Over the past several years, a growing consensus has emerged across a range of disciplines--including brain science, developmental psychology, and education research--about how learning happens. The latest science now aligns with what educators, youth-supporting adults, parents, and caregivers have known for a long time: successful learning…

Social-emotional learning (SEL) and character education are important components of adolescent development. In this study, we evaluated a randomized controlled trial of CharacterStrong, a curriculum that combines SEL and character education that included 1609 students and 242 teachers across 14 schools. This study applied baseline target…

Brain growth and change is a key factor in adolescent development, influencing cognitions, emotions, and behavior. As technology has improved, so has the research on the adolescent brain. School counselors working with adolescents need to be familiar with recent literature to be more effective in their work with middle and high school students.…

The purpose of the study is to assess the relationship between timing of adolescent development and risk factors for suicide. Nationally representative data from the Add Health survey were used. The relationship of sociodemographic characteristics, known risk factors, and physical developmental timing and cognitive developmental style to suicide…

Transformation is the act of changing in form, nature or character. It is the process in which we learn something new or are so affected by an event or a conversation that our own selves are no longer the same. Many experiences can cause this transformation: a loss, a tragedy, or an interaction with a friend, loved one or stranger. Transformation…

This study examined adolescent developmental experiences and participation in extracurricular activities. Providing youth with multiple channels to nurture their development and acknowledge their interests and strengths can play a significant role in their holistic growth. This is a descriptive study of a mixed-methods design (quantitative and…

The purpose of this study was to examine and better understand the social cognitive effects of digital technology on teenagers' brains and their socialization processes, as well as to learn best practices with regard to digital technology consumption. An extensive literature review was conducted on the social cognitive effects of digital…

This report provides a developmental perspective on what competencies young people need to be ready for college, the workplace, and the transition to adulthood. National hand-wringing about the lack of preparedness of high school graduates for college and the workplace has catalyzed researchers, educators, and policymakers to define the skills and…

This study examines development along Perry's intellectual and ethical scale among three successive graduating classes of students identified as gifted and talented in mathematics and science. Perry posits that intellectual development proceeds from a basic dualism through nine stages ("positions") and culminates with a sense of personal identify…

Adolescence is a time when formal abstract thought becomes possible, enabling the individual to work through the highest stages of morality. Adolescents' understanding of religion and their commitment to it seem to differ sharply from those of children. It has been proposed that adolescents are likely to change, expand, or abandon their religious…

The Rational Thinking Group experience, based on cognitive restructuring exercises, significantly increased the self-concept of adolescent participants. In addition, the experience was effective in increasing scores on the behavior, anxiety, and happiness, and satisfaction scales. (Author)

To evaluate the part that nascent skeptical doubt plays in shaping adolescent social-cognitive development, 61 high school students clearly classified as in concrete or formal operational stages of cognitive development completed a measure of epistemic stances. A relationship was found between cognitive and epistemic development. (SLD)

Explored the relationship between adolescents' level of cognitive reasoning and their contextual judgments of the factors affecting quality of life. Showed that those 10th grade students who achieved higher levels of cognitive reasoning were more likely to identify social and interpersonal aspects of life as factors related to quality of life and…

The research project described in this paper examined the development of analytic writing abilities in late high school and college level students. Following a brief discussion of the project, in which 135 students at different educational levels wrote position papers on an assigned topic, and 35 participated in protocol analysis, the paper offers…

Examines development of the concept of commitment in relation to adolescents' choice of a career and romantic partner. Subjects were 163 male and female ninth graders, twelfth graders, and college juniors from public and private schools. Findings support the proposition that the concept of commitment is affected by grade, gender, and type of…