Intentional self-regulation (ISR) undergoes significant development across the life span. However, our understanding of ISR's development and function remains incomplete, in part because the field's conceptualization and measurement of ISR vary greatly. A key sample case involves how Baltes and colleagues' Selection, Optimization,…

Family leisure involvement may provide the first and most essential context for positive youth development in today's society. Similar to the broader ecological perspective used in the youth development literature, family systems theory suggests that each individual in the family influences the whole, while the whole family also influences each…

Thirty-two adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19 participated in a semistructured interview regarding their perspectives on parental expectations and their strategies for expressing resistance. Thematic analyses indicated that adolescents perceive parental expectations as flexible and coconstructed rather than as firm, explicit, standing…

With the advent of Internet technology and rapidly changing consumer environments, the societal role played by today's adolescents is significantly increasing. They are becoming more influential, not merely as consumers of products and services but also as coproducers in the marketplace. In this paper, we contend that consumption is central to the…

Used two path models to examine the influence of ethnic identity and intergroup contact on adolescents' attitudes toward other ethnic groups: (1) ethnic identity increases with age and predicts positive in-group attitudes which contribute to positive out-group attitudes; and (2) diversity outside school leads to more out-group interaction in…

Used two approaches to examine mothers', adolescents', and observers' discrepancies in perceptions of family interaction in rural, working-class families. Results using the divergent-realities approach support a developmental lifespan perspective positing that developmental tasks influence perception. Results using perceived-inequalities approach…

Focal theory is a framework for looking at psychosocial and leisure transitions in middle and later adolescence. Using cross-sectional survey data, found few gender differences in age-related relational transitions, but gender differences were apparent in shifting focuses of leisure involvement with age. Findings suggest a linkage between…

Used an empirically based strategy to develop a measure of ethnic identity among American Indian adolescents, focusing on degree to which respondents identified with Indian culture and with White culture. Exploratory factor analysis examined the structure of ethnic identity, and resulting models were tested with confirmatory factor analysis.…

Reports findings on changes in adolescent-crowd orientations using national data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. Categorizes high school students into five prototypical peer-crowd orientations at tenth and twelfth grade. Illuminates the change in students' peer crowd orientation by examining individual and relationship…

An asset-based approach is being championed by the field of child and youth care work, focusing on strengths as opposed to weaknesses, assets as opposed to deficits. This article highlights the Search Institute's theoretically-based and empirically-supported model of developmental assets (Benson, Leffert, Scales, & Blyth, 1998; Scales, Benson,…

This chapter reframes, from a developmental, self-worth perspective, the longstanding debate over the presumed negative impact of extrinsic rewards on subject-matter appreciation and creative expression. The chapter argues that the debate over the potentially adverse effects of extrinsic payoffs is largely misplaced because of a narrow, almost…

Examined impact of peer experience on seventh graders' strategies for coping with peer hassles. Found that more aggressive adolescents perceived more control over hassles. More aggressive, unpopular adolescents used more negative strategies; more popular aggressive females used more problem-focused strategies. Withdrawn adolescents perceived less…

Examined the relationship between adolescents' detection of self-discrepancies and internalizing and externalizing problems. Found that self-discrepancy, independent of actual-self positivity, predicted internalizing and externalizing problems. For girls, discrepancy with parental standards predicted functioning, and discrepancy with independent…

This longitudinal study examined relations between sociometric status and school adjustment among middle school students. Findings indicated that sixth-grade sociometric status predicted eighth-grade adjustment when controlling for initial adjustment. Compared to average status students, controversial status students had lower classroom grades,…

This study examined how parental practices in mainland China influence adolescents' school performance, including school motivation and grade point average (GPA), when moderated by self-esteem and self-efficacy. Participating in the study were 497 students, ranging in age from 12 to 19 years, attending six public junior and senior high schools.…