This study reports on the longitudinal examination of a structured arts program for Canadian youth, aged 9 to 15 years, from low-income communities. Evaluated were the extent to which community-based organizations successfully recruited and retained youth in the program and whether they demonstrated improvement with respect to artistic ability…

Time spent in freely chosen leisure activities offers a distinct developmental context that can support positive youth development; however this potential for growth depends in part on adolescent interest and engagement in their free time activities. Research indicates that many adolescents report experiencing boredom, instead of interest, in…

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…

This Boys' Town publication for parents presents guidelines for a parental and societal response to purse-snatching, shoplifting, and other kinds of stealing that are a part of violence. The guide maintains that a comprehensive public policy approach is needed, one that is based on an appreciation of the development of learning respect for the…

A study tested the cumulative acquisition model proposed by S. H. Chaffee and A. R. Tims to explain the development of adolescent patterns of news media use. The Guttman scale procedure was used to analyze patterns of news media use across a three-wave panel survey of 366 parent-child pairs over a 2-year period. In each wave, interviewers talked…

Although information regarding the consequences of adolescent pregnancy and childbirth is disseminated, the recipients of that information are most often adults. To present this information directly to never-pregnant adolescents, an annual conference, outside of the authority structure of the school was developed in Bangor, Maine. The three…

Research has identified several factors which may be stressful in early adolescence, including school change, puberty, and family changes. This study used a longitudinal cohort sequential design to examine whether stressful changes in early adolescence have impact beyond early adolescence. Of the 335 sixth graders initially sampled, 169 were…

Friendships of early adolescence are generally accepted as having special significance for psychological development. This study was conducted to examine the sources of conflict between friends during early adolescence; to assess the social-cognitive developmental level of early adolescents; and to explore the relationships among sources of…

This paper was written for parents, especially for single parents, of adolescents. It begins with a very brief parental projection task in which the parents can identify likes and dislikes about themselves and their teenage children. Parents are then led through a tour of a teenager's brain, examining in lay terms the areas of adolescent…

To test Maccoby and Martin's (1983) revision of Baumrind's conceptual framework, the families of approximately 4,100 14- to 18-year-olds were classified into one of 4 groups (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or neglectful) on the basis of the adolescents' ratings of their parents on 2 dimensions: acceptance/involvement and firm control.…

This speech, presented to undergraduate students who serve as mentors and tutors to high school students, emphasizes the need for increased high school graduation rates in order for the United States to remain competitive in the world economy and points out the importance of the mentoring program at the Hudson-Mohawk Association in furthering this…

Considering that values and value systems are determinants of human behavior and that the school system is a primary agent of values inculcation, this study assesses whether the school setting has an impact on the value priorities of students. The Rokeach Value Survey was administered to 68 students of both sexes attending three local high schools…

The theoretical basis of most studies of identity development is Erikson's theory, which proposes that the achievement of a personal identity is the central developmental task of adolescence. Although Erikson mentioned the role of culture, no research has examined ethnicity directly as a dimension of identity. This study examined ethnic identity…