The present article points to shared underlying theoretical assumptions and central processes of a prominent academic motivation perspective--achievement goal theory--and recent process perspectives in the identity formation literature, and more specifically, identity formation styles. The review highlights the shared definition of achievement…

Schools have a seminal role in preparing a society's children for their adult responsibilities as workers, parents, friends, neighbors, and citizens. The United States, countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Brazil, India, South Africa, and other multiethnic democratic nation-states have increasingly diverse…

Much controversy surrounds the consequences of adolescent paid work, with researchers coming to diverse conclusions about work's impact on youth. This article summarizes findings from the Youth Development Study (YDS), a long-term, ongoing longitudinal study that has followed youth from middle adolescence through early adulthood. The YDS findings…

This paper reviews the empirical evidence relating to the effects of active engagement with music on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people. It draws on research using the most advanced technologies to study the brain, in addition to quantitative and qualitative psychological and educational studies. It…

Traditional-age college students face a host of challenges during the transition from home to campus. Perhaps one of the most substantial challenges--one that relates directly to adjustment and quality of life--involves the formation of new relationships, and the awareness, development, and establishment of boundaries between their own emerging…

This chapter presents findings from a national research study with a sample of nearly twenty thousand first-year students on how students' experiences and campus programs affect key academic outcomes of the first year. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

Examined patterns of academic functioning and mental health in middle school students and the relation of such patterns to their prior and subsequent functioning. Found variegated patterns of academic and emotional functioning at eighth grade and stability in these patterns across the high school transition. Found some long-term stability among…

This qualitative study investigated contextual influences involved in college student identity development. It examined events, experiences, and relationships that alumni suggest either nourished or thwarted their perceptions of multiple dimensions of their identity during college. Findings suggest that self-perceptions of identity often change as…

Examined benefits/risks of participation in five types of extracurricular activities (prosocial, team sports, school involvement, performing arts, academic clubs). Data for 1,259 adolescents were drawn from the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions. Found that prosocial involvement was linked to positive educational trajectories and low…

This study examined antecedents to early patterned alcohol and tobacco use and marijuana experimentation between ages 11 and 16 for an at-risk male sample. Findings suggested that family, peer, and child characteristics were inextricably connected within an ecology of development. A structural equation prediction model suggested a higher order…