A potential underlying mechanism associated with the difficulties in social interactions in Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) concerns the abnormal development of moral reasoning. The present study examined utilitarian and deontological judgments in impersonal and personal moral dilemmas, comparing 66 individuals with ASD and 61 typically…

Solitude occurs from childhood to old age. In this special issue introduction, we offer a lifespan perspective on matters of solitude with the aim to point to pertinent issues in the field. We propose that solitude serves important functions that may vary across different times in life and that solitude needs to be considered in the context in…

Children's and adolescents' narratives of interpersonal experiences can inform our understanding of developmental shifts in the use of personhood concepts. We present results from two studies ("n"s = 90, 112) with children aged five to 16 years. In the first study, children were asked to describe one positive and another negative…

The assessment of psychosocial strengths in children and adolescents has predominately focused on the measurement of single traits and constructs, such as grit (Christopoulou, Lakioti, Pezirkianidis, Karakasidou, & Stalikas, 2018), optimism (Oberle, Guhn, Gadermann, Thomson, & Schonert-Reichl, 2018), hope (Pedrotti, 2018), and gratitude…

"Interpersonal" rejection and "intergroup" exclusion in childhood reflect different, but complementary, aspects of child development. Interpersonal rejection focuses on individual differences in personality traits, such as wariness and being fearful, to explain bully-victim relationships. In contrast, intergroup exclusion focuses on how in-group…

A qualitative, longitudinal, phenomenological case study explored how a gifted female experienced various life events and aspects of development during adolescence and young adulthood (ages 15-30 years), particularly as related to multiple traumatic experiences, which were revealed late in the first year of the study. Additional experiences, well…

Positive connections to other human beings are the foundation of healthy development. However, the contemporary youth development field is expanding beyond the notion of connectedness with known adults. "Connectedness" can also encompass ideas related to belonging, attachment, and reciprocal positive regard for the institutions, policies, and…

Although research on friendship reveals the significance of friendship for children, questions about friendship and development remain unanswered. It is argued that the study of friendship would benefit from a return to basic questions about what friendship is, how it is measured, and how it varies across people and contexts.

The authors report on a telephone poll with a nationally representative sample of 1,425 U.S. adults in which they investigated how parental status and age of child might affect patterns of adult engagement with children and youth outside their own families. Compared to nonparents, parents considered 12 of 20 ways of being involved with young…

This volume overall provides a compelling description of what respect entails and how it functions and emerges in childhood and adolescence. This construct requires further conceptual clarification and study across cultures. The strength of this volume lies in its cultural perspective and diverse empirical approaches.

Recent work in the field of child and adolescent social skills is synthesized in this volume with new and unpublished information. The first three chapters provide a foundation for conceptualizing and assessing child and adolescent social skills. Chapter 1, "The Nature and Value of Social Skills," provides a definition, examples, historical…

Within the framework of a model that defined a social network as a dynamic hierarchic structure within which individuals exchange support with one another throughout their lifetime, two studies explored the development of social support networks during childhood. In the first study, 90 children in kindergarten and grades 4 and 8 at a private…

As girls face the serious emotional, physical, and developmental challenges during youth and adolescence, external support from a nonparental female role model is an essential, and too frequently ignored, requirement for healthy development. This book presents a process for mentoring young women and girls by providing guidance in five areas:…

Despite the apparent universality of loneliness and its link to psychosocial maladjustment, research on loneliness has emerged rather recently in the history of psychology. This book brings together varied theories and lines of research on loneliness among children and adolescents to provide a source for future research. The chapters are: (1)…