The middle school program emerged against a backdrop of criticism, awareness of changing educational necessities and values, and new insights into the needs of the middle range of the student population. The precocity of youth mixed with the pseudo-sophistication of adulthood gives the middle school its reason for existence--the…

Research has suggested that the incidence of loneliness peaks at adolescence and decreases with age. Changes in the determinants of loneliness during adolescence were investigated for grade 8, grade 11, and university students. Subjects (N=410) completed a written questionnaire which included ten items from the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the…

Nine articles on the young adolescent consider the ability of middle schools to adapt to the needs of their students, the educational implications of preadolescent development, adolescent brain growth and cognitive ability, and the relevance of Piaget's psychology to the middle school. The authors' conclusions include the necessity to identify and…

Research is described concerning a factor analytic view of adolescent thought in Piagetian context. Included are a description of Piagetian tasks used for determining stage of mental development, studies concerning Piagetian task factor analysis, and the current factorial structure of adolescent thought. (DS)

The most pressing needs of elementary and secondary education for the 1980s are likely to be in four areas. Federal assistance will still be necessary to furnish real educational opportunity for disadvantaged children. Federal encouragement and support is needed to reverse the neglect of citizenship education. The transition of children and youth…

Seventy-five children at ages 10, 13, and 16 were administered Selman's role-taking interview, a measure of social desirability, and a multidomain measure of self-doubt. Consistent with the social-cognitive model, self-doubt decreased and role taking ability increased with age during early adolescence. (Author/JAZ)

A survey of 612 extremely gifted adolescents attending the Talent Identification Program identified three groups: (1) academically oriented; (2) socially oriented; and (3) highly motivated-gregarious. The tendency among gifted females to be more social and gregarious and better balanced between social and achievement interests than males warrants…

Examination of 352 Dutch secondary school students reveals that adolescents with high-level education who endorse adolescent rebellion have a more distinctly left-wing profile--in both their political party preferences and their political views--than those with low-level education, who more often ratified political intolerance. (BJV)

Explored the relationship between adolescents' level of cognitive reasoning and their contextual judgments of the factors affecting quality of life. Showed that those 10th grade students who achieved higher levels of cognitive reasoning were more likely to identify social and interpersonal aspects of life as factors related to quality of life and…

This study investigated six differences in the effects of parents' educational expectations and relationship with parents on 105 young Israeli adolescents. Results showed differences in both aspects of family learning environment, including a negative relation for females and a positive relation for males between realistic expectations and…

As a result of discussions at a 1983 Social Science Research Council meeting, a study group was convened to bring together all the professionals currently examining maturation timing. This interdisciplinary group reports findings in two issues of this journal, and its work is introduced in this paper. (LMO)

Calls for sensitive treatment of learning disabled teenagers by teachers. Discusses approaches that have proven effective in working with this population of students. (RBW)

Reviews 11 new young adult novels. Suggests that too many works in this genre glamorize adolescent problems instead of dealing realistically with them. (RBW)

This chapter reframes, from a developmental, self-worth perspective, the longstanding debate over the presumed negative impact of extrinsic rewards on subject-matter appreciation and creative expression. The chapter argues that the debate over the potentially adverse effects of extrinsic payoffs is largely misplaced because of a narrow, almost…

During adolescence, students become increasingly vulnerable to academic underperformance caused by negative reactions to their awareness of ability impugning stereotypes about one's group, a phenomenon known as stereotype threat. Although stereotype-related underperformance can occur early in development, it is during adolescence that it is seen…