Introducing a group of articles on middle schools, this article outlines the middle school's purpose, the best ways of teaching and disciplining their students, and the important roles of their principals. (JM)

Examines spirituality as a facet of positive youth development and considers how religious training can either enhance or stifle adolescent spiritual growth. Discusses adolescence and the spiritual impulse, adolescents' well being, and spirituality in developmental and social contexts. Presents spirituality as a universal human capacity. (RJM)

Examined relationships among sexual self-acceptance, communication with sexual partners about sex and contraception, and contraceptive use in 201 adolescent females, ages 14 to 19. Found that females with greater sexual self-acceptance communicated more with partners about sex and contraception. Discussion about contraception, but not about sex,…

Reports on a literature review of adolescent development, family relationships, and the impact of divorce on adolescents. Results reveal that adolescents experience divorce differently than younger children and that a positive parent-adolescent relationship can ameliorate a divorce's negative effects. Identifies major gaps in the literature,…

Refutes an article that appeared in the August issue of "The American School Board Journal," which argued that middle-level education provides a rationale for consolidating rural schools. Presents research findings and describes the middle-level philosophy to show that developmentally responsive middle-level schools do not foster school…

Rhetorical, historical, and feminist perspectives are used to critique some common assumptions about adolescents and their universal and distinctive status. The characteristics often perceived as timeless can be located within a sociohistorical context of their creation. The view of adolescents as out of control due to hormonal action is…

Introduces a collection of articles that proposes standards for empirically supported prevention programming for children and youth and steps to integrate prevention science with practice. Articles highlight key research findings and common principles for effective programming across family, school, community, health care, and policy interventions…

Examined the association between identity status and self-monitoring behavior, including age and gender differences, among adolescents in Turkey. Found significant increases in identity achievement and moratorium with age, and no gender differences in identity status. Males were significantly higher than females in self-monitoring. (Author/SD)

Investigated the utility of social control theory's attachment and involvement bonds as protective factors to examine gender differences in reports of delinquency and academic achievement. Surveys of 7th-12th graders indicated that although several of the involvement bond variables of social control theory were predictive of both delinquency and…

Clarifies the meanings of the terms "normalization" and "normality," broadens the discussion of normality beyond Montessori's first plane of development, and explores the unique conditions conducive to normality in the second and third planes. (EV)

Examines how vampires appeal to the adolescent's need for identity, power and sexual information, and provides examples from young adult literature. (AEF)

Discusses the growing number of teenagers and its impact on school and public library services. Topics include focusing on youth developmental needs; the effects of library services on teenagers; planning services with teens, rather that for them; and future possibilities. (LRW)

Assesses the first four and one-half years of an effort by a foundation in Chicago to promote children's and adolescents' social and academic development as part of a comprehensive community initiative. Examines the potential and challenges associated with the foundation's strategy of developing social capital within a network of schools and…

This study examined ways in which adolescent attachment security is manifest in qualities of the secure base provided by mother-adolescent relationships among at-risk ninth- and tenth-graders. Findings suggest that security is closely connected to the mother-adolescent relationship via a secure-base phenomenon, in which the teen can explore…

Reviews major theories of the adolescent crime rate peak; presents the integrated theory (which attempts to explain why most people in modern, industrialized societies increase their levels of offending during adolescence); and discusses the extent to which individual, group, and temporal factors influence the applicability of the theory.…