In recent years, civic and political institutions have stepped up their efforts to encourage youth participation: schools promote volunteerism, non-profits provide opportunities for service, local governments create youth councils, and social movement organizations discuss the need to encourage a new generation of activists. This volume adopts a critical approach to the civic and political socialization projects which aim to transform children and youth into upstanding citizens. By synthesizing the study of young people's civic and political socialization under the rubric of "Youth Engagement", the interplay of the civic and the political throughout young people's lives is considered. Chapters critically examine the multiple and contested meanings of ideal citizenship and reveal how children and youth craft active citizenship as they encounter and respond to the various institutions and organizations designed to encourage their civic and political development.

For most young people religion and religiosity is something latent or private activated by private events or the passing of years. For Muslim young people it can be activated by an incessant Islamaphobic discourse that requires fundamental questions of relationships and belonging to be addressed in the public gaze whilst being positioned as representatives and 'explainers' of their religion and their communities. Written by a leading practitioner and academic in the field of youth and community work this multidisciplinary book reflects the way theoretical, the social and the religious impacts on the lives of Muslim young people.

The street protests that erupted in Tunisia in December 2010 and spread quickly throughout the Middle East surprised not only the entrenched dictators of the region but also international observers who collectively had taken for granted the durability of Middle Eastern authoritarianism. Specifically, the Arab Spring uprisings debunked the prevailing notion that youth were disengaged from political life by their economic exclusion and tight regime control of their mobilization. Indeed, the one consistent feature across the uprisings, whether peaceful or violent, was the key role played by young people. What has remained unclear is why youth became the vanguards of the Arab Spring protests and why they have not played a more prominent role in the transitions that followed. To address these questions, the authors in this volume use updated data sets on demography, employment, education, inequality, social media and public sentiment to examine the underlying socioeconomic conditions of young people in the Middle East at the time of the uprisings and offer a mosaic of analytical explanations linking those conditions from 2009-2011 to the revolts of 2010-2012. The findings in the volume confirm the inadequacy of traditional narrow explanations rooted in demographic profiles, economic grievances or political exclusion in accounting for the complex socioeconomic dynamics facing youth and societies at large in the Middle East in the period leading up to the Arab Spring. The contributors emphasize the fundamental institutional rigidities in the region's policy space and evaluate potential approaches to policy reform that can promote youth inclusion and help transform the region's political economies in the post Arab Spring environment of persistent economic volatility, social unrest and political instability.

From the author of BEING 14 and FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS comes a book that shares what your daughter needs you to know about her shift from child to teenager - how she feels, what she thinks, what worries her and what you can do to help. Science tells us that the shift from childhood to teenager is happening earlier than ever before. Girls are starting puberty well before the age of thirteen. With heightened pressure from what they see in the media, in movies and on TV, girls are leaving childhood behind well before they hit their teens. This shift is an abrupt one and can come as a shock to parents. Not surprisingly, emotions can be heightened and relationships can be fraught. So many parents struggle to understand the pressures their daughters are under and how to deal with their emotional volatility. Journalist and social commentator Madonna King has an extraordinary ability to connect with experts, schools and the girls themselves to deliver the answers parents need and the communication their children want. This is an important book that shows that 10 is the new start of a girl's teenage years. It raises the issues our girls might not be talking about publicly, and guides their parents on how experts believe we should deal with it.

Practical and insightful strategies to help children thrive in adverse living conditions

Clinicians striving to intervene and provide treatment for children living under adverse circumstances often find themselves fighting a losing battle with forces beyond their control–drugs, disease, violence, and poverty–which reflect the everyday reality for these children and their families. In Handbook of Prevention and Treatment with Children and Adolescents, internationally recognized experts lay out state-of-the-art, empirically evaluated intervention strategies that deal directly with the sociodemographic forces that promote dysfunction and undermine treatment outcomes. Focusing on the issues and challenges faced by clinicians, this groundbreaking book provides practical, real-world solutions designed to mitigate the influence of negative environmental factors.

