Introduction: This mixed-method longitudinal study examined American adolescents' meaning making of salient COVID-19 pandemic events. Method: Within phone interviews, adolescents (N = 124, M[subscript age] = 15.76 years; 46% Latine) narrated their most emotionally impactful pandemic experience at two time points ~30 days apart between July 2020…

The SUGAR Program Manual was designed based on an extensive literature review on bullying, adolescent development, resilience and protective factors, and anti-bullying programs. Literature on anti-bullying programs showed a deficit for older adolescents, particularly high school students. A whole-school approach is proposed by incorporating…

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…

Despite national guidelines advocating a comprehensive, age-appropriate, and sequential approach to sexual health education in schools, many young people in the USA do not receive sexual health information until high school. To date, there has been little research on the need for a supplemental round of sexual health education -- a 'booster' --…

This study was situated in the context of the University of California 4-H Positive Youth Development Program. A convenience sample of teen teachers (N = 11) represents variation in age (11-17), gender, ethnicity, and geographic location. All teens delivered the 4-H Mindful Me curriculum from the University of California 4-H Program. Qualitative…

Nationally, the 4-H Youth Development Program utilizes more than 350,000 adult volunteers annually, and 25% of the nation's K-12 students identify as Hispanic or Latino; however, there is a dearth of published literature on Latino volunteerism in the 4-H Youth Development Program. Developmental relationships, a critical component of realizing…

This study relates the transformation of one student's narrative identity (stories told about the student by himself and others) which took place over four months as he engaged in the pedagogy of multiliteracies while creating a multimodal book with his favorite images of family and school; videos and images of his favorite activities at home and…

This research examined the hypothesis that the association between parental involvement and adolescents' school adjustment is in part channeled through adolescents' development of positive teacher-student relationships. Three times over the course of 18 months, adolescents (N = 383; mean age at the first wave of the study = 12.31) completed…

Despite abundant research on the benefits of dispositional mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions, little is known about the naturally occurring developmental course of mindful awareness. Given dramatic strides during adolescence in competencies that may support mindfulness (e.g., emotion regulation), the high school years are a suitable…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused schools to shift to virtual or hybrid instruction, thrusting young adolescents into a very different educational environment. Stage-environment fit theory outlines ways in which educational contexts may, or may not, meet the developmental needs of young adolescents. Yet little is known about how virtual environments…

Middle school students are in even more need of social and emotional support due to the cognitive, social, and emotional changes occurring at this stage of their development (Caskey & Anfara, 2014), and their teachers are key players in providing what is needed. Unfortunately, there are few Institutions of Higher Education that offer programs…

A promising approach to support positive youth development is having adolescents serve as teachers for younger children. Through a qualitative interview study, we explored adolescents' development in their role serving as teachers for younger elementary-age children during out-of-school time; programs were managed by the University of California…

Assessment of student learning outcomes (SLOs) has become increasingly important in higher education. Meaningful assessment (i.e., assessment that leads to the improvement of student learning) is impossible without faculty engagement. We argue that one way to elicit genuine faculty engagement is to embrace the disciplinary differences when…

The assessment of psychosocial strengths in children and adolescents has predominately focused on the measurement of single traits and constructs, such as grit (Christopoulou, Lakioti, Pezirkianidis, Karakasidou, & Stalikas, 2018), optimism (Oberle, Guhn, Gadermann, Thomson, & Schonert-Reichl, 2018), hope (Pedrotti, 2018), and gratitude…

Life span developmental psychology proposes that the ability to create a coherent life narrative does not develop until early adolescence. Using a novel methodology, 10-, 12-, and 14-year-old participants were asked to tell their life stories aloud to a researcher. Later, participants separated their transcribed narratives into self-identified…