This current study explores three contemporary Brazilian films' depiction of commercial sexual exploitation of young girls and teenagers. It points out how the young female characters cope with the abuses they suffer and proposes that these filmic representations of the characters' experiences expose a significant social problem of contemporary…

Recent research shows that young people list media entertainment as one of the sources where they find information about what they really want to know about sex and what is not taught through the school curriculum--namely, relationships and eroticism. This paper addresses the potential role that may be played by small independent alternative…

This study explores psychological trauma as a reason for computer game addiction among adolescents. The findings of this study show that there is a connection between psychological trauma and computer game addiction. Some psychologists note that the main cause of any type of addiction derives from psychological trauma, and that finding such…

Literature indicates that 72% of adolescent girls are exposed to sexually explicit Internet material (SEIM) before the age of 18, and between 2%-30% of girls report intentionally seeking SEIM. Despite the recognition that adolescent girls are consuming SEIM, and that their use impacts behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes, there has been limited…

This research explores the eco-systemic factors impacting on the educational inclusion of young carers (UK) that defines a young carer as anyone under the age of 18 years old who provides, or intends to provide, care for another person of any age. The literature has indicated that young carers with additional needs are a population more vulnerable…

This multiple case study examines practices of educators in high schools called "odds-beaters". These schools are exemplary in that they consistently achieve better-than-predicted graduation outcomes among economically disadvantaged, African-American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, and English language learners. Findings from this study revealed…

Adolescence can be a particularly difficult time for youth as they experience the physical, social, and academic changes that accompany maturation. One of the most critical challenges for schools is teaching adolescent students positive social and emotional skills, which are crucial for them to succeed academically and emotionally. "Strong…

To gain further insight into psychosexual functioning, including behaviors, intrapersonal and interpersonal aspects, in adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), comprehensive, multi-informant measures are needed. This study describes (1) the development of a new measure of psychosexual functioning in both parent- and self-reports (Teen…

This paper reports on a study that invited 187 16-18-year-old students in the United States to draw diagrams showing connections between their own lives and the past. Interviews were subsequently held with 26 study participants. The degree to which students made connections between their own lives and the past, and the various ways in which they…

There is an extensive body of work documenting the negative socioemotional and academic consequences of perceiving racial/ethnic discrimination during adolescence, but little is known about how the larger peer context conditions such effects. Using peer network data from 252 eighth graders (85% Latino, 11% African American, 5% other…

In Western cultures, life narratives are typically expected to recount the narrator's life from birth to the present. Disparate autobiographical memories need to be integrated into a more or less coherent story, which is facilitated by an overarching temporal macrostructure. The temporal macrostructure consists of elaborated beginnings that…

This longitudinal study aimed to differentiate between acculturative and developmental processes by (a) comparing levels and change rates in victimization among ethnic German immigrants and native German adolescents in Germany and Russian Jewish immigrants in Israel, and (b) testing whether interindividual differences in victimization among…

In an effort to fully understand the impact of campus-community partnerships, and the programs that compose them, our research team has conducted action research over the course of the last 10 years. In particular, we have conducted this research on the partnership we operate, Husky Sport, focused on how its programs influence the behaviors and…

The stability of callous-unemotional (CU) traits and both individual and contextual factors that influence this stability have been studied in community adolescent samples but not to great extent in adolescents who have been arrested. We estimated the developmental changes in CU traits measured over the course of 36 months (6-month intervals)…

Shifting demographics among racial and ethnic groups within the United States are reflected in the diversity of the middle grade student population, as they are members of longstanding racial groups or members of biracial or multiracial groups that have emerged. These diversities are causes for celebrations, but at the same time offer challenges…