Coverage includes:

• The destructive influence of poverty and other social ills on child development
• Specific intervention formats and settings–from individual treatment to school- and community-based programs
• Particular problem areas and psychiatric disorders
• Early intervention and preventive approaches for such behavioral issues as substance abuse, antisocial behavior, and sexually transmitted diseases
• Recommendations for treatment of specific psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and posttraumatic stress

Evidence-based mental health services are lacking in many school systems, but especially in secondary schools. Adolescents who can benefit from school mental health services are those who experience disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety, depression, alcohol/drug use, sexual or physical abuse, chronic health problems, crisis situations such as suicidal ideation or attempts, natural disasters, and exposure to community or family violence that can interfere with academic success. Currently, one-half of students with emotional or behavioral disorders drop out of school prior to graduation, pointing to the need to disseminate proven strategies that strengthen effective secondary school services. School Mental Health Services for Adolescents includes a range of expert guidance on implementation of school mental health services in secondary schools. The significance of this information cannot be overstated, as only 20% of children and adolescents who need such services receive them. Schools are a logical venue for service provision because emotional and behavioral problems interfere with academic achievement, and a lack of access to mental health services is a major barrier to treatment for youth. Authors discuss services that can be implemented by school-based professionals and methods of overcoming implementation barriers. Chapters cover the history and need for services, issues of identification and referral for treatment in schools, descriptions of evidence-based interventions, proposed service delivery models, assessment strategies, and integration of mental health programs in schools. This book will be a valuable resource for researchers, trainers of school mental health professionals, school administrators and supervisors, and school-based mental health providers including psychologists, counselors, and social workers.

How important is religion for young people in America today? What are the major influences on their developing spiritual lives? How do their religious beliefs and practices change as young people enter into adulthood?
Christian Smith's Souls in Transition explores these questions and many others as it tells the definitive story of the religious and spiritual lives of emerging adults, ages 18 to 24, in the U.S. today. This is the much-anticipated follow-up study to the landmark book, Soul Searching: The Religiousand Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Based on candid interviews with thousands of young people tracked over a five-year period, Souls in Transition reveals how the religious practices of the teenagers portrayed in Soul Searching have been strengthened, challenged, and often changed as they have moved into adulthood. The book vividly describes as well the broader cultural world of today's emerging adults, how that culture shapes their religious outlooks, and what the consequences are for religious faith and practice in America more generally. Some of Smith's findings are surprising. Parents turn out to be the single most important influence on the religious outcomes in the lives of young adults. On the other hand, teenage participation in evangelization missions and youth groups does not predict a high level of religiosity just a few years later. Moreover, the common wisdom that religiosity declines sharply during the young adult years is shown to be greatly exaggerated.
Painstakingly researched and filled with remarkable findings, Souls in Transition will be essential reading for youth ministers, pastors, parents, teachers and students at church-related schools, and anyone who wishes to know how religious practice is affected by the transition into adulthood in America today.

Do you wish your son or daughter would tell you more about what is happening in their life, and that they would open up to you more often? Are you worried about them as they seem to be spending more and more time in their bedroom and on their smart phone? The teenage years can be a time of concern and worry for parents and carers from all backgrounds. However, Why Won't My Teenager Talk to Me? offers the parent and care-giver insightful and practical advice, as to how to encourage positive and respectful two-way communication between you and your teenager. The new edition of this essential book offers a positive way of thinking about the teenage years. So much has changed in the last five years since the book first appeared. Our knowledge of the human brain has increased, and this new edition includes a whole chapter devoted to the changing teenage brain.

Somini Sengupta emigrated from Calcutta to California as a young child in 1975. Returning thirty years later as the bureau chief for The New York Times, she found a vastly different country: one defined as much by aspiration and possibility-at least by the illusion of possibility-as it is by the structures of sex and caste. The End of Karma is an exploration of this new India through the lens of young people from different worlds: a woman who becomes a Maoist rebel; a brother charged for the murder of his sister who had married the "wrong" man; and a woman who opposes her family and hopes to become a police officer. Driven by aspiration-and thwarted at every step by state and society-they are making new demands on India's democracy for equality of opportunity, dignity for girls, and civil liberties. Sengupta spotlights these stories of ordinary men and women, weaving together a groundbreaking portrait of a country in turmoil.

