This classroom-based qualitative study examines a multiliteracies approach to teaching Young Adult Literature graphic novels and memoirs within a five-week book club study unit that took place within a twelfth-grade secondary English language arts classroom in an urban school in the Southwest. It explores the teaching and take up of several…

Guided by the life course perspective, this study investigated the developmental antecedents of contact, closeness/warmth, and negativity in young adults' relationships with their parents. Taking the developmental systems approach, we considered interindividual differences in not only initial levels of parenting quality in early adolescence (Grade…

Decisions related to career choice are influenced by person's interactions with his or her environment. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of a STEM (Science-Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) career choice. The study included two stages in which two different questionnaires were used. The purpose of the first…

Monitoring the Future (MTF) is an ongoing research program conducted at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research under a series of investigator-initiated research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse beginning in 1975. The integrated MTF study includes annual surveys of nationally-representative samples of 8th, 10th,…

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has become an increasingly worrying phenomenon among adolescents and young adults. This study sought to address the paucity of data about the prevalence, nature, and functions of NSSI in the South African context. The Inventory of Statements about Self-harm and the Beck Depression Inventory-II were administered to…

Organized afterschool activities present great potential to support individuals' positive development. Despite the general findings on the positive role of organized afterschool activities on individual development, existing studies have been limited in multiple ways. They have often focused on the quantity of participation or the amount of time…

This occasional paper presents subgroup findings from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study on levels of, and trends in, the use of a number of substances for nationally representative samples of high school graduates ages 19-30, "Monitoring the Future National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2018. Volume II, College Students & Adults…

Individual differences in the transition to adulthood are well established. This study examines the extent to which heterogeneity in pathways to adulthood that have been observed in the broader U.S. population are mirrored in adolescents' expectations regarding when they will experience key adult role transitions (e.g., marriage). Patterns of…

This paper asks whether concerns about social problems decline with age. Unconditional growth models (without covariates) revealed a decline over 25 years (age 18 to 43) in concerns about racial discrimination, treatment of Aboriginal Peoples, female job discrimination, unemployment and environmental pollution. Educational attainment was not…

Although early sexual initiation has been linked to negative outcomes, it is unknown whether these effects are causal. In this study, we use propensity score methods to estimate the causal effect of early sexual initiation on young adult sexual risk behaviors and health outcomes using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to…

This study presents descriptive analysis of young adults' use of multiple representations in the context of science news reporting. Across one semester, 71 high school students, in a socioeconomically diverse suburban secondary school in Midwestern United States, participated in activities of researching science topics of their choice and…

Introduction: Based on internal and external assets, the positive youth development approach aims to increase the capacity among adolescents to overcome challenges as they transition to adulthood. Developmental assets have been found to be positively associated with academic achievement, a variety of health promoting behaviors, and improved…

Monitoring the Future (MTF) is a long-term study of substance use and related factors among U.S. adolescents, college students, and adult high school graduates through age 55. It is conducted annually and supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. MTF findings identify emerging susbstance use problems, track substance use trends, and…

This data snapshot is a second report in a two-part series, "Newark Kids Count Data Snapshot: The Impact of COVID-19." In 2021, data releases from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as the U.S. Census Bureau, have demonstrated the ways in which college students have shifted their educational plans as a result of COVID-19. This…

Substance use is a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality; it is in large part why, among 17 high-income nations, people in the U.S. have the highest probability of dying by age 50. Substance use is also an important contributor to many social ills including child and spouse abuse, violence more generally, theft, suicide, and more;…