Purpose: Today's education system focuses primarily on the academic skills of individuals. However, art and music education is thought to affect both humor and interpersonal problem-solving skills by supporting the social and emotional skills of adolescents. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate how receiving art and music education…

One way to avert negative influences on well-being when confronted with blocked goals is the flexible adjustment of one's goals to the given situation. This study examines developmental differences in flexible goal adjustment (FGA) regarding age and gender in a sample of N = 815 participants (10 to 20 years; M = 13.63, SD = 2.60, 48.5% male).…

Recent efforts to define qualities of effective teaching practice have done little to capture the role of play, imagination, and creativity in classroom teaching. Drawing on theories of play and data from a two-year case study that included classroom observations, interviews, artifact collection, and surveys, the author examines the ways in which…

Using daily diary methodology, 67 Mexican American adolescents completed measures assessing daily stressors experienced, specific coping strategies employed with reference to these stressors, and indices of psychological health over 5 consecutive days. With respect to coping usage, adolescents reported they most often used planning and least often…

This study examined relationship between a sense of humor and symptoms of depression among adolescents. Findings on measures of humor and depression for 140 adolescents revealed that a sense of humor can be reliably measured and may be inversely related to symptoms of depression. (LBT)

Notes the lack of fiction geared toward young adolescent males and humorously suggests that what little is available is far too serious in tone and moral viewpoint. (NKA)

Humor in adolescent literature is the focus of the articles in this themed journal issue. The articles and their authors are as follows: (1) "Of Fiction and Madness" (Paul Zindel); (2) "Before the Immaculate Cuticles" (Jerry Spinelli); (3) "I Want To Make Them Laugh" (Ellen Conford); (4) "The Terrible Hilarity of Adolescence in 'Dinky Hocker…

This book is a collection of essays on all of the common problems, experiences, and humorous anecdotes of adolescence. It is written to alter the common negative perception of adolescence and instill a feeling of celebration of this period of tremendous change in children's lives. Following an introductory section, the second section of the book,…