Supporting Troubled Young People provides a vital and much-needed resource for anyone involved with children and young people who are suffering from or at risk of developing, mental health problems. Problems such as self-harm, eating disorders, and anxiety and depression are increasing, while young men, in particular, are at increasing risk of suicide. This is against a backdrop of NHS CAMH services unable to cope with demand and resources in the voluntary sector being stretched beyond their capacity. This means parents, teachers, social workers and nurses are often the first and only help available. This book gives them a jargon-free, accessible guide to help them assess situations, provide skills and guidance to support children and young people, and know how and where to get more help for them. Full of practical tips, advice, exercises and case studies. Articulates gender, multi-cultural, spirituality and sexuality issues. Tackles contemporary issues such as cyber bullying, eating disorders and self-harm. Uses research and established theory in an engaging way enabling the reader to translate ideas into modern multi-cultural practice. Supporting Troubled Young People provides any worker involved in supporting, helping and caring for young people with a practical resource to use in their work as teachers, social workers, nurses, youth workers, doctors, foster carers, residential staff, psychologists and psychiatrists. Parents and young people will also find much of value here. "This book makes a rich contribution to the understanding and treatment of children's mental health at a time when this is desperately needed. It is well-informed, full of case illustrations to guide the reader, and is written by a compassionate therapist and researcher with a solid grasp of the complex social environment in which children live today." Dr Chris Nicholson - Head of the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex

Youth, Gender and the Capabilities Approach to Development investigates to what extent young people have access to fair opportunities, the factors influencing their aspirations, and how able they are to pursue these aspirations and to carry out their life plans. The book positions itself in the intersection between capabilities, youth and gender, in recognition of the fact that without gender equality, capabilities cannot be universal and development strategies are likely to fail to achieve their full objectives. Within the framework of the human development and capabilities approach, Youth, Gender and the Capabilities Approach to Development focuses on examples in the areas of education, political spaces, and social practices that confront inequality and injustice head on, by seeking to advance young people's capabilities and their agency to make valuable life plans. The book focuses how youth policies and issues can be approached globally from a capabilities-friendly perspective; arguing for the promotion of freedoms and opportunities both in educational and political spheres, with the aim of developing a more just world. With a range of studies from multiple and diverse national contexts, including Russia, Spain, South Africa, Tanzania, Morocco, Turkey, Syria, Colombia, India and Argentina, this important multidisciplinary collection will be of interest to researchers within youth studies, gender studies and development studies, as well as to policy makers and NGOs.

The need for adoption work to be based upon the best available evidence is plain; but it is particularly important in the light of the radical changes that adoption has undergone in recent times. It now covers a wide range of social arrangements for children, adopters and birth parents, and presents new and often perplexing challenges. Adoption Now brings together up-to-date and authoritative research on adoption. It provides an overview of studies commissioned by the Department of Health to identify the principal messages about adoption policy and practice to emerge from its programme of research over the last few years. Roy Parker, Professor Emeritus, University of Bristol, details the most important and reliable ‘messages’ obtained from the research. These conclusions are made readily available in an accessible form, with the main points highlighted throughout the text. The studies are extensive and comprehensive, ranging across: the processes which adoption entails; children joining new families; single-parent adoption; transracial adoption; children talking about their adoption; and the support provided and needed during and after placement. This unique volume includes:

• children’s views of their experiences of being adopted
• neglected issues such as the relations between children and other members of the family
• the different stages of the adoption process
• implications of the research for both policy and practice

