Magazines created for teenage girls are effective because of their developmental appropriateness; the relationship developed between magazine and reader represents a distinct feminine space, while the demands of the text itself are appropriate to the analytic ability of the adolescent. The inclusion of the confessional "embarrassing story" column…

Adolescents nowadays socialize, network, and sort out their friendships and relationships online. As such, it is assumed that adolescents' experiences in the online world will influence their experiences in the face-to-face world and will play an important role in their development of social and moral knowledge. In this article, the author…

Adolescents face a number of obstacles on the way to adulthood, from time-crunched parents, dangerous substances and behaviors, overburdened schools and a more demanding job market. Consequently, many believe that adolescents should no longer fend for themselves during the non-school hours. Growing public support for more structured activities…

Educators often say that what young people learn at home about behavior and how to view themselves has a lot to do with how well they do in school. The Mesa, Arizona school district opened Parent University 18 years ago as a place where adults could discuss and hone parenting skills. It goes further than many other districts to help parents who…

Recent advances in neuroimaging and genetics technologies have enhanced our understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders in adults. The authors in this volume not only discuss such advances as they apply to adults with learning disorders, but also address their translation into clinical practice. One cluster of chapters addresses developmental…

This "Call to Action" serves as a reminder that underage drinking has serious social costs and tragic consequences, demonstrating the importance of prevention. Underage alcohol use is not inevitable, and schools, parents, and other adults are not powerless to stop it. The latest research demonstrates a compelling need to address alcohol use early,…

The direct and mediated effects of socioenvironmental risk on internalizing and externalizing problems among Latino youth aged 10-14 were examined using prospective analyses. Participants in this study were 464 Latino mother and child dyads surveyed as part of the "Welfare, Children & Families: A Three City Study." It was hypothesized that…

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) collaborated on a child and adolescent development project involving roundtables of knowledgeable researchers and teacher educators. This summary report discusses major issues faced by teachers and schools,…

This paper analyzes labor market behaviors of young adults, their changing patterns among two cohorts that are twenty years apart, and their associations with transitions to adulthood as measured by living with parents, being married, or cohabiting. We analyze these issues using data from the 1979 and 1997 cohorts of he National Longitudinal…

Mentoring programs attempt to foster a relationship that is too often missing from the lives of disadvantaged children and youth. However, in view of both the power and the limitations of mentoring programs, it is important to understand how mentoring occurs naturally. Assuming an ecological perspective, we examine mentoring in four contexts:…

Although success in managing evolving peer relationships is linked to critical adolescent outcomes, little is known about the specific factors that lead to success or failure in peer relationship development across adolescence. This longitudinal study examines the role of adolescents' level of ego development as a predictor of the future course of…

A growing body of research has linked exposure to violence to violent behavior, but few studies have examined the impact of the timing of exposure to violence on violent behavior among inner city, minority youth. Theoretical insights derived from developmental psychology and psychopathology (DPP) and Agnew's general strain theory (GST) give…

The Lilly Endowment's Research Grants Program on Youth and Caring explored the concept of caring, with the intention of effecting changes in settings and practices. This report is meant to give a brief account of the genesis and development of the Program, summarize the issues raised and findings gleaned from the research and investigation, and…

This collection of essays presents a new vision of adolescent sexuality shaped by a variety of social factors: race and ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, physical ability, and cultural messages propagated in films, books, and within families. The book is divided into three parts: (1) Contexts and Theories; (2) Cultures and Communities; and (3)…

Changes and continuities in adolescents' optimal experiences over two years are explored in this study, and related to the development of affective and motivational patterns. Optimal experience, or flow, occurs when people do intrinsically rewarding activities in which they feel optimally challenged relative to their level of skills. The major…