Puberty is often implicated in the onset or exacerbation of psychopathology during adolescence, and pubertal timing and tempo have emerged as important predictors of wellbeing. In the psychosocial literature there is a tendency to view individual differences in the nature (timing and tempo) of pubertal development as either determined by stress…

Dimensional continuity was examined in adolescents in grades 7, 9, and 11. Demonstrated changes in dimensional configurations raise challenging issues for longitudinal study practices that assume uniform interpretability of the same scales at differing developmental stages. (ST)

Investigation of the relationship between maternal employment and behaviors and attitudes of preadolescents and adolescents indicated significant differences only for preadolescents regarding sex role ideology. Results suggest full-time maternal employment has few effects on behaviors and attitudes of school-age children from intact families.…

Introduces this special journal issue by describing what developmental approaches are and how they can be applied to children with disabilities. Gives a short preview of the articles in the issue and raises future challenges for developmental research and intervention with young children with disabilities. (JS)

Examines the conceptual and empirical foundations of individual drug use stage development and progression related to tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. Research examining interdrug use progression among youths supports the idea of a generally invariant sequence, involving nonuse to legal drug use, marijuana, and finally other illegal drug use.…

Delineates Sigmund Freud's theories of symbolic relations, Jean Piaget's theories of cognitive development, and Eric Erickson's concept of identity crisis to analyze and explain the characteristics and phenomena of adolescent development. Suggests roles and tasks for teachers and parents in promoting healthy development. (WL)

This guide presents RPM3, a no-frills approach to parenting. The acronym RPM3 stands for Responding to your child in an appropriate manner, Preventing risky behavior problems, Monitoring your child's contact with his or her surrounding world, Mentoring your child to support and encourage desired behaviors, and Modeling your own behavior to provide…

Adolescent determination of behavior can be viewed as the result of perceived locus of control. To investigate adolescent perceptions of control in terms of age, loci of control (internal or external), situations (community and home), and direction of control (from or over the environment), 909 adolescents (345 males, 564 females), aged 11-19,…

Considers the increase in research on adolescence, with attention to its transitional aspects during the adolescent period and as a bridge between childhood and adulthood. In addition, discusses the effort to examine interactional processes between parent and child and between environment and genes, with respect to the articles of this special…

Changes from the expected life course can arise from at least three different reasons in longitudinal work: developmental novelty, errors in diagnosis, and errors in expectation. This longitudinal study examined the social development of 220 fourth graders and 475 seventh graders over a period of 10 years with over 98 percent of the original…

This encyclopedia is a comprehensive reference work addressed to those interested in human development from birth through adolescence, including students of child development, teachers, health care providers, child psychologists, family counselors, education professionals, academics, and parents. Signed entries in the encyclopedia were prepared by…

Introduces this special theme issue examining the roles of socialization, biology, and culture as they affect adaptive and maladaptive developmental outcomes. Problems of adolescence addressed include antisocial behavior, depressive symptoms, substance abuse, low achievement, and eating problems. Considers factors implicated in successful…