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…

In this study, the identity formation of emerging adults in Sweden was investigated in order to discover how identity issues concerning love, work and family are handled. The study group comprised 136 24- to 26-year-olds. The results revealed differences between men and women with regard to their position in the identity formation process. While…

The study investigates the experiences of emerging adults who had worked as counselors at overnight summer camps; identity-related issues emerge as most salient in the analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with 12 women and 8 men from 8 camps. Their descriptions portray the identity exploration that took place within the camp context, through…

Though many transnational families undergo profound transformations that are often complicated by extended periods of separation between loved ones, it is challenging to establish a sense of prevalence of family separations as well as their effects on youth. Utilizing the Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation data with 282 newcomer adolescents…

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…

A growing body of empirical research reveals that genetic factors account for a substantial amount of variance in measures of antisocial behaviors. At the same time, evidence is also emerging indicating that certain environmental factors moderate the effects that genetic factors have on antisocial outcomes. Despite this line of research, much…

Despite the growing body of research on the topic of adolescent parenthood, few studies have examined the perceptions and lived experiences of African American teen fathers. The primary aim of this study was to examine how this group defines and performs the father role. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 African American fathers aged 14…

Obtaining representative samples from populations of emerging adults who do not attend college is challenging for researchers. This article introduces respondent-driven sampling (RDS), a method for obtaining representative samples of hard-to-reach but socially interconnected populations. RDS combines a prescribed method for chain referral with a…

Emerging adults are increasingly cohabiting, but few studies have considered the role of social context in the formation of their views of cohabitation. Drawing on 40 semistructured interviews with dating couples, we explored the role of romantic partners, family, and peers on evaluations of cohabitation. In couples where each member had a…

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…

Adolescents benefit from contact with high-resource community adults, but intergenerational obstacles make these interactions difficult, fragile, and rare. This qualitative research investigated the success of seven, primarily urban, leadership, and arts programs that attempted to facilitate these interactions within their programming. Program…

Three respondents provide cogent commentary on the author's first article, "Does the Adolescent Brain Make Risk Taking Inevitable? A Skeptical Appraisal." Two respondent papers argue that the author mischaracterized valid and useful developmental and biological arguments affirming adolescents' singular risk propensities; the third response raises…

Recognition of the interplay between nature and nurture is decades old in fields such as psychiatry, but other fields in the social sciences continue to be hampered by the idea that social and biological variables compete for explanatory relevance. In a recent study of the adolescent brain and risk taking, Males critiqued biologically oriented…

In the January 2009 issue of this journal, Males argues that adolescent brain science perpetuates the "myth of adolescent risk taking." He contends that those who study adolescent neuromaturation are biological determinists who ignore the profound social and environmental forces that influence adolescent behavior to further their own agendas.…

Parenting practices are among the strongest predictors of juvenile delinquency identified in the criminological literature and have been intimately connected to adult offending. The prior research connecting early parenting experiences with crime, however, has not systematically assessed the long-term effect of parenting style on adult criminal…