The open-ended responses of 701 7th to 12th graders to the question "What does democracy mean to you?" were analyzed. In logistic regressions, age, parental education, political discussions, and participation in extracurricular activities distinguished youth who could define democracy (53%) from those who could not. Case clustering revealed three…

Age and gender differences in patterns of behavior and experience, cognitive beliefs, affective involvement, and psychosocial functioning in romantic relationships were observed in 473 adolescents and emerging adults (ages 12-24). Older adolescents indicated more dating experiences, times in love, passion, identity, and intimacy. They also…

This article, using a controlled design, reports the results of an exploratory study to investigate the impact of two types of intervention strategies (cognitively vs. emotionally focused) on two types of identity processes (self-construction and self-discovery) in a culturally diverse sample of 90 emerging adult university students. A…

We explored the relationships between immigrant adolescents' first-and second-language proficiency and their psychological and sociocultural adaptation using three models: the ethnic identity model, the language assimilation model, and the language integration model. The study was conducted in the Netherlands. Participants were 161 Turkish and 95…

This article examines the possible implications of reintegrating the concept of context into identity theory. Through the analysis of a case study of one individual attempting to form an identity within the larger juxtaposed sociocultural contexts of premodernity, modernity, and postmodernity, the article demonstrates how diversity of…

Conceptions of maturity were explored among 170 adolescents in Grades 7 and 10. Adolescents were asked at what ages (and why) they expected to reach adulthood, experience the most freedom, and have the most fun. Adolescents expected to have fun at an earlier age than they expected freedom or adulthood. The majority of adolescents cited the…

This study explored the relationship between chronological age and subjective age in emerging adulthood. Predictors of variability in subjective age were also examined. A sample of 190 university students (140 females, 50 males) ages 17 to 29 completed questionnaires assessing their subjective age, psychosocial maturity, number of role…

Seventy-two Israeli emerging adults were interviewed for descriptions of themselves and accounts of their personal, social, and professional dreams, current life status, romantic relationships, and relationships with their parents. Interviews were transcribed and rated on scales assessing self-processes, attainment of professional and romantic…

This review summarizes end-of-program quit rates from 6 controlled and 10 field-based Not on Tobacco (NOT) evaluations. Approximately 6,130 youth from 5 states and 489 schools participated. Intent-to-treat and compliant quit rates were calculated at 3 months postbaseline (end-of-program). Results from controlled evaluations revealed an aggregate…

This study assessed patterns of change in perceived school and youth functioning, and the extent to which perceived change in the school environment predicted changed youth functioning, across four consecutive grade transitions, two of which involved the transition to a new school. Youth reported decreased quality of the school environment and…

From a prospective study of the development of psychopathology, 129 adolescents were identified who transitioned to a new school in ninth grade. The current study examined the contributions of sex, interpersonal and achievement orientations, peer and academic stressors, and their interactions to the prediction of depressive and aggressive symptoms…

Most of the research literature on attachment and adolescent transitions has addressed youth in family settings. This article explores these issues with a sample of 25 pregnant and parenting teens living in a transitional shelter. Using case records and interview data as well as results of standardized measures of depression, self-esteem, child…

This study provided an initial test of the Bridges to High School Program, an intervention designed to prevent school disengagement and negative mental health trajectories during the transition to junior high school. The intervention included an adolescent coping skills intervention, a parenting skills intervention, and a family strengthening…

The decision to search for birthparents is one that all adopted persons consider. The focus of this study is to describe, for a group of adopted adolescents, who chooses to search and who does not and to explore how search behavior is related to the functioning of the adolescents' adoptive families and adolescents' psychological adjustment.…

This study investigated the relations between social self-perceptions, time use, and later involvement in prosocial or problem behaviors during early, middle, and later adolescence. The authors used an idiographic approach to identify four different patterns of social self-perceptions (confident, anxious, unconcerned, desperate) and then examined…