Equipping students with ASD for a good life after high school is the overarching goal of secondary special education services and supports. In this paper, we review important elements of effective transition education for adolescents with ASD. First, we review recent findings related to the post-school employment, education, and independent living…

Equipping students with ASD for a good life after high school is the overarching goal of secondary special education services and supports. In this paper, we review important elements of effective transition education for adolescents with ASD. First,we review recent findings related to the post-school employment, education, and independent living…

This study combines research documenting the benefits of positive relationships between youth and caring adults on a young person's positive development with studies on youth voice to examine the mechanisms through which participation in youth programs contributes to positive developmental outcomes. Specifically, the study explores whether youth's…

Background: Children and young adolescents are reaching puberty earlier. Providing information about such changes before puberty can help them develop in a more competent and informed manner. Context and Objective: UNESCO's "International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education" forms a comprehensive, evidence-based, authoritative…

This study examined the interrelationships among mattering to friends, self-esteem, spirituality, and perpetration of relational aggression in friendships among 457 college students. While the three self-belief variables were positively related to each other, only spirituality and mattering to friends discriminated between men and women. Women…

"Interpersonal" rejection and "intergroup" exclusion in childhood reflect different, but complementary, aspects of child development. Interpersonal rejection focuses on individual differences in personality traits, such as wariness and being fearful, to explain bully-victim relationships. In contrast, intergroup exclusion focuses on how in-group…

This article examines children's moral judgments and emotional evaluations in the context of social exclusion. As they age, children and adolescents face increasingly complex situations in which group membership and allegiance are in opposition with morally relevant decisions, such as the exclusion of an individual from a group. While adolescents…

Identity research has focused primarily on outcomes associated with identity formation. Far less attention, however, has been given to understanding the facilitating contextual elements of this process. This qualitative study examined a context, a 2-week adventure recreation program for youth, quantitatively shown in previous research to have…

Researchers have focused primarily on the processes and outcomes associated with adolescent identity development. Less is known about the interpersonal and contextual elements that facilitate the identity formation process. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to qualitatively investigate a structured recreation context that had been…

While many states mandate some type of sexuality education in schools, state legislation varies widely across the United States. Nevertheless, though much has been written about the behavioral outcomes of sexuality education programs shown to be effective at reducing one or more risky sexual behaviors in teenagers, less is known about the exact…

Self-determination is essential to promoting successful transitions for students with and without disabilities. Numerous studies have found that positive relationships are central to the ability to be self-determined, thus making relationship building a key area to address to promote successful transitions. This article provides information on…

Adolescent African American females face multiple obstacles that hinder their educational success. High school completion and college attendance rates remain lower for African American females than those for other racial and gender groups, while pregnancy rates for African American teens are higher. Group work holds promise for meeting the…

Using longitudinal, multi-informant data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the present study tested associations between trajectories of parental and child depressive symptoms from ages 11 to 15 years. Consistent with predictions, changes in mothers' and fathers'…

We examined aspects of adolescent girls' parasocial interactions in the context of typical development. Parasocial interactions are defined as symbolic, one-sided quasi-interactions between a viewer and a media figure. In total, 107 adolescent girls were examined; 94% reported engaging in parasocial interactions to some degree. Preoccupied…

Trusting relationships at school and within other social networks emerge as protective factors that are crucial to the positive development of early adolescents. School is one of the critical environments where they can develop a sense of belonging. This study involved 20 qualitative interviews with school staff and youth workers recruited from…