This article examines the theory of emerging adulthood, introduced into the literature by Arnett (2000), in terms of its methodological and evidential basis, and finds it to be unsubstantiated on numerous grounds. Other, more convincing, formulations of variations in the transition to adulthood are examined. Most flawed academic theories are…

In this article we present a vision of applied developmental science (ADS) as a means of promoting social justice and socio-political well-being. This vision draws upon the field's significant accomplishments in identifying and strengthening developmental assets in marginalized youth communities, understanding the effects of poverty and racial…

By examining history-social science learning standards in the state of California, an argument is made that schools should be concerned about more than narrowly defined academic achievement goals. Instead, a review of those standards suggests that schools are responsible for helping to foster democratic citizenship that grows out of a strong…

American identity is a little understood aspect of youth development, and one that is important to youth civic development and engagement. This article introduces the problem of American identity as a multidisciplinary issue, provides a historical analysis of the philosophical foundation of the nation, and integrates the different disciplinary…

This article examines the problem of national and civic detachment among American youth. Using a developmental theoretical framework that integrates the ecological aspects of development with the phenomenological experiences of the developing individual, I argue that young Americans have difficulty developing an attachment to their identity as…

National identity, how one sees oneself as a member of a given nation, is an important form of social identity. Feelings toward one's country are a matter of both individual and collective concern. In an increasingly diverse world, the issue of identifying with a nation is complex and consequential for individual identity formation as well as…

Starting with a discussion of the religious dimension of national purpose in America, this article examines the concept of American civil religion and the emergence of individualism as a fundamental aspect of American identity. It then examines recent history, looking at two social revolutions that America has gone through in recent…

Children's social skills are an important class of learned behaviors that facilitate success in the classroom; the primary method used in the assessment of social skills involves having parents or teachers complete standardized checklists using judgments of frequency or intensity. Children's (N = 1,102) social skills were modeled as time-varying…

Utilizing a developmental-ecological framework, the purpose of this study was to understand the unique impact of multiple maternal risks across time on ethnically diverse, low-income, preschool children's cognitive skills, pro-social behaviors, and behavior problems. Additionally, this study sought to understand the variability of maternal risks…

Cross-age peer mentoring programs, in which teenagers mentor younger children, have proliferated in recent years, yet there is disagreement about the effectiveness of such programs. This study tested whether teen mentors' attitudes about children interact with their mentees' characteristics to moderate outcomes of cross-age peer mentoring. The…

This study explored the importance of using relevant measures when evaluating the effectiveness of early childhood interventions. Data from the federally-funded evaluation of the Comprehensive Child Development Program were used to examine whether the behavior measure, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), was an appropriate tool for the diverse…

This article reports on analyses examining contextual influences on parenting with an ethnically and geographically diverse sample of parents (predominantly mothers) raising 387 children (49% ethnic minority; 51% male) in high-risk communities. Parents and children were followed longitudinally from first through tenth grades. Contextual influences…

This study examined associations between quality of social and physical environments in preschools and children's development of academic, language, and literacy skills, and the extent to which preschool quality moderated the associations between child risk and development. Participants were a diverse sample of 540 four-year-old children in…

Publicly funded prekindergartens are programs that most states use to promote school readiness, especially of 4-year-old children at risk for academic problems due to poverty. Despite large public expenditures, these programs have not been widely evaluated. We examined 240 randomly selected pre-kindergarten programs in six states with mature…

Despite a growing consensus that civic education is an important aspect of political socialization, little research has prospectively examined how gains made during civics courses are maintained after high school. This study used a quasi-experimental design to examine longer-term effects of the Student Voices program, which was originally…