There is widespread concern today about the "radicalization" of young muslim men, and the deprived areas of Western cities are believed to have become breeding grounds of home-grown extremism. But how do young Muslims growing up in the cities of the West really live? This book takes us beyond the rhetoric and into the housing estates on the outskirts of Paris to meet Adama, Radouane, Hassan, Tarik, Marley, and a shadowy figure whose name suddenly and brutally became known to the world at the time of the Charlie Hebdo shootings: Amedy Coulibaly. Seeing Amedy through the eyes of close friends and other young Muslim men in the neighbourhoods where they grew up, Fabien Truong uncovers a network of competing loyalties and maps the road these youths take to resolve the conflicts they face: becoming Muslim. For these young men, Islam stands, often alone, as a resource, a gateway - as if it were the last route to "escape" without betrayal and to "fight" in a meaningful and noble way. Becoming Muslim does not necessarily lead to the radicalized "other". It is more like a long-distance race, a powerful reconversion of the self that allows for introspection and change. But it can also lead to a belligerent presentation of the self that transforms a dead-end into a call to arms.

This comprehensive book thoroughly covers bone health in the adolescent, offering evidence-based guidance for clinical care in the primary care setting, and includes aspects of endocrinology, nutrition, radiology, sports medicine, and rehabilitation. A Practical Approach to Adolescent Bone Health begins with an in-depth review of normal bone physiology, and explains how to optimize bone mass accrual in the healthy adolescent. The following chapters detail the importance of nutrition and physical activity to the skeletal system, while later chapters provide a bone-centric review of clinical history taking, the physical examination, laboratory assessment, and imaging to evaluate bone health. Final chapters delve into providing comprehensive care for specific conditions commonly found in the adolescent, including adolescents with multiple fractures, eating disorders, athletic involvement, chronic illness, various ambulatory limitations, and bone fragility. Clinical vignettes are woven into chapters throughout the book, providing real-world application and highlighting key concepts for practitioners. A Practical Approach to Adolescent Bone Health is a unique resource,and ideal for the primary care clinician, including pediatricians, adolescent medicine specialists, and family medicine physicians, as well as endocrinologists, orthopedic surgeons, and any other practitioner working to guide adolescents towards optimal bone health.

Where young people grow up makes a decisive difference to their life chances. Drawing on case studies from ten European cities, this book looks at how the local environment and the services available for young people affect their socialization. What comes to the fore are the local matters. On the one hand, there are experiences of discrimination and marginalization due to distance and isolation, decay and neglect but also related to piecemeal and top-down approaches to youth and social services. On the other, we find signs of positive transformation and drivers of social innovation: community building projects, the revitalization of abandoned places, appreciative approaches to servicing and a whole array of tactics that young people deploy to overcome their daily struggles.

This volume offers rare insights into the connection between young audiences and the performing arts. Based on studies of adolescent and post-adolescent audiences, ages 14 to 25, the book examines to what extent they are part of our society's cultural conversation. It studies how these young people read and understand theatrical performance. It looks at what the educational components in their theatre literacy are, and what they make of the whole social event of theatre. It studies their views on the relationship between what they themselves decide and what others decide for them. The book uses qualitative and quantitative data collected in a six-year study carried out in the three largest Australian States, thirteen major performing arts companies, including the Sydney Opera House, three state theatre companies and three funding organisations. The book's perspectives are derived from world-wide literature and company practices and its significance and ramifications are international. The book is written to be engaging and accessible to theatre professionals and lay readers interested in theatre, as well as scholars and researchers. "This extraordinary book thoroughly explains why young people (ages 14-25+) do and do not attend theatre into adulthood by delineating how three inter-linked factors (literacy, confidence, and etiquette) influence their decisions. Given that theatre happens inside spectators' minds, the authors balance the theatre equation by focusing upon young spectators and thereby dispel numerous beliefs held by theatre artists and educators. Each clearly written chapter engages readers with astute insights and compelling examples of pertinent responses from young people, teachers, and theatre professionals. To stem the tide of decreasing theatre attendance, this highly useful book offers pragmatic strategies for artistic, educational, and marketing directors, as well as national theatre organizations and arts councils around the world. I have no doubt that its brilliantly conceived research, conducted across multiple contexts in Australia, will make a significant and original contribution to the profession of theatre on an international scale." Jeanne Klein, University of Kansas, USA "Young Audiences, Theatre and the Cultural Conversation is a compelling and comprehensive study on attitudes and habits of youth theatre audiences by leading international scholars in the field. This benchmark study offers unique insights by and for theatre makers and administrators, theatre educators and researchers, schools, parents, teachers, students, audience members of all ages. A key strength within the book centers on the emphasis of the participant voices, particularly the voices of the youth. Youth voices, along with those of teachers and theatre artists, position the extensive field research front and center." George Belliveau, The University of British Columbia, Canada

