Examines the development of work perceptions in adolescents (12 to 18 years old) from a relational-developmental perspective. From this viewpoint, adolescents' perceptions and understanding of work and related areas, such as employment and unemployment, varied across age and, to a limited extent, across levels of formal reasoning operations.…

The study of the role of students' interest in their learning has seen a resurgence in the past 20 years. This chapter examines the ways in which adolescents' interests develop, differ from those of younger children, and contribute to their developing sense of self. The chapter helps to explain why many adolescents lack academic interests and how…

Examined gender differences and whether self-esteem and locus of control change during the high school years. Longitudinal analysis of students (N=174) indicated a significant main effect for gender, with lower self-esteem scores for girls. Locus of control was influenced by grade and an interaction between grade and gender. (RJM)

Examined role of close relationships during adolescence and their contribution to individual coping. Data from series of studies on early adolescents showed that availability of family and peers combined with support of adolescent's independence contributed to individual adaptive coping. Contribution of close relationships to coping differed for…

Estimated the frequency, comorbidity, and psychosocial impairment of depressive disorders from survey of 1,035 German 12- to 17-year-olds. Found that 17.9 percent met the lifetime criteria for depressive disorders, according to DSM-IV criteria; criteria were higher in females than in males. Rates for all disorders increased with age, with…

Examined the emergence of theory-motivated reasoning biases when early and middle adolescents evaluated evidence either congruent or incongruent to their theories of social class or religion. Found that higher order scientific reasoning was used to reject theory-incongruent evidence; judgmental heuristics were used to evaluate theory-congruent…

The ability to critically evaluate whether information presented actually supports a given claim is essential for cognitive and social development. This paper presents a study focusing on developmental and contextual aspects of this ability (called antilogos). We tested antilogos for different variables: age group (Grades 8 and 10), direction of…

Civic engagement was studied in relation to overall development in adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood to examine how earlier activity involvement and success in prior and concurrent age-salient domains of competence may contribute to 2 forms of civic engagement in adulthood (citizenship and volunteering). Data on 163 youth were…

Twelve seventh grade and 23 eleventh grade students participated in a study that investigated age differences in the use of discourse planning. Subjects were given a list of games and asked to indicate which they knew well enough to explain to a peer. Subjects acting as speakers were seated at a table with a tape recorder present. Half had a…

Investigated stressors and symptoms in 60 students. In order of frequency, elementary students cited family problems, feeling different, and school problems; junior high school students cited general adolescent problems, peer pressure, and family problems; and high school students cited the future, school problems, and peer pressure. Students…

The relation between Loevinger's measure of ego development and moral development as indexed by Rest's Defining Issue Test was examined in a sample of 517 adolescents between 12 and 21 years of age. The existence of a strong relationship between the moral and ego development during adolescence was clearly supported. (Author/LMO)

Examined the relationship between empathy and moral reasoning, age and gender differences in expression of emotional empathy, and flexibility of moral reasoning in 330 adolescents, ages 12 to 20. Moral reasoning, assessed by Flexibility of Moral Judgement Index, and empathy were found to be unrelated. (Author/DST)

Through written responses to a questionnaire, adolescents' perceptions of discussions with parents and friends were examined with reference to academic/vocational, social/ethical, family, and peer domains. Findings are discussed in terms of differences in procedures of social construction between parents' and friends' socializing influences.…

A longitudinal study examined (1) development of relationship between physical maturation rate and cognitive performance as children become adolescent and (2) specific components of cognitive processing linked to physical maturation-related differences in performance on cognitive ability tasks. Differences were detected on cognitive process tasks.…

The implications of the International School Psychology Committee's Declaration of the Psychological Rights of the Child are reviewed from the perspective of the life-span developmentalist. Primary focus is on how children's rights change from conception to adolescence. A critique of previous attempts to define children's rights is included.…