The adolescent pregnancy rate in the United States is the highest among industrialized nations. It is important for professionals working with pregnant minors and adolescent mothers to understand the factors associated with adolescent pregnancy to avoid forming judgmental and negative attitudes towards this population. The purpose of this article…

Brain science reveals that there are two periods of heightened plasticity, a time when the brain is especially prone to change: The first period is from birth to age 3; the second is during adolescence. The author, Laurence Steinberg, suggests that this finding should stimulate interest in secondary education as an opportune time to intervene to…

Each year, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) releases a list of scientific advances that represent significant progress in the field. The "2019 IACC Summary of Advances" provides short, plain language summaries of the top research breakthroughs selected by the IACC from a pool of research articles nominated by the…

Mediation analysis is a statistical approach used to examine how the effect of an independent variable on an outcome is transmitted through an intervening variable (mediator). In this article, we provide a gentle introduction to single-level and multilevel mediation analyses. Using single-level data, we demonstrate an application of structural…

The transition from general education (e.g., high school) to vocational and tertiary education (e.g., college, vocational school) or to the labor market presents a number of developmental challenges. These challenges include making career choices and, more broadly, managing the transition. Coping with these challenges depends on the individual,…

The risk for the onset of full-syndrome depressive disorders from the subtreshold depressive disorder in adolescents is found to be at 67 percent. The variables that predict the progression to the full onset are: severity of depressive symptoms, medical conditions/ symptoms, history of suicidal ideation, history of anxiety disorder, and familial…

Motivation has long been viewed as a key element of learning. A study of over 300 high school juniors and seniors demonstrated that motivation was at least as predictive of achievement in a subject as was intelligence. Among younger students, motivation is a linchpin to learning, even at a time developmentally when overall motivation for…

Velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS), also known as DiGeorge, conotruncal anomaly face, and Cayler syndromes, is caused by a microdeletion in the long arm of Chromosome 22. We review the history of the syndrome from the first clinical reports almost half a century ago to the current intriguing molecular findings associating genes from the…

A large volume of research has investigated interrelations among adolescent risk behaviors. Although several theoretical accounts have been proposed, researchers have not directly examined hypotheses for "why" risk behaviors are linked. In the present paper, a distinction is drawn between predictive factors that explain variance in risk behaviors…

This article presents a re-conceptualization of moderate adolescent drug use. It is argued that experimentation with alcohol and other drugs during the teenage years may play an important role in the development of regulatory competency in relation to drug consumption in adulthood. When such regulatory skills fail to emerge in young people, during…

Connectedness between children and their family is a major factor that distinguishes between collective and individualistic cultures. The "Multigenerational Interconnectedness Scale", measuring adolescents-family connectedness was administered to adolescents in nine western and eastern countries. The findings show that connectedness in eastern…

A number of factors can contribute to youth's reactions to disasters. These factors can include characteristics of the event; the nature of youth's exposure; and individual, family, and social predictors. This article describes both outcomes and predictors in order to prepare professionals who might work with youth in post-disaster situations.…

Studies indicate that the impact of family involvement may be the most important predictor of successful psychiatric hospitalization of adolescents. Yet the ability to engage both an adolescent and his or her family in family therapy in the context of what is often an involuntary hospitalization is a major challenge. A number of promising…

The emergence of romantic relationships is one of the most striking features of adolescence. By the late adolescent years, most teenagers have been in a romantic relationship at least once and roughly half of teens are dating currently. Alarmingly though, in many of these relationships adolescents act aggressively toward each other and this…

Fewer teenagers are participating in the labor force today than at any point since WWII. At just under 44 percent teen labor force participation is 15 percentage points below its peak in the late 1970s. The authors investigate the long-run decline in the work activity of young adults, and the acceleration of this trend during the last five years.…