Theory and research highlight the mismatch between puberty-associated challenges and personal coping resources among youth with early actual or perceived pubertal timing. This study (N = 167; M[subscript age] = 12.41 years; 51.5% female; 77.8% White American) examined whether coping resources provided by mothers (maternal socialization of coping)…

Physical education (PE) has significant potential to shape how young people experience their own and others' bodies. This potential has not always been realized in positive ways and some research suggests that experiences in PE have contributed to young people's dissatisfaction with their appearances. The broad aim of this review is to provide a…

The present three-wave panel study (N = 973, X-bar[subscript age] = 11.14) sought to advance the current literature on media internalization in preadolescence by examining triggers and consequences related to preadolescents' media internalization and use of media for appearance information. We sought to examine whether (a) media internalization…

The importance of body change during the adolescence has been well documented within the literature. In this study, gender differences were investigated in the use of adolescents' perceptions of all body images, body parts and functions, and strategies of coping with body image. Data were collected from 710 first-year students from different high…

The present study investigated the development of global and domain-specific self-representations in the transition from late childhood to early adolescence and tested whether gender, puberty, and school transition help explain individual differences in change. The study was based on three measurement occasions over 2 years and included 248…

The developmental significance of youths' racial identities during adolescence is well established. It is less clear how puberty, a normative process, influences the relationship between racial identity and adjustment outcomes during adolescence. This study examined whether puberty moderates the relationship between racial identity dimensions and…

Youth in Western countries are exposed to many messages that sexualize women. We selectively review the literature on sexualization with the goal of clarifying and integrating theories, constructs, and models of the pathways and mechanisms via which exposure to such messages may affect youth. In the first section of the article, we define…

Physical activity may benefit mental health, yet the potentially protective role of elementary school physical education (PE) on childhood mental health is unknown. The aim of the current study was to determine the effect of a specialist-taught PE program on indicators of childhood mental health. In this cluster-randomized controlled trial,…

Purpose: We tested the moderating role of physical self-perceptions in the relationship between physical maturity and physical self-worth (PSW). Method: Students in Grades 5 through 8 (N = 241; 57% females; M[subscript age] =12.30 years) completed a questionnaire assessing physical self-perceptions (i.e., perceived sport competence, conditioning,…

Pleasure is an important aspect of healthy sexual development. Moreover, public health researchers and feminist scholars suggest that pleasure-inclusive sex education is effective for reducing pregnancy and rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and may create a more inclusive classroom environment for underserved individuals.…

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the school-based "My Body and I" program which was designed to help girls and boys to cope better with inevitable pubertal body changes. Method: Using a pre-post treatment-control design with 25 treatment and 17 control classes from schools in Germany and France (484 boys, 485 girls;…

Erikson (1950) contends that the physical changes associated with puberty serve as a catalyst for adolescents to question childhood identifications and to consolidate these with current self-conceptions, personal ideologies, interpersonal values, and future aspirations. Erikson describes the adolescent identity crisis as the developmental period…

Adolescents typically like school less after making age-graded school transitions. Stage-environment fit theory (Eccles & Midgley, 1989) attributes this to a mismatch between developmental needs and new school environments. Our in vivo study provides a basis for future quantitative designs by uncovering the most prevalent stage-environment…

It is unknown whether perceived pubertal timing changes as puberty progresses or whether it is an important component of adolescent identity formation that is fixed early in pubertal development. The purpose of this study is to examine the stability of perceived pubertal timing among a school-based sample of rural adolescents aged 11-17 (N =…

Menarche is a significant milestone for young women, representing an important juncture between girlhood and maturation. The limited literature that exists suggests that a mother's reaction to her daughter's first periods can shape her experiences and perceptions of menstruation which, in turn, may impact on her self-image and, consequently,…