Adolescence is the transition from childhood to adulthood, a period during which an individual acquires the skills necessary to survive on his or her own, away from parents or other caregivers. Adolescence can be a very confusing time. They experience changes in sleep, diet, mood, weight and attitude and a decreased pleasure from daily activities.…

The ability to critically evaluate whether information presented actually supports a given claim is essential for cognitive and social development. This paper presents a study focusing on developmental and contextual aspects of this ability (called antilogos). We tested antilogos for different variables: age group (Grades 8 and 10), direction of…

The teenage years can be particularly challenging due to the multitude of developmental and environmental changes that occur in tandem. It is a crucial time for mental health intervention because several behavioral and emotional difficulties increase from childhood to adolescence. The mental health of adolescents depends heavily on the ways they…

Teenage magazines are viewed by their readers as "trusted friends" that provide reliable information on sex and relationship issues. Agony aunts and uncles receive approximately half a million letters each year from teenagers in the UK. Objective: To understand the perceptions, pressures and needs of young girls on issues pertaining to their…

This research brief summarizes the latest evidence base on effective family involvement in middle and high school. As the third and final report in a series on how family involvement matters across the developmental continuum, this brief synthesizes research studies that link family involvement in middle and high school to youth's academic and…

Based on the conceptualization of successful development as the joint maximization of desirable outcomes and minimization of undesirable outcomes (Baltes, 1997), the present study examined connections between adolescent non-involvement in multiple risk behaviors and positive developmental status. Results from a survey of 7290 high school students…

Civic engagement was studied in relation to overall development in adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood to examine how earlier activity involvement and success in prior and concurrent age-salient domains of competence may contribute to 2 forms of civic engagement in adulthood (citizenship and volunteering). Data on 163 youth were…

Based on a developmental framework, a study was conducted in Portugal in two groups of youth in terms of relevant aspects related to adolescent psychosexual development: one group participated in an Experimental Project of Sex Education and Health Promotion during high school, whereas the other did not receive any formal sex education in school.…

Middle adolescents are exposed to environments riddled with potential adversities which pervade their lives, adding to the challenges inherent in their developmental stage. They spend a significant time in school and therefore it is an appropriate context to foster, enhance, and develop emotional, social, and cognitive resilience competencies.…

As any teacher or parent knows, adolescence is a time when youth grapple with the question, "Who am I?" Issues of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and ability can complicate this question for young people, affecting their schoolwork and their relationships with teachers, family, and peers. This new edition of "Adolescents at…

The teen years are an excellent time to start thinking about a potential career and to investigate all of the different opportunities available. Motivating adolescents to become actively engaged in their own career development is not always easy, but this book makes it fun. Written for parents, school counselors, and counselors in private practice…

The psychosocial impact of puberty on changes in girls' feelings about their bodies and their sexuality is discussed. We present a model of girls' sexuality development that incorporates puberty, self, and peer systems. (Contains 2 figures.)

Largely absent from the literature on adolescent girls' extracurricular activities is exploration of the process and effects of vying for entry to extracurricular activities that are competitive and selective. This qualitative study contrasted the immediate and longer term effects of auditioning for two high school extracurricular activities…

Adolescence is a time of considerable development at the level of behaviour, cognition and the brain. This article reviews histological and brain imaging studies that have demonstrated specific changes in neural architecture during puberty and adolescence, outlining trajectories of grey and white matter development. The implications of brain…

Prior research has indicated that pubertal development and peer associations are important determinants of adolescent smoking behavior. However, more remains to be learned about "why" these variables matter or how they may be related to one another in ways that lead to the initiation of smoking. Using contractual data from the National…