What kinds of obligations do parents have towards their children as family life becomes more complex? Many children pass through a number of different households,living with one or both parents and later step parents and step brothers and sisters. How are the new forms of family life accommodated in the legal system? The answer is that parenthood, rather than marriage, is now emerging as the central mechanism through which moral principles are converted into legal and social obligations. This study of 250 children who do not live with both of their parents shows, however, that despite the comparative legal emptiness of marriage, the experience of living longer with both parents than is usually the case of children of cohabiting or single parents endows the child with social capital in the form of enduring involvement with the outside parent, even after divorce, and that this happens to a greater extent than for children whose parents were not married.

As the first complete portrait of U.S. adolescents, this resource provides information long needed by researchers working in this critical field of study. The handbook includes a wide variety of information about American adolescents, aged 12 to 21, who must deal with societal and cultural pressures unique to their generation. The extensive collection of data contained in this definitive resource will give readers the information they need to accurately assess the status of adolescents in America today.

This special issue presents theoretical and empirical studies that provide an understanding of the dynamic, complex, and often conflicting school, family, and community context in which African-American and Latino adolescents are formally and informally educated. Focusing on the examination of identity development, family/community background and resources, and academic performance, this issue is concerned with the development and implementation of culturally relevant policies and programs for these adolescents that effectively support their academic success. Each paper addresses a set of challenging questions and, in the process, raises new questions. As a result, the papers challenge researchers, policymakers, and educators to engage in thoughtful examination of the sociocultural context in which African American and Latino youth live as they address their developmental and academic needs.

This book examines the methods and approaches currently being taken by the global community of youth in influencing environmental policymakers of the United Nations. It is divided into two sections: The Groundswell Approach, exploring the use of social media and mass gatherings aimed at raising public awareness of the issue of climate change; and The Direct Approach, a participatory methodology that encourages collaboration directly with the policymaker and youth in the discussions and creation of progressive climate policy for the world. The book also delivers a detailed analysis of the United Nations' only database of youth-produced documentary films related to climate change research, impacts, and proposed solutions: the Youth Climate Report, arguing that film is a powerful and effective communications tool for the policymaker. The book proposes two frameworks and explores their in-field applications for successful youth climate activism.

This book explores the experiences of pregnant teenagers, their partners, and midwives, from pregnancy realisation through the early years of motherhood. It examines changing attitudes to female sexuality and moral discourses on adolescent subjectivity especially as these pertain to teenage motherhood.

In a period where social unrest manifests itself by coinciding with young people's dissatisfaction with formal political involvement and the diversification of protest movements across the globe, the question of youth participation is at the forefront of democratic societies. This timely book offers a fresh look at youth participation: examining official and unofficial constructions of participation by young people in a range of socio-political domains, exploring the motivations and rationales underlying official attempts to increase participation among young people, and offering a critique of their effectiveness. Based on original research data, Youth participation in Europe provides a thorough analysis of participation initiatives at the implementation level and gives a transversal approach to various areas of youth participation. Drawing on examples from different European countries, it analyses the results of structure on youth participation and the effects of youth agencies on types of mobilisation.

Alcohol continues to be the substance of choice for today s youth, leading to serious physical, psychological, and social consequences. Alcohol Problems in Adolescents and Young Adults ably addresses this growing trend. The latest entry in the Recent Developments in Alcoholism series, it comprehensively presents a wide-ranging clinical picture of teen drinking - epidemiology, neurobiology, behavioral phenomena, diagnostic and assessment issues, prevention and treatment data - in a developmental context. Fifty expert contributors display the scientific rigor, practical wisdom, and nuanced analysis that readers have come to expect from previous volumes.

Among the subjects studied in depth:

- Initiation of alcohol use/abuse

- Risk and protective factors for alcohol dependence

- High-risk adolescent populations

- Drinking habits of college students

- Long-range consequences of teenage drinking

- Family-, school-, and community-based prevention programs

- Treatment of comorbid substance and psychiatric disorders

Clinicians, researchers, and policy makers will find this a bedrock source of evidence-based knowledge, whether one s goal is choosing an age-appropriate assessment tool for eighth graders, preventing drinking among high school students, or understanding the alcohol-friendliness of campus culture. Here is a critical resource for all professionals dedicated to helping youngsters grow up sober.

