The mysterious and unspoken secrets of life can be a source of fascination for young people. The bildungsroman quest for identity is often coupled with a protagonist's attempts to decode a range of secrets. Jamaica Kincaid's work of fiction, "Annie John" (1985), illustrates this journey. In this novel, the female protagonist's maturity…

During adolescence, activism provides an outlet for ideas, visions, and concerns about societal issues as teens stake their claim in society. Girls often engage in activism as they begin to form their independent identities and explore their communities. However, the extent of parental influence on activist engagement is unclear, as gendered…

These days, children are exposed to a variety of information sources and channels, which create more complex interactions than ever before. It is important, therefore, to develop and reinforce children's self-leadership. The present work is a narrative qualitative study focusing on the story of Lile, a 14-year-old Israeli girl who was assessed as…

READY is a self-report prospective longitudinal study of deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) young people aged 16 to 19 years on entry. Its overarching aim is to explore the risk and protective factors for successful transition to adulthood. This article introduces the cohort of 163 DHH young people, background characteristics and study design.…

The need for change is clear. Researchers and educators must pay more attention to the needs of African American adolescent girls. The transition to middle school is a complicated time as adolescent girls are questioning who they are and where they fit in. It is the time when they are also trying to gain a sense of independence and begin…

The purpose of this collaborative action research project was to examine eighth- and ninth-grade female (assigned at birth) students' perspectives of their singing voice when implementing a practitioner/researcher designed curriculum titled "Supporting Adolescent Female Vocal Development: Teaching Anatomy and Physiology in the Middle School…

Prioritizing digital well-being for teens helps them develop healthy relationships with technology and navigate the digital world safely. This Spotlight will help one learn how social media is affecting many teen girls' sleep and mental health; explore tips to support students' mental health; investigate how social media habits can influence…

Young people's use of technology has been extensively explored in the literature. However, there has been less work theorising their technology-enabled behaviours, integrating understandings of adolescence into explanations of technology use. The study reported here begins to address this gap. It explores the digital lives of 15 young women in the…

What does it mean to be a Jewish girl today and how do Jewish adolescent girls navigate their identity? The study that I undertook is exploratory and designed to understand how three girls, who are recent day school graduates, experience the process of identity development as they begin high school. While the sample is small, the study reveals new…

Achievement of a positive identity and its transition to adulthood is the most important task of the adolescent era. This cross-sectional explanatory mixed-method study sought to better understand barriers to identity development in female adolescents in Iran by explaining their own experiences and using a Positive Youth Development model as a…

Female adolescent voice change (FAVC) is characterized by objectively measurable developments in both physiological and acoustical aspects of voice. Despite these observable changes, this period of vocal development has had little representation in both scientific and pedagogical research. Furthermore, few studies have articulated the perceptions…

As part of Western European development aid policy, comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is increasingly promoted in resource-poor countries. This paper engages with CSE promotion in Bangladesh funded by the Dutch Government. It unpacks the "collaboration" by looking at how a paradox is played out between the universal ideals…

For gifted girls, the journey toward self-actualization can be particularly challenging during adolescence. To better support gifted adolescent girls, this article explores a contemporary framework for understanding smart girls of the 21st century: Kerr and McKay's beehive of smart girls. Kerr and McKay's typology highlights how different…

In order to support adolescent girls' social and emotional development, school counselors need to understand girls' current experiences and developmental needs. Researchers used phenomenological methodology to explore the experiences of 11 girls in Generation Z. They further examined girls' interactions with their high school counselors including…

Farah Pandith is an author, foreign policy strategist, and former diplomat. She served as the first-ever special representative to Muslim communities for the US Department of State. She is the author of "How We Win: How Cutting-Edge Entrepreneurs, Political Visionaries, Enlightened Business Leaders, and Social Media Mavens Can Defeat the…