Based on case studies centered on two rural secondary schools in Lesotho and Zimbabwe, this article examines the gendered impacts of schooling on young people's transitions to adulthood. School attendance is shown first to disrupt the conventional pathways to adulthood: Young people attending school may leave home sooner than they otherwise would…

Used longitudinal data from the National Survey of Children to examine factors explaining the higher school dropout and lower high school graduation rates in socioeconomically distressed communities. Results suggest that educational performance of peers is a key mechanism linking neighborhood disadvantage to youth educational attainment. Some of…

Proposes the need to critically incorporate popular culture into sex education efforts in order to develop programs that resonate with teens' experiences while allowing them to construct more equitable social relations. Illustrates how this might be done through an analysis of the recent teen film, "American Pie," identifying specific implications…

Based on written interviews and textual analysis of zines produced by girls involved in the feminist subculture of Riot Grrrl, this article maintains that zine making is one way for girls to form support networks and create a safe space to examine and resist the cultural devaluation of women. (SM)

Used large nationally representative samples of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders to examine current patterns, recent trends, and sociodemographic correlates of religiosity among U.S adolescents. Approximately 60 percent of teens considered religion important, with half regularly attending religious services and most reporting affiliation with a…

Examined whether Mexican origin adolescents who varied by generational status would differ in their resistance to peer pressure. After controlling for gender, resistance to peer pressure varied significantly by generational status. Adolescents with no familial births in the United States were significantly more resistant to peer pressure than…

Surveyed rural French students age 13-18 years to investigate the extent to which measures of social control and learning/differential association theories could be generalized to, and help explain, delinquency. Social control measures either did not form reliable scales or were not significantly related to various offense scales. Measures of…

Investigated the relationships of gender and gang membership to latent variables of psychosocial characteristics, drug use, delinquency, weapons possession, and fear within rural and urban Colorado school districts. Surveys of 1,669 self-reported gang members and 1,742 non-gang members indicated that gender was related more strongly to the latent…

Assessed the extent of gang involvement among homeless and runaway youth, comparing gang members, gang-involved youth (not members), and non-gang youth on several dimensions. Interview data indicated that 15.4 percent of the youth were gang members and 32.2 percent were involved in gangs. These youth reported more family problems and school…

Investigated gender differences in adolescent drug use in terms of parental monitoring and peer deviance. Surveys of Swedish adolescents indicated that girls were more highly monitored than boys, and boys were more exposed to deviant peers than girls. There was a significant interaction for parental monitoring and peer deviance for the sample as a…

Investigated the utility of social control theory's attachment and involvement bonds as protective factors to examine gender differences in reports of delinquency and academic achievement. Surveys of 7th-12th graders indicated that although several of the involvement bond variables of social control theory were predictive of both delinquency and…

Investigated adolescents' aggressiveness in relation to their experiences, beliefs, and attitudes concerning gun use, also noting family composition, relationships with parents, and emotionality as correlates of gun involvement and aggression. Student surveys indicated links between gun ownership and recreational use, beliefs about gun use, and…

Investigated suicidal strains contributing to suicidal behaviors among adolescents by race. Data from the Add Health Project support the presence of process differences by race and delineate the specific nature of these differences. For example, Blacks experience more status strains, but they are more religious than Whites (which serves to…

Examined the relationship between various methods of operationalizing gang membership and delinquency. Surveys of inner city adolescents indicated that teens reporting membership in organized gangs were far more likely to believe their gangs possessed characteristics typically associated with traditional street gangs. Teens who considered…

Investigated the effects of sociopolitical upheaval on Bulgarian youths' adaptation and perceptions of supportive environment, particularly the stability and change of schools as a protective factor in this process. High school students, surveyed twice over 2 years, perceived supportive environments as either stable or improved; saw declines in…