This book presents the results of the longitudinal 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. The volume discusses how self-regulation and contextual resources (e.g., strong relationships with parents, peers, and the community) can be fostered in young people to contribute to the enhancement of functioning throughout life. Each chapter examines a particular aspect of youth thriving, and offers findings on either the bases or the role of positive development in a variety of outcomes, from reduced risk of emotional problems and harmful behaviors to increased participation in the community. Contributors introduce a contemporary model of positive development for diverse youth, provide examples of effective youth development programs, and suggest applications for informing the next generation of policies and practices. Among the featured topics: The regulation of emotion in adolescence. School engagement, academic achievement, and positive youth development. Peer relationships and positive youth development. Identity development in adolescence and the implications for youth policy and practice. Promoting adolescent sexual health in youth programming. A positive youth development approach to bullying. Researchers in developmental psychology as well as practitioners in educational or youth development programs or policies will gain from Promoting Positive Youth Development a new appreciation of the central role of young people's strengths, and initiatives to build effective youth programs. "This volume is destined to become the handbook for anyone interested in the bourgeoning field of positive youth development. Based on ground breaking, longitudinal research from top researchers in the field, Promoting Healthy Development for America's Youth presents a rich, theoretically grounded understanding of the landscape today's youth and programs. The contributors provide clear, data-driven guidance regarding the types of programs and settings that are most beneficial to young people." Jean E. Rhodes, Ph.D. Frank L. Boyden Professor Department of Psychology University of Massachusetts, Boston

This book deals with street children who live in the developing world, and homeless youth who are from the developed world. They are referred to as children in street situations (CSS) to show that the problem is both in the children and in the situation they face. The book examines several aspects of the children and their street situations, including the families of origin and the homes they leave, the children's social life, and mental health. Other aspects are the problems of published demographics, the construction of public opinion about these children and the, often violent, reactions from authorities. The book then discusses current research on children in street situations, as well as programs and policies. The book ends with recommendations about programs, policies and research.

Originally published in 1990, Youth in Transition addresses the issue of large-scale policy intervention, related to problems of employment in Britain's youth. The book reflects the changes within sociology from studying youth as self-contained instigators of change, to examining the role they have come to play as the target of official, rather than popular or media attention. Changes in youth experience are affecting family relations and dependence or creating homelessness, regional economic disparities, demographic changes and training and employment opportunities, present a new model of youth and re-define its status. The book brings together original work in the field of youth and youth policy in the '80s and '90s.

Published in 1983. Adolescence is a period of change for all and turmoil for some. Many adolescents have problems which are easily identified but for others the problems are more subtle. There is an interaction between their own difficulties and the systems of home, school and their own society. In this case, problems, which are very real, are more difficult to define and to deal with. This book aims to help teachers to recognise and understand the common problems of adolescents, as they are relevant to their schooling. In addition, suggestions are made to help both teachers and adolescents overcome these difficulties. Besides the more immediately obvious issues of learning and behaviour, there is also discussion of sexual behaviour, vandalism and substance abuse. Throughout the book the common theme is that all problem behaviour must be understood and acted upon within a context, and not regarded as examples of individual delinquency. Finally, the implications of the 1981 Education Act and its impact on teachers is considered. Under this law, a much wider range of young people will be deemed to have special educational needs. Consequently, all teachers of adolescents will need to be aware of the issues raised and discussed in this book.

Social change, such as the consequences of German unification, is likely to impact normative as well as maladaptive development during adolescence. Beyond documenting effects by comparing adolesecents' psychosocial development at various time periods of the unification process, this book offers insights into the macro-and-micro-level mechanisms that bring about the changes, such as the demands by new social insitutions or challenges facing families.

