The research examined (a) girls' responses to personal experiences of gender and/or ethnic/racial discrimination, (b) social support from parents and friends following the discrimination, and (c) the relationship between girls' reported coping strategies to the discrimination and their self-esteem. Participants were 74 adolescent girls ("M" = 16.3…

Stage Challenge is a performing arts competition for New Zealand secondary schools. This longitudinal study used observations, repeated questionnaires, informal conversations, and a graffiti board to follow the 5-month experience of a student-led girls' team aged 10 to 17 years (n = 103). The focus was on the quality of their experience and what…

Although middle school is a critical time in adolescents' development, little is known about how that development is affected by public single-sex classes even though recent federal policy decisions have led more schools to provide these offerings. This case study used ethnographic methods to explore ways teachers, students, and courses in one…

Previous findings from quantitative research have shown that the majority of young Australian women aged 18 to 23 years aspire to be married, with children, and in the paid workforce when they are 35 years of age. However, the Theory of Emerging Adulthood suggests that this period of the lifespan is characterized by a prolonged stage of…

This article examined the future plans constructed by Latina adolescent girls and their mothers within a lower income urban community. Seventeen high school juniors and their mothers were interviewed about the girls' pursuit of a trade during high school and anticipated postsecondary pathways in the nursing field. Thematic content analyses…

Ethnographic research, including individual interviews, focus groups, and participant observation, was conducted to examine how adolescents defined and negotiated the boundaries between normal/acceptable weight and overweight through direct and indirect teasing. In particular, this article focuses on gender differences in weight-based teasing and…

The Israeli army drafts both men and women, and most Israelis complete their military service during their emerging adulthood years. This study examined Israeli women's experiences as soldiers in the army. Twenty-three women (18 emerging adults, 5 young adults) were recruited using purposive sampling and interviewed about how they experienced…

Adolescent girls have emerged as the largest demographic of bloggers in the United States. In this study, the author interviewed 20 girls, aged 17 to 21, who had been blogging for 3 or more years. Consistent with previous studies involving youths' online activities, the girls discussed their use of blogging for self-expression and peer…

This study examined what kinds of sexual scripts were found in Finnish girls' narratives, what elements those scripts included and how different scripts were associated with sexually risky behavior. The data were comprised of the narratives of 173 14-15-year-old girls regarding their experiences in sexually motivating situations. The narratives…

Children born of war rape continue to be a taboo theme in many post-war societies, also in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH). This study is based on in-depth interviews with eleven adolescents born of war rape in BH. The main goal is to present how these adolescents represent themselves and their life-situations. On the basis of the research we identify…

This article reports on a 1-year diary study of conflicts between seventeen 15-year-old girls and their mothers assessing (a) within-conflict sequences according to the emotional processes related to a girl's level of self-assertion and perceived control and (b) the relationship between these within-conflict sequences and the level of autonomy.…

This study explores developing conceptions of feminism among Latina adolescents, their prevalence of feminist endorsement, and whether home environment and well-being are related to feminist identity. One hundred and forty Latina girls (Grades 9 to 12, M age = 15) wrote personal narratives of their understanding of feminism and whether they…

In contrast to the large body of research examining the negative effects of idealized media images on girls' and women's body image, little research has investigated whether media images can positively impact body concept among females. Using a between-participants experimental design, this study examined how images of performance athletes,…

The use of adolescents as domestic servants has become prevalent in most urban centers in Nigeria. This study focused on adolescents who work as domestic househelps in urban centers with special reference to Ibadan, Nigeria. The main objective of the study is to examine their mode of recruitment, the nature of their work as well the impact of such…

Contextualizing Latina girls' body image development requires an appreciation of mainstream body ideals, Latino/a cultural values, and the process by which Latina girls traverse the borders between them. The current study examines how media use and acculturation act across adolescence to shape the development of body image among Latina girls.…