Critical consciousness refers to the ability to analyze and take action against oppressive social forces shaping society. This longitudinal, mixed methods study compared the critical consciousness development of adolescents of color (n = 453) attending two sets of high schools featuring schooling models that represent "opposing"…

Research has shown that youth and their communities benefit from civics education, with its aim to prepare citizens for democracy. However, civics education for adolescents in the United States is not equitable, and determining how to best measure aspects of civic development in younger adolescents is a challenge. In this qualitative study, we…

This article discusses how Danish parents and their children communicate trust. Based on Niklas Luhmann's sociological theory, the article explores new aspects of communication about alcohol-related rules. The analysis shows how the parents emphasize the importance of communicating trust, while the adolescents, on the other hand, observe the…

This study explores developing conceptions of feminism among Latina adolescents, their prevalence of feminist endorsement, and whether home environment and well-being are related to feminist identity. One hundred and forty Latina girls (Grades 9 to 12, M age = 15) wrote personal narratives of their understanding of feminism and whether they…

What type of work goals provide adolescents with the sense that schoolwork is important and that their lives are meaningful? This mixed-methods study of a diverse sample of 6th-, 9th-, and 12th-grade adolescents (N = 148) investigated the relationship between work goals, purpose, and meaning using a semistructured interview and a survey. Interview…

This qualitative study investigated the relationship between adolescents' sense of school belonging and opportunities to integrate aspects of their identity with their 9th-grade English assignments. The study provided evidence of a positive relationship between these two experiences for an ethnically diverse group of students. Moreover, issues of…

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…

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…

Findings of this study, conducted on 142 adolescents (67 ninth graders and 75 eleventh graders), show that romantic experiences among adolescents are manifested in different forms: romantic fantasies, cross-gender friendships, and sustained interactions with a romantic partner. These three forms of experience are manifested differently across age…

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…

The present study was conducted to determine if participation in extracurricular activities predicts multiple positive outcomes such as attending college, voting in national and regional elections, and volunteering for community and religious organizations. From analyses of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, a nationally…

Many studies concerning cigarette smoking and smoking-related outcomes among adolescents use categories such as "casual" or "regular" smoker to define different types of smokers. It is not clear whether adolescents themselves differentiate between different types of smokers. The present study sought to examine whether and how adolescents…