China has been undergoing great social change due to its new focus on urbanization and globalization. Such change has had a tremendous adverse impact on the living conditions of millions of young children, simultaneously generating new interest in children's creativity development. The intersection of these two issues has important…

Educational neuroscience is an emerging scientific field that brings together researchers from neuroscience, psychology, and education to explore the neurocognitive processes underlying educational practice and theory. In this brief article, we take reading disorder (RD, also known as developmental dyslexia) as an example, and explore trends in…

Whether fluid cognitive functions are malleable has been a topic of ongoing debate for at least the past 100 years. Ever-evolving technology has led to new and diverse fields of investigation entering this debate. There are significant advantages to be gained by integrating different scientific paradigms, but there are also significant challenges.…

We continue to increase our understanding of the experiences and settings that contribute to positive developmental outcomes in childhood, and those that confer greater risk. Although the mechanisms by which the risk and protective factors affect developmental outcomes need to be further elucidated through research, converging findings from the…

Childhood and adolescence sexual abuse can have long-lasting and devastating effects on personal and interpersonal growth and development. Sexually abused children tend to exhibit higher rates of poor school performance, aggressive behavior, PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder), or depressive symptomatology, as well as social and relational…

This chapter explores how fatherhood prompts struggle and growth in the psychological, social, and economic changes associated with the transition to adulthood. Little is known about these connections, especially for disadvantaged Latino and White fathers who live in small and mid-sized American communities. We draw on eight in-depth focus groups…

Many children in economically disadvantaged communities assume adult roles in their families. Negotiating the responsibilities and expectations associated with becoming what some young men describe as "man of the house" has important implications for how adolescent boys move into adulthood. In this study, we share insights from field…

Research indicates that inner-city neighborhood effects are correlated with school dropout, substance abuse, crime, violence, homicide, HIV risk related behaviors, and incarceration for adolescent African American males. Parents of adolescent African American males face many challenges as they try to keep their children safe in high-risk…

Over the last several decades, proactive policing, in which departments use data on reported crimes to determine where local police officers will target their surveillance, has increased police contact with residents in certain neighborhoods. Drawing on field research conducted over a three-year period (2007-2010) among adult and adolescent…

The complexity of adolescents' dating and sexual lives is not easily operationalized with simple indicators of dating or sexual activity. While building on prior work that emphasizes the "risky" nature of adolescents' intimate relationships, we assess whether a variety of indicators reflecting the complexity of…

Although very young children are unable to formulate a personal narrative of the life course, their everyday lives are steeped in narratives. Drawing on ethnographic studies in diverse sociocultural worlds, we argue that the early years of life form a vital preamble to the personal narrative. In this phase of life, the universal predisposition to…

In adolescence, remembering the personal past and understanding what kind of person one is intertwine to form a story of one's life as the most extant, informative, and flexible form of self-representation. In adolescence, the striving for self-coherence translates into a quest for global coherence of the life story. We suggest that…

This chapter examines differential circumstances whereby aging individuals construct their selves as a narrative or, alternatively, seem to prefer other routes to manifest their identity. The preliminary exploration of questions about the characteristics of those aged who prefer to tell and those who do not, as well as the salutary role of…

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to millions of HIV-affected children. These children are likely to experience multiple developmental delays. In this chapter, I present data highlighting compromised neurobehavioral, mental health, and scholastic outcomes for children affected by HIV. Furthermore, I discuss biomedical factors (e.g., disease severity and…

Western conceptions of child development and the models of early education they engender predominantly shape services for young children in the first eight years of life all over Africa. This chapter brings a reconceptualist perspective to the critique of Kenya's continuing failure to ground early childhood programs and services in local…