The development of the ability to categorize speech sounds is often viewed as occurring primarily during infancy via perceptual learning mechanisms. However, a number of studies suggest that even after infancy, children's categories become more categorical and well defined through about age 12. We investigated the cognitive changes that may be…

Advances in theories of adolescent development and positive youth development have greatly increased our understanding of how programs and practices with adolescents can impede or enhance their development. In this article the authors reflect on the progress in research on youth development programs in the last two decades, since possibly the…

The acquisition of complex motor, cognitive, and social skills, like playing a musical instrument or mastering sports or a language, is generally associated with implicit skill learning (SL). Although it is a general view that SL is most effective in childhood, and such skills are best acquired if learning starts early, this idea has rarely been…

Describing how much and what type(s) of change are evident in civic engagement across adolescence is a fundamental starting point for advancing developmental theory in the civic domain. Using five annual waves of data from a large national U.S. sample spanning 8th-12th grades, our study describes civic engagement typologies and transitions in and…

Adolescence is a formative period during which children grow into their rightful place as full citizens and agents of change in their own lives and the lives of their societies. This publication provides an overview of the situation of adolescents, including of their vulnerabilities in critical areas. It makes a compelling case for increased…

Two qualitative methodologies were used to develop a life-course typology of individuals who had been exposed to sexual violence. Interview narratives of 121 adult women and men who participated in qualitative study of women's and men's responses to sexual violence provided the data. The authors combined a narrative approach (holistic-content and…

Generally recognized as the standard work in its field, "Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Assessment of Children and Adolescents" provides a comprehensive foundation and guide for conducting conceptually sound, culturally responsive, and ecologically oriented assessments of student social and emotional behavior. It is aimed at graduate…

We used three identity processes (i.e., commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment) from a recently developed model of identity formation to derive empirically identity statuses in a sample of 1952 early and middle adolescents. By means of cluster analysis, we identified five statuses: achievement, foreclosure, moratorium,…

Groups of adolescents were identified on the basis of developmental trajectories of their families' rules and their parents' knowledge of their activities. Characteristics of the adolescent, peer antisociality, and family context were tested as antecedents. In sum, 404 parent-adolescent dyads provided data for adolescents aged 10-16. Most…