Social trust (ST) (i.e., beliefs that people are generally fair and trustworthy) is a critical disposition for democratic governance. Yet there has been scant research on its developmental foundations. We assess factors related to ST in 11-18 year olds with survey data collected over two years from 1150 U.S. adolescents and their mothers.…

This study describes a researcher-educator collaborative intervention that aimed to promote identity exploration among 9th-grade students in a literature lesson. The intervention focused on an introductory lesson about a poem from the curriculum, and involved designing educational activities anticipated to trigger identity exploration, promote a…

Having a noble purpose in life is an important component of positive youth development; however, little is known about how noble purposes develop over time. Therefore, using three waves of interviews over a 5-year period with 9 adolescents (N = 9) who demonstrated intense commitments to various noble purposes, the present study developed a…

The purpose of this replication study was to examine the relationships among life satisfaction, positive youth development and problem behaviour. The respondents were 7,151 Chinese Secondary 2 (Grade 8) students (3,707 boys and 3,014 girls) recruited from 44 schools in Hong Kong. Validated assessment tools measuring positive youth development,…

With a starting point in John Abela's groundbreaking developmental psychopathology research on adolescent depression in China, we aimed to review the state of the literature on Chinese depression across the lifespan. We began with Dr. Abela's published studies relevant to depression in China and our own research with adults before turning to the…

This study attempted to establish and quantify the connections between parenting, offspring psychosocial adjustment, and the epigenome. The participants, 35 African American young adults (19 females and 16 males; age = 17-29.5 years), represented a subsample of a 3-wave longitudinal 15-year study on the developmental trajectories of low-income…

We sought to identify which kindergarten children are simultaneously at risk of moderate or severe symptomatology in both attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder (CD) as adolescents. These risk factor estimates have not been previously available. We conducted multinomial logistic regression analyses of multiinformant…

This study of a cohort of 451 adolescents examined associations between trajectories of problem behaviors and the timing of entry into work, marriage, and parenthood. We used data from 12 assessments across adolescence, through emerging adulthood and into young adulthood. We employed 2-phase mixed-effects models to estimate growth in substance use…

In this article, Mark Freado and Howard Bath present the case of an 11 year boy who had been arrested and charged with the murder of his two-year-old cousin. Because of the severity of the criminal charge against this boy, and despite his age, a transfer hearing was set to determine whether he would be tried as a juvenile or an adult. Such…

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to describe the process of adolescent choral singers' social identity development within three midsized, midwestern high school mixed choirs. Forty-nine interviews were conducted with 36 different participants. Secondary data sources included memoing, observations, and interviews with the choir…

The transition from school to vocational education and training is becoming more difficult for an increasing number of adolescents. Despite the growing significance of "interim solutions" (IS) shaping the pathway after compulsory education, there is hardly any research. This study aims at contributing to this research gap by…

Background: The popularity of communication technologies such as text messaging, e-mail, instant messaging, and social networking sites has grown exponentially, especially among adolescents. At the scale of growth along with the pressures and normative use of communication technology, psychological effects of these technologies need to be further…

Adolescents have a unique perspective on their own development. However, educators have not fully considered the role of students' meaning making in the provision and receipt of school-based supports. To address this gap, this article draws on photographs and in-depth interviews that explore urban middle school students' experiences with learning…

Adolescence is a period of profound change, which holds substantial developmental milestones, but also unique challenges to the individual. In this opinion paper, we highlight the potential of combining two recently developed behavioural and neural training techniques (cognitive bias modification and functional magnetic neuroimaging-based…

Adolescents develop within multiple contexts that synergistically influence their behavior and health. To understand the simultaneous influence of neighborhood and family contexts on adolescents, this study examined relationships of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, neighborhood social disorganization, family conflict, parent-child bonding…