This paper offers a critical examination of the problematics of childhood and adolescent sexuality and sex education in an Islamic context. By exploring conceptions of (pre-marital) sexuality, childhood, and maturity/adulthood, it is suggested that: (i) "childhood" and "sexuality" do not coexist harmoniously in Islamic…

Only when we look at education from birth and follow the inner development of the child from the beginning can we truly see the child's psychological progress. Montessori states that personality cannot develop fully without freedom; even the formation of healthy social life requires freedom to associate, not coercion. The early childhood level…

This article reports analysis of interviews with 85 boys from England, Greece, Ireland and Spain about the voice change, school singing and choral music instruction. Consistent, former and self-described non-singers were included. Data suggest consistency with much of the existing narrative literature about the experience of voice change. Unique…

Differences in sexual functioning of adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are understudied. In the current study, self-reported sexual behaviours, interests and attitudes of 50 adolescent boys, aged 15-18, with at least average intelligence and diagnosed with ASD, were compared with a matched general population control group…

This longitudinal study investigates whether there are particularly salient ages when being overweight is related to problems in interpersonal relationships (i.e., physical, relational, and verbal victimization, lack of friend social support, dating status, and romantic relationship worries). Participants were from a large, six-wave longitudinal…

Adolescents may especially need social and emotional help. They are learning how to handle new demands in school and social life while dealing with new, intense emotions (both positive and negative), and they are increasingly feeling that they should do so without adult guidance. Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are one way to help…

As an educator who recognizes the critical role of librarians and the too few conversations among literacy researchers and librarians, in this article the author presents a unifying conception of literacy, a conception to buttress collaborative efforts to support all students. The first section uses the experiences of David (pseudonym), a…

This study examines measurement of creative ideational behaviors alongside factors of student engagement that may play a role in the development of students' creative potential during early adolescence in school. Two studies used exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, cross-validation, and invariance testing of 2 extant measures with…

Social skills training is a long-standing intervention for adolescents with social anxiety, while self-esteem is often ignored. However, there is little evidence suggesting that those with social anxiety require social skills training or interventions associated with self-esteem. The aim of the research was to investigate whether social skills and…

This paper serves as an introduction to the special issue of Prevention Science entitled, "Innovations and Applications of Integrative Data Analysis (IDA) and Related Data Harmonization Procedures in Prevention Science." This special issue includes a collection of original papers from multiple disciplines that apply individual-level data…

Declining academic performance, along with a growing apathy of students toward the value of education, demonstrates that students in the United States public education system do not recognize the value of a positive experience in middle schools. A plethora of research and writing has been done on elementary schools and secondary schools, but…

In contrast to the focus on short-term, extrinsic goals in our society (e.g., wealth, prestige), positive youth development scholars have highlighted the need for parents and schools to help youths cultivate and plan for long-term, intrinsic, and meaningful goals (i.e., envisioning a meaningful future), arguing that envisioning a meaningful future…

The current study investigated the development of global and domain (academic, physical, same-sex peer relationship, opposite-sex peer relationship) self-esteem from age 10 to 16 in a sample of Mexican-origin adolescents. Participants' (N = 674) responses on the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ; Marsh, 2005) II-S showed moderate rank-order…

Sexual violence (SV) is a widespread public health problem among adolescents and emerging adults with significant short- and long-term consequences. Young people living in urban, disadvantaged communities with high rates of violence may be especially at risk for SV victimization. Understanding interconnections between different forms of violence…

The Annie E. Casey Foundation presents its vision for transforming juvenile probation into a focused intervention that promotes personal growth, positive behavior change and long-term success for youth who pose significant risks for serious offending. Nearly a half-million young people are given some form of probation annually and it serves as a…