Using a post-structural lens which situates gender as discursively produced, this study investigates how four 12-year-old girls read feminist fairy tales and what feminist issues and concerns they discern and relate to in these texts. The study used a dialogic approach in Action Research informed reading groups to stimulate their thinking and…

This study aimed to examine the moderating effect of student engagement between weight bias internalization and depressive symptoms in Korean adolescent girls with higher weight. Ninety-nine girls with higher weight ([greater than or equal to]85th body mass index percentile) in early adolescence (aged 12-14 years) participated in this…

Background: Self-harm usually begins during adolescence and adolescents that self-harm most commonly confide in friends, yet to date, there is little research from the friend's perspective. Objective: This qualitative study explores adolescents' experiences of what it is like to have a friend who self-harms by cutting and what this experience…

The aim of this study was to better understand the role of school bathrooms in shaping the menstrual experiences of adolescents in the U.S.A. The participants were Black and Latina, low-income adolescent girls (15-19) and adults interacting closely with youth in three U.S.A. cities (Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City). Data collection methods…

Group mentoring programs offer multiple routes for influencing development, through both one-on-one relationships and relational processes in the group context. Less explored is how the group context impacts one-on-one relationships. This study investigated how the group influences the development of the mentor-mentee relationship in a group and…

Most literature on youth focuses on prominent issues of bullying/cyber abuse, dating and relationship issues, and mental health concerns for children and adolescents; however, specific to preadolescence, little is written in comparison due to the implication that the transition between the two life stages are well blended. However, the question…

Friendships have a central importance in childhood and adolescence, and the friendship demands on girls with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be higher than for boys. Few previous studies have examined the experiences of friendship from the perspective of girls with ASD. A qualitative focus group methodology was used with ten adolescent girls…

Background: Menstrual hygiene management is a significant issue affecting the health of women around the world. Lack of knowledge and awareness about menstruation and the silence surrounding it is a risk factor for all women. Objective: The objectives of this study were to elicit the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of adolescent girls (13-15…

This piece builds on scholarship in African American parading and Black Girls' Literacies by presenting parading as a metaphor to analyze a website created by nine Black adolescent girls. I draw on multimodal analysis frameworks to understand the symbolic nature of the site and its components, as well as how the girls use it as a platform to speak…

This study sought to explore the importance of mentorship programs for Black adolescent females. Due to the unique challenges that Black women face regarding the intersectionality of race, gender, and socioeconomic status, they are in need of mentorship programs to overcome these challenges. The Critical Race Feminist Theory was the theoretical…

Sexual self-efficacy, an individual's confidence in the domain of sexual health behaviors, was studied among an ethnically diverse sample of 128 sexually active adolescent women between the ages of 14 and 18 years. A hypothesized interaction between women's belief that condoms interfere with sexual pleasure and her perception of a partner's belief…

The current research examined adolescents' attitudes about sexism in fields related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The ethnically diverse sample (61% East Asian) was composed of 629 adolescents (M[subscript age] = 16.09) who attended a public school in the United States. Participants responded to closed- and open-ended…

Sexual communication skills are needed to create healthy romantic relationships. Arguably, these skills also can be used to prevent some instances of unwanted sex. This study presents a qualitative analysis of adolescents' comments after reading a teen-friendly article on sexual consent as part of a web-based sexual health promotion intervention.…

This study examines critical digital literacy practices among 390 Black girls, ages 13-17. Through a data sharing initiative with a community organization, we conducted a qualitative analysis of 3120 narrative responses describing their views of technology. Grounded in Black feminist epistemologies, our study found that the girls reconciled their…

To properly understand sex education, it is important to consider the informal education that takes place outside the classroom. Students often seek out other resources to supplement the education they receive in school, especially to cover topics which are absent or underdeveloped in the formal sex education curriculum. A key resource for this,…