The third in a series of reports from P/PV's three-year study of the role Boys & Girls Clubs play in the lives of the youth they serve, "Making Every Day Count" examines how Club participation is related to youth's positive and healthy development in three outcome areas identified by Boys & Girls Clubs of America as central to its mission: good…

Cluster analyses and hierarchical linear modeling were used to investigate the impact of perceptions of connectedness to family, school, and neighborhood contexts on academic and psycho-social outcomes for 437 urban ethnically diverse adolescents. Five profiles of connectedness to family, school, and neighborhood were identified. Two profiles were…

To explore the link between interparental hostility and adolescent problem behaviors, the current study examines four important maternal parenting dimensions as potential mediators: acceptance, harshness, inconsistency, and psychological intrusiveness. With a primary sample of 1,893 sixth-grade students, the measures included adolescent and…

As technology evolves, so does its impact on people's lives. These changes clearly affect people's daily activities, but how might they also impact education, teachers, and the lives of students with disabilities? This article focuses on technological innovations and their potential implications for students and teachers in schools. This article…

Using an ecological framework, the authors explore the reasons for peer discrimination and harassment reported by many Chinese American youth. They draw on longitudinal data collected on 120 first- and second-generation Chinese American students from two studies conducted in Boston and New York. Our analyses suggested that reasons for these…

This study examined the impact of terrorism on adolescents, who may be resolving developmental issues regarding their vulnerability to death. Approximately 4 months after the September 11th attacks, a survey was given to 973 Upper Midwest adolescents and teachers. Quantitative analyses indicated that adolescents (especially girls) were frightened…

This chapter discusses biological contributions to adolescent female sexual development and, based on a developmental systems framework, suggests future research directions.

This chapter provides an expanded view of parent- adolescent sexual communication and socialization in an effort to move beyond risk perspectives toward a consideration of other important aspects of sexual socialization.

From a developmental perspective, adolescence is a time of gaining independence, experimentation, and taking risks. One area of experimentation associated with adolescence is substance use. For counselors working with adolescents who use or abuse substances, or both, it is important to understand the scope of the problem and ways to effectively…

Research has linked youth activity involvement to positive development. However, past studies have confounded at least two separable dimensions of involvement: breadth (number of activities) and intensity (participation frequency). Theory and the limited available evidence suggest that these dimensions may make independent contributions to…

This study examined the Family Relationships Grid (FRG), a new measure of family structure that evaluates alliances, identification, isolation, and the relative strength of sibling and marital relationships. Subjects were 52 female and 35 male adolescents who were recruited through a university course and who each had at least one sibling.…

This fifth chapter in "The Challenge of Counseling in Middle Schools" looks at the issue of sexual maturation in early adolescence via four articles. "The Counselor's Impact on Middle-Grade Students," by Hershel Thornburg, examines physical, intellectual, and social developmental tasks of early adolescence. "Contraceptive and Sexuality Knowledge…

Just as infants and the elderly have special health care needs based on their stages in the life cycle, adolescents also have particular health needs. While some of those needs are simply a result of the bodily changes that define adolescence, others are true medical conditions which are most commonly found in this age group. Among achievements…

The role of psychosocial immaturity in the behavior of adolescent mothers remains unexplained. This project explores the validity of Newberger's Parental Awareness (PA) model which outlines the development of parents' conceptions of their parental role. PA distinguishes parents reported to be abusive from non-abusive parents. This study tests the…

Delinquency intervention and research have undergone changes in recent years. One new line of research has been aimed at mapping out juvenile criminal careers. Findings from this research suggest that involvement in technically delinquent activity may be a transitory, developmental phenomenon related to adolescence. Youth appear to be increasingly…