Examined data on 4,000 adolescent students to explore self-esteem, locus of control, and family relationships. Found that engaged adolescents demonstrate higher levels of psychological functioning, like self-esteem and a sense of control. Also found that engaged individuals have better relationships with their family. (JS)

Examined gender differences in effects of menarche in females and voice change in males, specifically with regard to depression, self-esteem, body image, and externalizing problems. Analyses indicated prepubertal males had more externalizing problems and females increased in depression, externalizing problems, and negative body image post…

Examined relations among maternal depression, family dysfunction, emotional autonomy, and early adolescent adjustment. Found that among offspring of depressed mothers, higher emotional autonomy predicted increased internalizing and externalizing problems; among offspring of nondepressed mothers, higher emotional autonomy predicted decreases in…

Seventy-six late adolescents and their peer partners participated in a study that focused on possible selves tied to anticipated career, marriage, and parenthood roles. Control theory and the concept of psychosocial moratorium were integrated to explain identity construction processes. Integration of theory with concept offers explanations for…

Spirituality is an important force during a period when institutional religion seems to be losing its hold on adolescents. To enhance the spiritual development of adolescent girls in the school setting, the group experience described addresses authentic identity, relationships and boundaries, managing pain experienced in life, and discovering and…

Data from the Children in the Community Transitions Study, a prospective longitudinal investigation, were used to examine the association between adolescent personality disorder (PD) traits and conflict with family members during the transition to adulthood. PD traits at mean age 16 years were associated with elevated contact and conflict with…

Secure parental attachment and healthy levels of separation-individuation have been consistently linked to greater college student adjustment. The present study proposes that the relation between parental attachment and college adjustment is mediated by healthy separation-individuation. The authors gathered data on maternal and paternal…

Although low levels of stressful life experiences are considered to be a normal part of development, higher levels can constitute a threat to the well-being and healthy development of children and adolescents. Adolescents are exposed to increased rates of stressful life experiences and there is some evidence that increases in stressors account, at…

In this chapter, the authors attempt not only to discern aspects that relate to age, place, and the amount of time devoted to playing computer games in adolescence, but also to study content characteristics of their attitudes such as: the developmental dynamic in the change of their genre preferences in computer games, changes in factors that…

This volume is the first in a set of two to be published as the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE) yearbook for 2008. Planning for the volumes began more than five years ago, when the Society's Board of Directors expressed an interest in taking steps to encourage a more expansive, robust, and inclusive dialogue about education in…

Does success in school protect teenagers from drug use? Does drug use impair scholastic success? This book tackles a key issue in adolescent development and health--the education-drug use connection. The authors examine the links and likely causal connections between educational experiences, delinquent behavior, and adolescent use of tobacco,…

Background: Research has consistently documented a relationship between phonological short-term memory skills (STM) and specific language impairment (SLI). This study reports on the development of phonological STM abilities over 3 years in 80 young adolescents with a history of SLI, investigating the nature of the relationship between phonological…

Adolescents across the five years of high school (169 females and 164 males) completed a survey that identified occupational status aspirations and expectations coded into six types-- realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional--according to the RIASEC model (Holland, 1997). As the focus of the study was to explore…

Adolescence is marked by change and renegotiation in almost every arena--biological, social, and cognitive development; identity development; changes in peer relations and friendships; a renegotiation of family relationships, especially the parent-adolescent relationship; and school transitions. Further, for African Americans, adolescence is also…

The Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative, funded by the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice, is an ambitious federal effort to improve the health and well-being of children and adolescents. The Initiative focuses on integrated prevention and treatment programs, strategies, and services designed to…