As postsecondary education is an increasingly important developmental milestone for adolescents, it is critical to identify supports that help prepare youth for college. Building on evidence highlighting the role of parental input and guidance, the current study investigates how within-person changes in adolescent school-related communication…

The following article presents a paradigm shift in order to engage in more expansive pedagogy in the teaching of puberty; specifically, to create a more inclusive and affirming space for LGBTIQA+ youth. Attention to LGBTQIA+ populations has slowly been integrated into many areas of research, theory, and teaching in psychology and related…

Ambiguous loss experiences may be common among sexual minority (LGBQ+) populations who sometimes have fewer supports and increased feelings of vulnerability due to the marginalization they encounter. Consequently, it is increasingly necessary to understand how LGBQ+ individuals encounter loss during formative parts of their development and how…

Developmental complexity, in particular developing an internal voice, is one of the foundations of character development. Here the author describes developmental complexity, its evolution over adolescence and young adulthood, how it links to character development and the five strategies to promote it, and how learning partnerships are one form of…

Identity is a foundational element in a person's development and can influence all aspects of a person's life. Although research on adolescent identity development is a growing field, there are opportunities for additional research on this stage of development, with specific focus needed on the role of asynchronous development. This study utilized…

There is increasing concern raised for youth not in education and employment or training (NEET). Subsequently there is an increased demand for both education and health services that support the development of positive youths' identities, socioemotional and cognitive developmental needs, through youth mentoring strategies (Rhodes & DuBois,…

A critical need exists for adults who are properly prepared to meaningfully engage with adolescents. While utilizing teens in leadership and teaching roles has been gaining popularity and application, a developmental and skills-based approach for improving "trusted adult" capacity to engage with adolescents has not been comprehensively…

It is well established that successful transitions into adulthood vary greatly by numerous factors (e.g., race, gender); yet, understanding of ways that disability-related factors shape transitions into adulthood are less clear. While individuals with disabilities, generally, often fall short of their non-disabled peers in achieving many early…

Positive Youth Development (PYD) model is a strength-based perspective of transition to adulthood derived from developmental systems theory. Developmental assets (DAs) framework describes the individual and contextual resources that may promote PYD. This work aims to analyze the associations between internal and external DAs and PYD, as well as…

Southeast Pennsylvania 4-H Extension educators identified a need for professional development in order to further develop current urban 4-H programs. The expectation was that increased awareness and knowledge would lead to increased skills competency in planning, implementing, and evaluating urban 4-H youth development programs. An interstate…

Participation in physical activity (PA) tends to decline between childhood and adolescence, and in Australia the bulk of this decline has been shown to occur in the domain of non-organised PA (e.g. active play, informal sports). A better understanding of the reasons for the decline in non-organised PA may support strategies to counter barriers and…

As researchers and school stakeholders determine ways to best support Black and Latino adolescent boys from low-income communities in actualizing their postsecondary future ambitions, more attention is needed on the types of futures these boys imagine and how family members influence this process. Guided by "future orientations" and…

Adolescent pregnancy is a significant societal issue that results in lost opportunities for teenage girls in both developed and developing countries. This phenomenological research study explored the lived experience of adolescent mothers during their college years. Eight participants were asked, via unstructured interview, to share their…

I investigated how two U.S.-born Salvadoran eleventh grade boys formulated college-going mindsets at the nexus of family-based cultural influences, adolescent development, masculinity, and academic self-appraisals. With asset-based theories, findings show how immigrant families encouraged college going by shielding their sons from noneducational…

Four-day school weeks have proliferated across the United States in recent years, reaching over 650 public school districts in 24 states as of 2019, but little is known about the effects of the four-day school week on high school students. This study uses district-level panel data from Oklahoma and a difference-in-differences research design to…