Introduces a special issue on youth, discussing current youth-focused therapeutic recreation research and practice, comparing this issue with another theme journal on youth (emphasizing the roles of professional preparation and professional organizations), examining the role of therapeutic recreation and adventure therapy, and noting theoretical…

Explains briefly identity development and health and safety concerns specific to gay and lesbian youth. Proposes a variety of strategies for meeting their intellectual and developmental needs. (SR)

Responds to van Hoof's (1999) critique of the identity status paradigm. Concludes that a useful strategy with university students may be to focus on the social-cognitive processes underpinning identity statuses and to conceptualize these identity orientations as different styles of dealing with the demands, challenges, and opportunities afforded…

Responds to Waterman's (1999) and Berzonsky and Adams' (1999) commentaries regarding review of the identity status field. Demonstrates that arguments and data from commentaries often support the view that the statuses are insufficiently valid and that they are unsuitable for measuring identity development. Advocates fundamental revisions of the…

Articles in this special section illuminate progress, challenges, gaps, and future directions for theory and research concerned with peer relations and psychopathology. Advances reflect the emergence of developmental psychopathology, with its emphasis on systems theory, dynamic interactions of individuals in context, processes and change,…

The construct of psychological control, important in research on parenting and adolescent development, is much in need of clarification.

In "The Haunting," "The Changeover," and "The Tricksters," Margaret Mahy fuses supernatural iconography of witchcraft and magic with images of ordinary and domestic adolescence. This article argues that Mahy's "fantastic realism" illuminates aspects of female teenage experience through a blend of myth, fairy tale, folklore and history, as well as…

In the present essay, we focus on G. Stanley Hall's contributions to the study of the role of social change for adolescent development. After introducing Hall's main ideas, we discuss recent demands adolescents face because of social change and how Hall's work could inform research on adolescent development in times of social change.

This study investigated the roles of sex, age, and parent-child communication in moderating the association between digital game violence and direct aggression in a two-year longitudinal study. Finnish 12- and 15-year-old adolescents (N = 316) participated in the follow-up survey. As hypothesized, digital game violence was linked to direct…

The current study provides new information on the etiology of adolescent problem behaviors in African American youth by testing the importance of known predictors, namely parenting measures (monitoring, support, and communication), peers, and neighborhood characteristics across rural and non-rural developmental contexts. More specifically, the…

An assessment from a holistic perspective considers the overall well-being of the adolescent and seeks to understand the adolescent's development and resiliency in relation to social relationships and their context and risks, given the association between these factors and the goal to promote each area. It is recommended that measures in the…

This paper examines the way lesbian identities are silenced in schools particularly through anti-lesbian harassment. Based on research with 30 self-identified lesbian teachers working across high schools in New South Wales, Australia, the discussion illustrates how various responses to anti-lesbian harassment silence the recognition of such…

This state-of-the-art practitioner resource and course text provides a comprehensive view of adolescent development and spells out effective ways to help teens who are having difficulties. The book illuminates protective and risk factors in the many contexts of adolescents' lives, from individual attributes to family, school, neighborhood, and…

As children approach adolescence, they often experience confusion and uncertainty as they attempt to appear more grown up than they really feel. Research on both girls and boys has documented that the buoyant self-confidence of younger children often gives way to self-consciousness as young adolescents become aware of the complexity and difficulty…

The present study was conducted to ascertain the extent to which three alternative perspectives on identity development (self-construction, eudaimonistic self-discovery, and agentic personality) relate to various indices of identity consolidation drawn from Erikson, identity status, and identity capital. A total of 183 participants (21% males; 78%…