In debating who takes responsibility for adolescent's online activity, expectations are that a multi-systemic approach is needed. In this paper, the voices of 11-18-year-olds, teachers, and mental health practitioners in focus group conversations were analysed using thematic analysis. Results indicated that young people demonstrated empathy in…

Many young people are inclined toward risk taking and also toward helping other people. "Prosocial risk taking" is a term that can describe different ways that youth provide significant instrumental and emotional support to family members, friends, and strangers, even when it involves a personal risk. In this article, we review research…

Despite ample research on empathy development, its social origins have been understudied, particularly in the context of peer relations. This two-wave study of Swedish adolescents (N = 318; M[subscript ageT1] = 16.28, SD = 0.49; 55% females) examined longitudinal associations between youth friendships and empathy. The results showed that…

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…

Gifted adolescents may identify as "gamers" who create avatars to navigate video games and cell phone apps. Avatars provide a unique venue through which gifted teens can explore the issues of self and identity in a critical time of their development. The purpose of this article is to (a) provide an overview of what avatars are, (b)…

While there is growing research supporting the benefits of purpose development to adolescents and the communities of which they are a part, research about specific practices to support purpose development, specifically in high schools, remains scarce. Grounded in theories about teacher knowledge, the research team relied on a dimensional…

Despite the use of various anti-bullying programs, bullying continues to plague middle schools. However, there is an approach to bullying that complements other programs and can be easily integrated into course curriculum. This approach uses young adult novels to encourage adolescents to use perspective taking and empathy building through…

Although research has shown the effects of empathy manipulations on prejudice, little is known about the long-term relation between empathy and prejudice development, the direction of effects, and the relative effects of cognitive and affective aspects of empathy. Moreover, research has not examined within-person processes; hence, its practical…

Middle school is a crucial transition period for adolescents; in addition to beginning to grapple with the academic literacy demands of college and career readiness, they are working to find their place in public life and developing opinions about civic issues. This article presents debate as a literacy practice that is uniquely suited to helping…

This study examined punishment of excluders and compensation of victims after observing an instance of social exclusion at various phases of adolescent development. Participants (n = 183; age 9 to 22 years) were first included in a virtual ball-tossing game, Cyberball, and then "observed" the exclusion of a peer. Subsequently, they…

Links among concurrent and longitudinal changes in pubertal development and empathic ability from ages 10 to 13 and neural responses while witnessing peer rejection at age 13 were examined in 16 participants. More advanced pubertal development at age 13, and greater longitudinal increases in pubertal development, related to increased activity in…

Theories on empathy development have stressed the role of socialization in general and the role of parental support in particular. This 3-wave longitudinal study of middle adolescents (N = 678) aimed to contribute to the extant research on the socialization of empathy (a) by examining the relative contribution of perceived maternal and paternal…

The author analyses two award-winning juvenile novels, "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson and "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary Schmidt. Each novel portrays a deep friendship between a boy and girl who cross a stream (or river) into a world that includes fantasy, play, closeness to nature and animals, and a sense of the…

Families (N=20) participated in a Plan Something Together task used to measure three dimensions of family individuation: self-assertion, validation, and permeability. Discusses results in the context of several methodological challenges encountered in analyses of family interaction; discusses general strategies for responding to these challenges.…

Hypothesized that construct of ethnic perspective-taking ability (EPTA) would: (1) be related to ethnic identity, social perspective-taking ability (SPTA), and ethnic socialization; and (2) provide a distinction relative to SPTA. Subjects were Mexican-American high-schoolers. Found EPTA useful because it was significantly associated with SPTA but…