The process of aging is not a steady decline; there is in every individual the potential for continuous growth and maturation through adulthood well into old age. (JD)

Describes the developmental progression from innate preferences to strong favorites to thoughtful choices in children from infancy through preschool and kindergarten. Offers suggestions at each age level for helping children develop, explore, and even temper their likes and dislikes. (HTH)

Introduces this theme issue that explores the nature of adolescence and the positive psychology movement that focuses on positive aspects of adolescent development. Articles in this collection provide a window into the exploration of youth strengths. (SLD)

Self-directed learning has been seen as an individual learning strategy focused on personal growth. A literature review indicates that it has interdependent and collective aspects that are consistent with those of learning organizations, making self-directed learning an effective human resource development strategy. (Contains 17 references.) (SK)

Suggests behavioral criteria that can be used for assessing the status of self-concept and ego development in Erikson's last three psychosocial stages. Presents three tables of different behavioral expressions, each providing examples of possible behaviors and implicit attitudes related to positive and negative ego resolutions associated with last…

Examined factors that affect Asian-American individual's choice of identification with Asian-American and lesbian or homosexual identity in 19 Asian-American lesbians and 16 Asian-American homosexual men. Results indicated most of the respondents identified more strongly with their homosexual identities than with their Asian-American identities.…

A Career Project involves both life tasks and personal themes. Pursuing a project yields accomplishments with implications for future projects; cultivates personal traits, virtues, or skills; helps integrate parts into a whole; and transforms activities into ends in themselves. (SK)

Describes Campbell Development Surveys, integrated battery of five surveys covering organizational satisfaction, leadership characteristics, interests and skills, team morale, and community life. Notes that all surveys have common set of features: identical item formats, homogeneous scoring scales, standard T scores, procedural checks, and similar…

Notes that, despite great contributions by Lawrence Kohlberg to understanding of moral development, counselors are only beginning to appreciate fully implications of his developmental psychology for practice of counseling and human development. Draws on collective body of Kohlberg's work to show how seven assumptions have direct relevance for…

Individuals direct their own development by setting developmental goals and striving for goal attainment. Human development includes reductions in discrepancies between desired and actual states, as is the case in goal attainment and reduction of aspirations, as well as increases of discrepancies, for example, when individuals increase their…

Selves and cultures are not independent entities. Focusing on the processes by which individuals and cultures participate in each other's functioning, we can begin to understand how personal and communal dimensions of selfhood must be represented in some form in all the world's cultures. (Contains 1 figure.)

We outline the nature of dynamic systems, both linear and nonlinear, and we review dynamic systems principles that apply well to various aspects of human development, including the emergence of new forms, phases of stability and instability, continuous and discontinuous change, and differentiation among individual trajectories. We then document…

Despite the popularity of leadership education on college campuses, little is known about what individual participants learn and remember. This longitudinal study examines the impact of a leadership education retreat through the eyes of six undergraduate college men. Entry and exit interviews, along with intensive one and two year follow-up…

The correlation between positive and negative group interactions and one or another of individuals' attitudes or characteristics--moral development, critical thinking, resilience, and self efficacy--has been examined previously. However, no systemic examination of individuals' development of patterns of these characteristics and those patterns'…

In an effort to address the issue of youth homelessness in Australia, Regional Extended Family Services (REFS) have developed a wilderness-based therapeutic intervention. REFS aim to provide early intervention services for young people at risk of homelessness, and their families. This study examined the outcomes of the REFS wilderness program by…