American children gain more autonomy as they progress through adolescence, however, autonomy-granting for Latina adolescent girls from immigrant families is a relatively unexplored question. In this study, we identified behaviors that Mexican mothers and their daughters deemed to be appropriate when they reach the age of "La…

The present study identified emerging adults' self-generated sexual values and sources of sexual values upon entering college and a year later to assess how these values and sources may have changed. Participants included 148 college students (86 women and 62 men) who were 17 to 19 years old at Time 1 (M = 18.1). Generative coding revealed seven…

Having a noble purpose in life is an important component of positive youth development; however, little is known about how noble purposes develop over time. Therefore, using three waves of interviews over a 5-year period with 9 adolescents (N = 9) who demonstrated intense commitments to various noble purposes, the present study developed a…

The present study employs a mixed methods approach to understanding the psychological functions and contexts of music use. Seventy-six emerging adults selected a single piece of music that they considered personally significant and elaborated on the reasons for this significance in response to written prompts. A constant comparative analysis of…

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…

Cellular telephones have become an increasingly prevalent feature of contemporary American life, with usage often beginning during early adolescence. With this in mind, twenty 7th graders and their mothers participated in separate qualitative interviews regarding early adolescents' use of cell phones as well as perceived risks and benefits of such…

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…

Research has indicated that a high proportion of homeless emerging adults use substances. This article aims to understand the attitudes of these young adults concerning their substance use and its effect on their lives. A mixed methods study using semistructured interviews and self-report instruments was conducted with 87 emerging adults who…

Antipathetic relationships and friendships are common during adolescence. One type of antipathetic relationship that has received no empirical attention is one that emerges from a broken friendship. Two studies, a reanalysis of N. A. Card's previously published data (Study 1) and newly collected data (Study 2), investigated this topic through…

This study extends understanding of romantic development in the emerging adult years by using an 8-year longitudinal design in Italy. Peer groups at age 13, interpersonal functioning and emotion regulation at age 17, and romantic styles at age 21 were measured in 388 youth. Early peer groups were shown to be indirectly associated with two romantic…

In order to understand the interplay of culture and mind in immigrant adolescent learning and psychological adjustment, this multiple-case qualitative study examined salient home and school experiences told by recent Chinese immigrant youth in semistructured interviews and narrative essays. Forging the future between two different worlds defined,…

This study examines the peer relations and emotion practices of adolescent boys in light of their expectations and assumptions about masculinity. We carried out semistructured interviews with middle-class and upper-middle-class boys from an independent high school. The boys reported that they assiduously avoided displays of emotional or physical…

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…

This investigation describes the joint goal-directed series of actions, or joint friendship projects, of 19 mothers and their adolescents. Data were collected through videotaped conversations, video recall interviews, and self-report logs collected over an 8-month period. Qualitative analysis of the data revealed joint projects characterized by…

Antipathetic relationships have received little empirical attention. This study examines these relationships by eliciting college students' descriptions of the formation, patterns of interpersonal behaviors, and termination of antipathetic relationships during high school. Factors that differentiate inimical from other antipathetic relationships…