The Culture of Mean is the first book-length feminist critical exploration of representations of youth bullying in media. Bringing into conversation scholarship on feminism, media, new communication technologies, surveillance, gender, race, sexuality, and class, Emily D. Ryalls critically examines the explosion of discourse about youth bullying that has occurred in the United States during the last two decades. Countering the monolithic and extreme cultural reaction to narratives about bullying, Ryalls argues that, while it seems common sense to view bullying as always wrong and dangerous, not all aggression is bullying and it is problematic to assume so, because it becomes very difficult to differentiate between healthy conflict and unhealthy (potentially violent) torment. Moreover, since the label "bullying" often does not differentiate between teasing, conflict, sexual harassment, and violence, increasingly the most common way to deal with young people accused of bullying is to criminalize their actions. Through an analysis of books, film, television, and journalistic accounts of bullying, The Culture of Mean shows how constructions of bullying in popular culture create an overly simplistic binary of good and bad people. This process individualizes the problem of bullying and disallows a more complex understanding of the structural issues at work by suggesting that putting an end to bullying simply requires incarcerating those evil teens who are prone to bullying behaviors. This critical perspective of bullying will be of interest to scholars and students interested in the fields of girls' studies, cultural studies, communication, education, sociology, and media studies, as well as parents of school-aged children.

Sex is bad. Unprotected sex is a problem. Having a baby would be a disaster. Abortion is a sin. Teenagers in the United States hear conflicting messages about sex from everyone around them. How do teens understand these messages? In Mixed Messages, Stefanie Mollborn examines how social norms and social control work through in-depth interviews with college students and teen mothers and fathers, revealing the tough conversations teeangers just can't have with adults. Delving into teenagers' complicated social worlds Mollborn argues that by creating informal social sanctions like gossip and exclusion and formal communication such as sex education, families, peers, schools, and communities strategize to gain control over teens' behaviors. However, while teens strategize to keep control, they resist the constraints of the norms, revealing the variety of outcomes that occur beyond compliance or deviance. By proving that the norms existing today around teen sex are ineffective, failing to regulate sexual behavior, and instead punishing teens that violate them, Mollborn calls for a more thoughtful and consistent dialogue between teens and adults, emphasizing messages that will lead to more positive health outcomes.

From April 1986 until just after Nelson Mandela's release from prison in February 1990, supporters of the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group maintained a continuous protest, day and night, outside the South African Embassy in central London. This book examines how and why a group of children, teenagers and young adults made themselves 'non-stop against apartheid', creating one of the most visible expressions of anti-apartheid solidarity in Britain. Drawing on interviews with over ninety former participants in the Non-Stop Picket of the South African Embassy and extensive archival research using previously unstudied documents, this book offers new insights to the study of social movements and young people's lives. It theorises solidarity and the processes of adolescent development as social practices to provide a theoretically-informed, argument-led analysis of how young activists build and practice solidarity. Youth Activism and Solidarity: The Non-Stop Picket Against Apartheid will be of interest to geographers, historians and a wide range of other social scientists concerned with the historical geography of the international anti-apartheid movement, social movement studies, contemporary British history, and young people's activism and geopolitical agency.

Adolescence is both universal and culturally constructed, resulting in diverse views about its defining characteristics. Theories of Adolescent Development brings together many theories surrounding this life stage in one comprehensive reference. It begins with an introduction to the nature of theory in the field of adolescence including an analysis of why there are so many theories in this field. The theory chapters are grouped into three sections: biological systems, psychological systems, and societal systems. Each chapter considers a family of theories including scope, assumptions, key concepts, contributions to the study of adolescence, approaches to measurement, applications, and a discussion of strengths and limitations of this family. A concluding chapter offers an integrative analysis, identifying five assumptions drawn from the theories that are essential guides for future research and application. Three questions provide a focus for comparison and contrast: How do the theories characterize the time and timing of adolescence? What do the theories emphasize as domains that are unfolding in movement toward maturity? Building on the perspective of Positive Youth Development, how do the theories differ in their views of developmental resources and conditions that may undermine development in adolescence?