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In this book the authors examine in depth the lives of inner-city adolescent mothers, going beyond stereotypes to illuminate the diverse pathways to young adulthood taken by these young women. The different ways they respond to becoming a parent reflect a range of abilities, aspirations, and supports. Their often-creative solutions to living in poverty, the intensity of their desires to make their children's lives better, the height of their youthful ambition when they succeed, and the depth of their pain when they fail, all show a surprising range. The authors argue that adolescent mothers who enter young adulthood with the skills and desires to care for themselves and their children are "not" the resilient few and present a lengthy analysis of the multidimensional processes that lead to and characterize this resilience.
In making constructive suggestions for social welfare policies and reforms, this book serves as an ideal model of the important uses of qualitative research for understanding the adolescent experience. More than that, the book stands out among others by this social policy perspective and its focus on encouraging adolescent mothers to reach their potentials.
This volume aims to attract those who wish to learn more about the adolescent experience without getting lost in the detail of the methods and analyses. To this end, the main body of the text presents general methods and results. Scholarly details of the work are placed in appendices to which the interested reader can refer. A second highlight is the inclusion of impressionistic material, such as quotes from the adolescent mothers who were participants in this research. Such material brings to life the real issues of very real adolescents--their triumphs and struggles, their riches and poverty, their strengths and weaknesses.

This pioneering monograph integrates the major research findings of the past four decades and offers a new model for the study of human sexuality. The author examines the empirical literature on sexuality for the developmental stages of childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood and for experiences of sexual aggression. He then uses symbolic interactionism to develop a theoretical model which integrates the research across the developmental periods and for instances of sexual aggression, providing one of the most comprehensive views of sexuality development that has yet been offered.
The work investigates the role of family, peers, romantic partners, and personality in the development of sexual expression and offers a unique vision of how symbolic interactionism can inform one's understanding of sexual beliefs and behaviors through the developmental stages. By acknowledging developmental differences and changes in individuals and their interpersonal relationship context, a more integrated understanding emerges of how sexuality develops.
This volume is intended for students and scholars interested in the influences on the development of sexual expression of youth and young adults. It will be of great interest to readers in psychology, family studies, communication, sociology, adolescent studies, and specialized areas of sexuality research. It is appropriate for undergraduate seminars and graduate-level courses on human sexuality, close relationships, family theory, sociology, communication, social psychology, developmental psychology, and related areas.

The 20th century shows an essential change in young people's behaviour from Wandervogel, Boy Scouts and Komsomol to student rebellion, hippie, rock and pop, and techno cultures. These cultures show a new code of behaviour - a code of informality based on principles of symmetry, moratorium and modularity. The informal youth cultures develop as an attempt to respond to rapid social change and complexity by constructing an open order that can flexibly adjust to postmodern chaotic conditions. Based on empirical analyses of classical youth movements as harbingers of the code of informality, and of the recent example of Israeli youth movements, this study uses the above conceptual framework to explain the variety of youth behaviour in authentic rather than generational or conflictual terms. It sheds new light on youth movements and more recent expressions of youth in the same universe of informal youth structures. These informal structures institutionalize both youth authenticity and relation to adult society, constructing a context in which freedom and discipline coexist.

"Adolescent Relationships and Drug Use" explores the communicative and relational features of adolescent drug use. It focuses on peer norms, risk, and protective factors and considers how drugs are offered to adolescents, examining such factors as who makes the offers and how they are resisted, where the offers take place, and what relationship exists between the persons making the offers and the persons receiving them. Unlike other studies of drug resistance, this work examines the communication processes that affect adolescents' ability to effectively resist drug offers. Michelle Miller and her colleagues study how personal qualities, communication skills, and relationships with others affect an individual's ability to resist offers of drugs.
This volume provides a detailed analysis of drug resistance in the context of such factors as relationships, types of drugs, family and peer group relationships, personality, and situations. It places drug use and resistance in a living, relational context, and offers the first comprehensive communication and relational approach to drug resistance. The authors argue for the development of a relational and communication competence model of drug resistance, and suggest unique approaches for future drug prevention efforts.
In describing the social and relational processes of drug resistance and then linking intervention techniques to the adolescents' relational world, this work makes a major contribution toward understanding drug use among adolescents. It informs relationship, communication, and psychology research, assists drug and health research by presenting new ways of considering the issue, and enlightens drug resistance practice by demonstrating a new approach to prevention. As such, it makes an effective and invaluable contribution to the ongoing efforts to reduce drug use among adolescents.

