Research suggests a link between precocious transitions to adulthood (e.g., high school dropout) and maladaptation, and this association is typically assumed to be uniform. We propose that this monolithic portrayal of precocious transitions as problematic for adult functioning is unwarranted, particularly across identities defined by gender,…

Understanding the developmental stages of children is crucial for coaches. Equally important is the way adults communicate with children. In his seminal work describing the influence of society and social interactions on the psychosocial development of children, Erikson (1950, 1963) described the developmental crises faced by children at each…

How can an understanding of adolescent development inform strategies and practices for supporting first-generation college goers? In "Ready, Willing, and Able," Mandy Savitz-Romer and Suzanne Bouffard focus on the developmental tasks and competencies that young people need to develop in order to plan for and succeed in higher education. These…

This study tested Havighurst's (1948) contention that successful attainment of age-specific developmental tasks leads to happiness and success in achieving subsequent tasks. A longitudinal study on 146 participants was carried out to investigate the links between developmental progression in adolescence and young adulthood and happiness, which was…

Discusses the relationship between vocational maturity and a set of developmental and/or psychological characteristics--moral development and social interest among adolescents. The conclusions and counselling implications suggest that vocational maturity is significantly correlated with social interest and moral development. (Author/BL)

Each generation of adolescents is exposed to a wider array of stressors and environmental deficits. Use, abuse, and dependence on alcohol and other drugs greatly impairs youths' ability to develop fully, and exacerbates and compounds other biopsychosocial problems. Physiologically, the onset of secondary sex characteristics, the growth spurt,…

Children and adolescents of deployed soldiers require preventive and sometimes remedial service from school counselors, because deployment taxes coping skills and exacerbates normal developmental challenges. This article reviews the cultural and developmental context for children with deployed caregivers and outlines a ten session, hybrid…

Offers a detailed examination of both external and internal assets that middle school students may have, and discusses those that can be significantly affected by middle schools. Describes what successful middle schools do, and discusses teacher training and positive youth development. (SR)

Psychosocial theory, based on the ideas of Erik Erikson and Robert Havighurst, is proposed as a useful framework for conceptualizing the potential for growth within the family. Erikson's (1950) eight stage theory of psychosocial development and Havighurst's (1959) concept of developmental tasks are used to take account of the stages of development…

Perceptions of parents and their adolescent children about a number of developmental tasks were compared for 508 Dutch families. Parents consistently indicated later ages for the achievement of developmental tasks than did adolescents, but they had similar views of the sequence in which achievement of developmental tasks should occur. (SLD)

Administered five Piagetian tests to 180 adolescents for comparison to similar samples from 1967 and 1972. Found that today's adolescents exhibited higher levels of cognitive development than did previous cohorts. Gain varied across tasks, being very large for combinatory thought but mixed for conservation. This acceleration of cognitive…

This article presents a discursive psychological approach in examining the ways that adolescent boys (ages 12-15 years) accomplish a sense of "maturity" by bringing off and managing certain features of "heterosexuality" in group interaction. We focus on and analyse moments when the boys negotiate implicit challenges, make evaluations and offer…

This study examined the transition from concrete to formal operations in very bright children in an effort to determine whether high ability in concrete operations would carry over into formal operational ability, and also to investigate precocity in regard to formal operations. Subjects were 38 white middle-class children ranging in age from…

Part 1 of this dissertation contains an introductory chapter entitled, "The Children Shout Fight Fight," in which the written analytical process named Scriptotherapy is discussed. In Chapter 1, "Early Adolescence an Ongoing Process," early adolescent growth and development, the process of moral development, temperament types…

The social and interpersonal characteristics of early adolescents are described in relation to puberty and the physical and emotional changes that are experienced by the preteen. Learning characteristics for this age group include problem-solving strategies, self-directed learning, and emerging value systems. (JN)