Explores young adolescents' consumption of popular media and the impact of the media upon adolescent health (nutrition, sex, stress, and substance use). The paper provides recommendations for professionals working with early adolescents to help them arm that population with the skills to approach the media critically and make healthy choices. (SM)

Investigates rural and urban adolescents' perceptions of mental health. Provides insight into rural and urban students' perceptions of problematic behaviors, who should intervene, and how. Recommends that health care providers help adolescents expand their range of coping behaviors, especially in regard to alcohol abuse and violence. (Author/GCP)

This study with 100 gifted Hispanic and Black eighth graders attending a summer enrichment program analyzed inventories, career plots, daily journal entries, interviews, and evaluations by staff for themes of adolescent development. Themes in the following change spheres were identified: biological maturation, learning process, social needs,…

Investigated ways in which indicators of parental autonomy granting (decision-making input and parental knowledge of adolescents' daily experiences) differed as a function of context and personal qualities. Found that firstborns were granted more autonomy than second borns, especially in families with firstborn girls and second-born boys. Girls in…

Considers the increase in research on adolescence, with attention to its transitional aspects during the adolescent period and as a bridge between childhood and adulthood. In addition, discusses the effort to examine interactional processes between parent and child and between environment and genes, with respect to the articles of this special…

Draws on ethnographic fieldwork in southern Bolivia to explore how rural Bolivian youth negotiate structural constraints on choices of work versus secondary education, including local versus urban location, economic resources, parental attitudes, gender, family characteristics, social networks and support, and peer role models. Suggests the notion…

Examined benefits/risks of participation in five types of extracurricular activities (prosocial, team sports, school involvement, performing arts, academic clubs). Data for 1,259 adolescents were drawn from the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions. Found that prosocial involvement was linked to positive educational trajectories and low…

Identified predictors of normative, unconventional, and deviant identity orientations among youth in a nationally representative sample of 13,000 high school seniors. Found that frequency of community service substantially increased predictability of identity orientation above background characteristics and part-time work involvement. Most…

Explored how perceptions of social support changed during first semester of university, and how social support, coping strategies, and adjustment were interrelated among freshmen in China. Found that overall social support did not change significantly. Support from different sources (parents, peers, teachers, siblings) showed distinctive change…

The effective practice of school psychology requires a strong research and theoretical base, a framework that encompasses developmental processes and outcomes, both adaptive and maladaptive, which facilitates assessment and intervention and offers insight into classroom and family dynamics. Attachment theory provides the school psychologist with…

Background: On October 29, 1998, around 400 young people were gathered in an old warehouse in Goteborg, Sweden, for a discotheque party. A fire erupted and spread explosively. Adolescents were exposed to dreadful scenes inside and outside the building. In all, 63 young people were killed and 213 physically injured. An 18-month follow-up with 275…

A Study found that although planning vicious violence in teens' cases varied in its time frame or intricacy, almost all the tragic events had a lead time from days to months in which some preemptive action could have been taken. Indeed, in a large number of the cases, the assailant eventually broke his code of silence and told either a peer or an…

Based on Herbert's (1987) theory of ego identity development and on interviews of hundreds of Israeli religious male adolescents and young adults who were raised and educated in religious society and later left the fold, this article presents a model of development of religious identity. Three levels of religious identity development--healthy,…

Twenty-two abstracts of papers presented at a symposium on the psychological development of gifted children comprise this document. Abstracts typically include the title of the paper; the author's name, title, institutional affiliation, location, telephone number, and electronic mail address; and a summary of the paper ranging from a short…

Schools mirror society. Both are struggling with issues that threaten not only the learning process, but human development as well. The underpinnings of all school activities are in large part drawn from the field of psychology. Today, as education reform gains momentum, the scientific knowledge and practice expertise of psychologists are…