Les B. Whitbeck and Dan R. Hoyt begin their report on street children in the Midwest with the statement, "If you live in or have visited even a medium-sized city recently, you have seen runaway and homeless young people. They congregate in certain downtown areas and hang out in malls during inclement weather . . . Mostly, they look like the other kids. . . . The difference is that they won't be going home tonight."

This book draws on a study of over six hundred runaway and homeless adolescents and over two hundred of their caretakers from cities in four Midwestern states. It focuses on the family histories of these young people and on the developmental impact of early independence. Street social networks, subsistence strategies, sexuality, and street victimization are all considered, as well as their effect on adolescent behaviors and emotional health.

Relying on interviews and data from survey research, and working in partnership with street outreach agencies, Whitbeck and Hoyt lead the reader through the various risk factors associated with precocious independence, beginning in the family and extending to external environments and behaviors. Nowhere to Grow is an emotional account of the cumulative consequences for young people with few good options at the outset and even fewer once they are on their own.

Teenage Runaways: Broken Hearts and "Bad Attitudes" uncovers the perspectives of actual teenage runaways to help professionals, parents, and youths understand the widespread social problem of "last resort" behavior. You'll learn the real reasons teenagers run away, and you'll hear the anguished voices of the teenage runaways themselves, shattering the myth that only bad kids runaway.Teenage Runaways deflates popular misconceptions that runaways are incorrigible delinquents who want to leave home, that they make impulsive decisions to leave their families, and that they wish to never return. Reporting on a qualitative study of 26 runaways in a shelter in New England, this book reveals that many teenaged runaways leave home in search of safety and freedom from what they consider abusive treatment, whether physical, sexual, or emotional. In Teenage Runaways, you will discover valuable information about who these children are, why they are running away, and what you can do to help. Specifically, you will read about: why teenagers say they run away running away as "last resort behavior" what the experience of running away is like hope and desire for reconciliation with parents and family running away as a dynamic emotional experience for youths which reflects changes in their social bonds with peers, family, and adults in the educational, legal, and medical systems "emotional capital" from a heavily regulated authoritative environment Teenage Runaways provides you with a new understanding of teens in trouble to assist you in providing services to this needy and vulnerable population. First-hand accounts reveal the emotional motivations behind decisions to run away, such as 14 years-old Isabel who gives a painful account of what severe physical and sexual abuse feels like to an adolescent victim. Amy, also 14, tells her story of living with a mother who was extremely strict and betrayed her.

Gangs have spread throughout the entire sector of society, and what was once viewed as an inner-city problem can now be found everywhere, including suburbia. This guide for teenagers, their families, and impacted communities addresses the youth gang issue in understandable, manageable terms. Quotes from teens themselves provide valuable insight into the problems that can cause kids to join gangs: absent parents, the need for excitement or to belong to a group, following in the footsteps of family members who are involved in gangs. These factors and others are explored (including an examination of the workings of the adolescent mind), and sound solutions are suggested to help kids resist gang membership.

Four distinct sections bring into focus the topic of youth gangs and ways to prevent kids from joining them. Part I describes many basic issues and needs all teens and pre-teens have in common and how these relate to gangs. Part II addresses how and why certain young people enter and sometimes exit gang alliances. Part III focuses on how several integral components of the teen's life and community can work together to resolve youths' involvement with gangs. Part IV analyzes the critical influence of families and the teens themselves as they approach important life choices. Wiener's unique approach includes suggestions and comments from the young people themselves to try to bridge the gap between themselves and the adults in their lives.

