Examined extent to which demographics, students' personal resources, and family resources predicted stable or lowered educational expectations from eighth grade to 2 years post-high school. Found that predictors of lost talent or lowered expectations over time included low SES and racial group membership. External locus of control predicted lost…

The role of religious identity in positive youth development was examined in this study of personal meaning and prosocial concerns in adolescence. A structural equation model was tested on a sample of 801 urban public high school students. Participants responded to questionnaires assessing religious identity, personal meaning, and prosocial…

The current study presents a growth curve analysis of self-esteem among Black, Latino, and Asian American high school students. A series of hierarchical linear models were used to examine patterns and predictors of change in self-esteem over time. Results revealed an average increase in self-esteem with age. Although boys and girls experienced…

Background: Longitudinal pediatric neuroimaging studies have demonstrated increasing volumes of white matter and regionally-specific inverted U shaped developmental trajectories of gray matter volumes during childhood and adolescence. Studies of monozygotic and dyzygotic twins during this developmental period allow exploration of genetic and…

In examining the characteristics of students' dealing with the Internet it is of special interest to look at how they use it as a means of interaction. This article examines the developmental characteristics of person's entry into virtual communication and its temporal intensiveness; the communicative intention that conditions it; the content and…

Objective: To ascertain the association between pubertal stage and deliberate self-harm. Method: Cross-sectional survey of 12- to 15-year-olds in 300 secondary schools in the U.S. state of Washington in February-April 2002 and the Australian state of Victoria in June-August 2002. A total of 3,332 students in grades 7 and 9 provided complete data…

A questionnaire attempting to define adolescence from the adolescent's view was administered to 300 students, 50 males and 50 females in each of 3 grades (grades 6, 9, and 12). The questionnaire examined (1) ages perceived as dividing points between adolescence, childhood and adulthood; (2) tasks seen as most important in advancing from one period…

Investigated the relationship between the development of formal operations and the formation of ego identity in adolescence. Obtained significant positive correlations between combinatorial ability and degree of identity, suggesting that high identity may facilitate the application of combinatorial operations. Found some gender differences in task…

Noting that the dynamics of interaction in the coparenting setting, the mother-father-child triad, may change substantially during the transition to adolescence and that there is a need for an observational tool that describes both the verbal and nonverbal aspects of triadic dynamics, this study examined the Coding System for Family Triads (CST),…

Discusses the concept of egocentrism and its relation to cognitive development. Describes the major stages of egocentrism: sensori-motor, preoperational, concrete operational, and adolescent egocentrism. Focuses on research support for the theory of adolescent egocentrism. Discusses educational implications. (RC)

Used the Adolescent Prosocial Behavior Inventory to explore sixth, eighth, and tenth graders' prosocial behavior toward parents as an embedded aspect of parent/adolescent relationships. Found that mothers received more prosocial behavior than did fathers. Daughters acted more prosocially than sons. Attachment had a direct and an indirect effect…

Examined ratings of components of ethnic identity by African-American Latino, Filipino, and Anglo adolescents at an integrated, ethnically balanced high school. Found nonsignificant correlations among ethnic-identity components and a three-factor solution. Correlations among components and factor structure were similar for upper and lower grades.…

Used data from a time-diary survey of 2-parent, 2-child families (n=214) and single mother, 2-child families (n=99) to examine differences in how adolescents use their productive time in the following domains: (1) housework; (2) school work; and (3) paid employment. Adolescents' age and mothers' education and employment influenced time allocation…

This study explored topic-specific reservations about discussing sex and birth control among inner-city African American mothers and their 14- to 17-year-olds. Findings showed that reservations predicted communication behavior beyond that predicted by general family environment variables. Interaction effects suggested differential impact of…

Used a person-centered analytic strategy with data from Youth Development Study to describe configurations of time use through the high school years. Found that students highly engaged in multiple domains tended to remain so across grade. Students focused on one or two domains frequently changed commitments, school plans, grade point average,…