The present investigation examines mediated pathways from pubertal development to changes in depressive affect and aggression. Participants were 100 white girls who were between the ages of 10 and 14 (M=12.13, SD=0.80); girls were from well-educated, middle-to upper-middle class families, and attended private schools in a major northeastern urban…

Peer relationships play an important role in socialization during childhood and young adolescence. Negative relationships may pose multiple difficulties for children related to their development that can have lifelong influences. Research indicates that the quality of peer relationships is associated with a variety of outcomes, such as social…

In this enlightening volume, expert educator Robert Sylvester explains how adults can better understand teenagers through an engaging discussion of the adolescent brain. Readers will learn how to: (1) Mentor adolescents rather than attempt to manage and control them; (2) Nurture creativity, imagination, and individuality; and (3) Understand such…

Teenagers are perplexing, intriguing, and spirited creatures. In an attempt to discover the secrets to their thoughts and actions, parents have tried talking, cajoling, and begging them for answers. The result has usually been just more confusion. Light is being shed on these mysterious young adults. What was once thought to be hormones run amuck…

Youth violence and delinquency are problems that continue to challenge many communities across the U.S. For over a decade, Pennsylvania has been a national leader in confronting youth problem behaviors in a progressive and proactive fashion, investing heavily in supporting local community prevention coalitions and the use of proven-effective…

Objective: To ascertain the association between pubertal stage and deliberate self-harm. Method: Cross-sectional survey of 12- to 15-year-olds in 300 secondary schools in the U.S. state of Washington in February-April 2002 and the Australian state of Victoria in June-August 2002. A total of 3,332 students in grades 7 and 9 provided complete data…

Children's voluntary reading positively correlates with school grades, vocabulary growth, reading comprehension, verbal fluency, general information, and attitudes towards reading. Drawing on qualitative interviews collected alongside six waves of longitudinal survey data in an urban setting in eastern USA, We argue that voluntary reading by…

Various traditions within developmental science and psychology have concentrated on either personal or collective correlates as manifestations of well-being. The authors' claim is that the well-being of any one person is highly dependent on the well-being of her relationships and on the community in which she resides. Well-being may be defined as…

A series of five workshops were conducted to instruct adult education practitioners so that they could better perform their jobs as teachers of late adolescents and at-risk students. The five workshops covered the following topics: (1) adolescent development and working with at-risk youth; (2) classroom and behavior management relating to…

This paper examined each of the eight major recommendations of the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development's 1989 report entitled "Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century." That report called for the transformation of early adolescent education by: (1) creating a community for learning in the schools through…

The processes by which mentors might improve the self-esteem of economically vulnerable African American male youth are explored, drawing on previous research. The combination of biological, behavioral, and societal factors faced by young black males is complex, and has implications for identity processes. The initial longitudinal study of urban…

This study was conducted to identify the kinds of student issues involving growing up and adolescent development that teachers deal with most often. A survey on adolescent development issues was administered to 37 school teachers, administrators and other personnel involved with students in grades 5 through 12 in the Morristown, Vermont school…

This report describes the results of two statewide surveys conducted during Spring, 1991: the 1992 Utah Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and the 1991 Utah School Health Education Survey (SHES). Sixty-three schools were randomly selected to participate in the state-level YRBS, and all 311 public and private schools with students in grades 7…

Identity formation is a process in which successive identifications with parents, siblings, peers, teachers, folk heroes, and cultural groups are synthesized into a coherent, consistent, and unique whole. This study reports the case of a 13 year old female, Jane, of mixed Latino and European American heritage who was admitted for long-term…

Effective participatory education programs are planned efforts designed to effect cognitive, social, and affective change. Although research does not yet permit unequivocal generalizations about effects, existing research is promising, especially when compared with research on effects of work experience per se. Positive effects include student,…