This article describes the main findings of a study of youth theatre commissioned by the National Association of Youth Theatres (NAYT), funded by Arts Council England (ACE) and carried out by the Centre for Applied Theatre Research (CATR). The study explored the impact of taking part in youth theatre on young people's personal and social…

Students who do not fit the definition of the traditional student are becoming an increasingly large segment of the college population. In order to effectively promote retention in today's college students, the student development professional must understand these changing demographic and academic characteristics. This study compared student…

In this paper a theoretical framework is presented in an attempt to find an answer to the question of why some juveniles display sexually abusive behaviour and others do not. Until recently, this question has been approached mainly in terms of the presence of psychiatric illness, deviant sexual interests and/or impaired psychosocial development.…

China is a key player on the global stage, and nearly 300 million Chinese youth stand to be affected by rapid social and ecological transformations. Programs that promote developmental assets in Chinese youth could increase their resilience in the face of contemporary stressors and enhance their capacity to contribute to China's development. In…

An exploratory study examined the premise that pets provide developmental benefits for young children. Four hypotheses were derived from prior research: (1) children who have a bond with a dog or cat show more maturity in their cognitive, moral, and emotional development than children who do not have such pets; (2) children who have a more…

This paper analyzes the rationale for the project approach to educational programming from the cognitive-developmental perspective. It is argued that in many ways, the project approach reflects the cognitive-developmental view; that it is a convergence of Piaget's constructivism and Dewey's progressivism. Like any approach, the project approach is…

This study tested the hypothesis that social competence of mother-infant play reflects both secure mother-infant attachment and more advanced cognitive development. Subjects were 58 toddlers between 16 and 19 months of age and their mothers. Two general methods were used: observation and maternal report. Standardized developmental assessments were…

The conceptualizations of morphogenic processes suggested by systems theorists provide a useful framework for describing growth and development in complex adaptive self-directing organisms. These processes involve changes in (1) a system's structure, state, or functioning; (2) discontinuities in development; and (3) at least two kinds of…

This guide was prepared to facilitate the practitioner's selection of formal tests for evaluating communicative behavior in clinical infant populations during the first year of life. Clinical instruments with particular emphasis on communication and emerging language and speech abilities were identified in terms of publishers' recommended…

An exploratory study was conducted to determine the types of nonformal educational programs and activities for youth being offered by profit making agencies in Los Angeles, California, in 1982. From a list compiled from the yellow pages of the Los Angeles telephone directory, 76 agencies were selected for study. Telephone interviews with agency…

This research plan focuses on selected determinants of sexual behavior and contraceptive use for a stratified quota sample of adolescent boys and girls. Attention is concentrated on the socialization processes through which these youth develop attitudes toward heterosexual behavior and the ways in which these attitudes as well as situational…

The Support Development Group is an approach which explores and develops a theory for the relationship between network characteristics and notions of psychosocial adaptation. The approach is based on the assumption that teaching people to view their social world in network terms can be helpful to them. The Support Development Workshop is presented…

All aspects of adolescent sexuality may be viewed as primarily sexual. The primary fact about adolescence is that the young person becomes capable of reproduction. Biological changes interact with psychological ones; the cognitive, motivational, social and emotional aspects are all directed toward becoming a sexual human being. In adolescence,…

Play intervention as an adjunct treatment for accelerating peer social interaction of a preschool isolate was examined. Teacher reinforcement of indoor play equipment utilization was employed as a procedure to increase an asocial four-year-old female subject's social interaction with peers. Touching peers, using peer names, verbalizations,…

This paper describes a tentative model to assist in conceptualization of the dynamics of adult social-cognitive development based on Piaget's and Riegel's thought, gerontological studies, and dialectical theory. The proposed model possesses several qualities: (1) it derives from the concept of intelligence as an adaptive biological entity; (2) it…