent to which adolescents' perceptions of self-harm agree with definitions in the literature, and what…

Recently, interdisciplinary instruction has come back to the educational scene, specifically supported through the Common Core State Standards. As teacher educators and former middle-level teachers, the authors see this as a positive move to enhance learning for adolescents. This qualitative study sought to answer: How do secondary preservice and…

Children's performance on face identification tests improves dramatically between age 4 and adolescence, yet the source of this improvement is controversial. We used face identity aftereffects to examine whether changes in the organization of face-space during childhood could be a source of this improvement. Specifically we tested whether 7- to…

Understanding how ethnic identities develop in adolescence is currently limited by a reliance on self-report paper-and-pencil measures. This mixed-methods study presents a novel response time measure, the Multiethnic Identities Processing Task (MIPT), to quantify bicultural adolescents' implicit identifications with ethnic and racial identity…

Through study of 32 students' narratives about coping with external threats to their career goals (e.g., denial of admission to the major of their choice), this study examines the following issues: (a) the coping mechanisms student use when faced with threats that loom large, (b) the relation between coping methods employed and whether the goal is…