This study assesses if correspondence existed between concepts scholars use to discuss positive youth development (PYD) and terms used by practitioners, parents, and youth to discuss exemplary PYD, or thriving. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of 173 interviews about the meaning of thriving found no significant commonality between the terms…

Many statistical models have been used to study human development. The multidimensional scaling (MDS) method has been an under-utilised technique in psychological and educational research for studying such phenomena. In this paper, MDS profile analysis was used to examine adolescent mood change patterns over a 1-week period. This method is used to…

This study examines religious identity development of pupils at Dutch schools for secondary education (mean age 16.4). With the help of a theoretical conceptualization of "religious identity development" empirical research is carried out. Main question is whether differences in terms of religious commitment and exploration between pupils…

Peer relations are perceived to be more strongly related to family relationships for Israeli Arab and Druze adolescents than for Israeli Jewish adolescents growing up in a neighboring but socioculturally different society. However, when family relations are poor, Jewish adolescents draw greater support from peers than do Arab and Druze adolescents.

This paper investigates how the learning environments and family dynamics differ if households have a child with a disability or a parent with a disability. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, results indicate that children with disabilities experience similar learning environments as other children, but have somewhat…

Using daily diary methodology, 67 Mexican American adolescents completed measures assessing daily stressors experienced, specific coping strategies employed with reference to these stressors, and indices of psychological health over 5 consecutive days. With respect to coping usage, adolescents reported they most often used planning and least often…

Inconsistent findings exist on the effects of young adult-parent relationships on developmental status transitions into adulthood. Such transitions in turn predicted less conflicted and closer young adult-parent relationships. But systematic investigations of reciprocal effects between developmental transitions and young adult-parent relationships…

The media are dominated by images of women as sex objects whose value is based on their appearance. These portrayals can potentially limit girls' self-perceptions and influence their attitudes regarding the importance of appearance. However, relatively little is known about how African American adolescent girls are affected by these images. Using…

In the Russian Federation, a growing emphasis on individualism and a profusion of educational options create challenges and opportunities for adolescents making the transition to secondary school. To investigate Russian students' perspectives during this important developmental period, we conducted two open-ended interviews with 32 ninth graders…

Perinatal HIV infection in the US continues to evolve from a fatal pediatric illness to a chronic medical condition of childhood and adolescence. Although navigating this period is influenced by multi-leveled deprivations commonly experienced by low-income minority families, HIV alters the timing and experience of developmental milestones for many…

Professionals who work with young adults will get hard-to-find information on how specific social, behavioral, and cognitive characteristics of people with autism affect the transition to adulthood, exploring potential challenges and traits that can be powerful assets. Compelling stories throughout this book illustrate how successful transition…

The term resiliency is used to describe the "human capacity and ability to face, overcome, be strengthened by, and even be transformed by experiences of adversity." Native American culture provides a framework for fostering resiliency. The Lakota Sioux society identifies four core needs that foster resiliency and motivate individuals to reach…

Drawing primarily on three case studies, this article proposes a framework that those concerned about the welfare of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth can consider when developing, evaluating, or arguing for more effective programming: a relational assets approach. The relational assets approach merges the…

Groups of adolescents were identified on the basis of developmental trajectories of their families' rules and their parents' knowledge of their activities. Characteristics of the adolescent, peer antisociality, and family context were tested as antecedents. In sum, 404 parent-adolescent dyads provided data for adolescents aged 10-16. Most…

The present study was designed to investigate trajectories of identity development and their relationship to family functioning in a sample of Hispanic adolescents and their primary caregivers. Two hundred fifty adolescents completed measures of identity coherence and confusion and of family functioning, and parents completed measures of family…