Raising Healthy Children (RHC) is a preventive intervention designed to promote positive youth development by targeting developmentally appropriate risk and protective factors. In this study, the authors tested the efficacy of the RHC intervention on reducing adolescent alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use. Ten public schools, which comprised 959…

Self-rating of pubertal development is the recommended method to assess puberty in large community-based surveys of adolescent development and behavior. The aim of this study was to validate for the first time pubertal self-assessment using the sexual maturation scale developed by Tanner among Black South African adolescents (n=182) aged between…

Data from a nationally representative sample of adolescents studied at two points in time are used to examine gender-specific influence of parent-youth closeness on youth's suicidal ideation and its variations by stages of adolescence and race or ethnicity. Logistic regression analyses yielded interesting findings: (a) Closeness with fathers…

Becoming a teen father can lead to negative consequences for both the young father and his offspring. It is important to understand the process that leads some young men into fatherhood while others delay it until they are more developmentally ready. One possibility is that becoming a teen father is part of a more general deviant lifestyle. This…

As the incomes of affluent and poor families have diverged over the past three decades, so too has the educational performance of their children. But how exactly do the forces of rising inequality affect the educational attainment and life chances of low-income children? In "Whither Opportunity?" a distinguished team of economists,…

Wild parties, late nights, and lots of sex, drugs, and alcohol. Many assume these are the things that define an American teenager's first year after high school. But the reality is really quite different. As Tim Clydesdale reports in "The First Year Out", teenagers generally manage the increased responsibilities of everyday life immediately after…

What distinguishes adolescents who are active in community and political life from those who are not? In an attempt to answer this question, students in their last years of secondary school completed a measure of community and political activities, along with measures of parent and peer interactions, identity development, and adjustment. Cluster…

Life history theorists have proposed that humans have evolved to be sensitive to specific features of early childhood environments and that exposure to different environments biases children toward development of different reproductive strategies, including differential pubertal timing. The current research provides a longitudinal test of this…

Theories of positive youth development (PYD) regard such development as bases of both community contributions and lessened likelihood of risk/problem behaviors. Using data from the 4-H Study of PYD, we tested these expectations by examining if PYD in Grade 5 predicted both youth contributions and risk behaviors and depression in Grade 6. Results…

This qualitative study used data from semi-structured interviews with eight school counsellors working with adolescents in secondary education and asked them how they perceived counselling interventions as helping to raise achievement. The present context in secondary education is perceived as results led. This adheres to government policy as…

In this article, the author draws on a study of an after-school initiative serving inner-city high school students to describe and reflect on ways in which apprenticeship-like experiences support work on a variety of developmental tasks. The author describes key dimensions of the apprenticeship experience, discusses challenges faced by…

What causes stress in gifted youth and what specific skills do they need to manage it? Although stress is a real presence in all people's lives, it can be more intense for the gifted because they are usually more sensitive, introspective, and emotional. Growing up gifted is a qualitatively different experience, which can manifest itself in the…

This study of youths and high-risk behavior was designed to explore four issues: (1) the status of substance use and other at-risk behaviors among Iowa youth; (2) important trends in youth substance use and non-use behaviors; (3) major factors involved in encouraging non-use and health-promoting behaviors among Iowa youth; and (4) what the…

Using data from the Iowa Youth and Families Project, this longitudinal study investigated the predictive validity of different dimensions of observed parent behavior on adolescent externalizing (aggression, hostility) and internalizing (depression, anxiety) problems over a 2-year period. In addition, the study examined how observer ratings…

Formats of communication within families are believed to be relevant contexts for children's development. Cultural values, norms, and interpretation patterns are transferred from parents to children within the family's specific communication framework. The purpose of this project was to study the quality of relationships and the communication…