In its diverse forms, authentic writing carries the potential to connect literacy practice to an author's 'real world'. While contemporary approaches to authentic writing instruction--advocating writer-centred, intertextual and culturally relevant productions--are most often explored in formal learning contexts like classrooms, this paper seeks to…

This four-wave longitudinal study among 698 Chinese early adolescents explored (1) how personal identity coherence and confusion develop; and (2) whether parenting style and peer relationships (i.e., close friend relationships and peer preference) were related to personal identity development. Participants (M[subscript age] = 11.39 yrs.,…

Students' sense of belonging presents an essential resource for academic and health outcomes, whereas social exclusion at school negatively impacts students' well-being and academic performance. Aiming to understand how feelings of school-related belonging and exclusion shape the "structural" brain development, this study applied…

The article reveals the theoretical and practical aspects of the interrelation of social creativity, the demonstration of leadership skills and personal agency of adolescents included in a socially enriched environment of additional education. The methods of studying the development of adolescents' personal agency are described, which make it…

Academic success during adolescence lays the foundation for future achievements. This three-arm randomized trial aimed to evaluate the effects of three interventions on holistic development in 300 students (mean age 13.02 ± 1.13) over 14 weeks. The interventions--hatha yoga (Group A), hatha yoga integrated with ancient Indian learning principles…

Background: Dynamic, relational developmental systems-based models of development emphasize that developmentally-nurturant youth-adult relationships elicit in youth perceptions of being known and loved. Although such perceptions are foundations of positive youth development (PYD), such measures do not exist. Objective: We sought to create a…

At what ages are young people most open to political influence? We test the "formative years" model that underscores the importance of childhood experiences for political development against the "impressionable years" model that asserts the primacy of lessons learned during adolescence. To assess the relative merits of these…

Migration-related risk factors may impact the association between coping strategies, resilience, and identity development, one of the fundamental developmental tasks in adolescence. We examined the relationship between resilience and coping strategies in immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents' identity development. On a sample of Turkish…

This study investigates how adolescents begin to demonstrate skills and approaches that help them pursue their aspirations. The qualitative study examined emergent forms of key indicators of adolescent thriving: the 5Cs of positive youth development and sense of purpose. Pre- and post-program interviews with 24 S2 (~seventh grade) Scottish…

Background: Overall, youth well-being is crucial, particularly in developmental contexts, such as sub-Saharan Africa, which is experiencing the largest growth in the youth population internationally. The Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework considers the importance of positive experiences, positive relationships and positive environments…

Despite ample research on empathy development, its social origins have been understudied, particularly in the context of peer relations. This two-wave study of Swedish adolescents (N = 318; M[subscript ageT1] = 16.28, SD = 0.49; 55% females) examined longitudinal associations between youth friendships and empathy. The results showed that…

The transition to secondary school can be a challenging period for adolescents. Although several questionnaires exist to measure transition-related concerns, there is a need to develop a comprehensive survey for assessing the knowledge and skills that adolescents require to adapt effectively to a new school. Thus, the purpose of this study was to…

Economic growth is dependent on well-skilled human capital. Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes are paramount in provision of the requisite capabilities which encompass both academic and non-academic skills also known as whole youth development (WYD) skills. Youths leaving training institutions in Kenya experience…

The architecture of sleep undergoes distinct changes during childhood and early adolescence. Slow wave sleep is involved in memory processing and may support active consolidation of newly encoded representations to support the formation of abstracted "gist" memories. Here, we examined sleep and overnight memory formation in German school…

Past research has demonstrated an association between financial hardships and risk-taking behaviors (defined as delinquent or transgressive acts). However, this effect may differ based upon the provision of protective spaces, like those offered in extracurricular activities. In the current study, we examined the longitudinal effect of financial…