In his study of children and criminality, criminologist and research analyst Ronald Flowers provides an understanding of the relationship between child victimization and juvenile delinquency as well as a comprehensive review of the literature. Assessing the effectiveness of present conceptual frameworks, modes of research, and social and legal measures, he offers recommendations for furthering professional and research efforts in the field. His analysis blends the findings of leading experts and researchers in a variety of disciplines with relevant FBI and law enforcement data. An additional feature is the "model statute" for the study, prevention, and treatment of child victimization in all of its guises.

In Your Face: Stories from the Lives of Queer Youth is a unique collection of real-life accounts that explores the lives and identities of lesbian, gay, and bisexual teens. Fifteen youths, age 14-18, bravely tell of the hardships and emotions they experience because of their sexualities. Readers will explore stories that touch on several issues, such as:
-- coming out to yourself
-- coming out to family and friends
-- dealing with the school environment
-- getting involved in the queer community
-- realizing how religion impacts one's sense of self

The opening of the borders to Eastern Europe has expanded our view on European diversities and offered new opportunities to examine the effects of the heterogeneity in European cultural backgrounds and political systems on personality and social development. This book is a first step in utilizing the rich cultural resource offered by the large number of cultural units represented in Europe and--at least in part--in the United States.
One way to understand the life conditions of adolescents in different countries is to study what they actually do in everyday life and how much time they spend on what types of activities. This book also provides essential and new information about individual and societal priorities and values. Toward this end, the "Euronet" scientists set up a postdoctoral training workshop on adolescent psychology for 10 selected American and 10 selected European participants.
The Euronet project comprises 13 different samples--six stemming from Middle and Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, the Czechoslovakian Federal Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Romania), six from Western European countries (Finland, France, Germany, Norway, French, and German Switzerland), and one from the United States (Michigan). This book reports the results of this large, cross-national, longitudinal study of adolescents and the world(s) in which they live, and is offered to all those who have an interest in adolescence and/or the diversity of Europe. Readers will learn about hundreds of features of adolescence which are more or less characteristic of the cultures, ages, and genders.

Based on the wealth of experience gathered in the forty years of the life of the Adolescent Department at the Clinic, this covers a full range of clinical work with some of the most difficult areas of adolescence, but it also gives a conceptual framework of normal adolescence and traces the difficulties that arise when this goes wrong. Facing It Out presents new work which has not previously been fully described. The book will be vital reading for clinicians whose work includes work with adolescents. The Adolescent Department of the Tavistock Clinic in its long history has been engaging with young people and their families when the strains prove too great. In this book, staff of the Adolescent Dept examine in accessible language different clinical aspects of adolescent disturbance, exploring in particular the impact on the family. The chapters look at a range of severity of disturbance from adjustment crises to anorexia nervosa and psychosis as well as aspects of adolescent development in small families and in the formation of a sense of identity. With the exception of infancy, adolescence is the most radical of all developmental periods.

There is no denying that friendship, however narrow or broad the definition, is dynamic and highly responsive to socio-cultural and environmental factors. Urban Youth Friendships and Community Practice highlights the greater importance of friendships in circumstances where youth have been marginalized and have limited access to instrumental resources that restrict geographical mobility or curtail their movement to limited public spaces (in which they are validated, and even liked or admired). Youth friendships are not limited to peer-networks; they can cross other social divides and involve adults of all ages. Indeed, community practice and asset assessment approaches are increasingly focusing on the relevance of strong peer relationships and networks as strengths upon which to build. Friendships, therefore, are a community asset and as such could be included as a key aspect of community asset assessments and interventions. Community organizations, schools, religious institutions, and other less-formal groups provide practitioners with ample opportunities to foster urban youth friendships. This book seeks to accomplish four goals: (1) provide a state of knowledge on the definition, role, and importance of friendships in general and specifically on urban youth of color (African-American, Asia and Latinos); (2) draw implications for community practice scholarship and practice; (3) illustrate how friendships can be a focus of a community capacity enhancement assets paradigm through the use of case illustrations; and (4) provide a series of recommendations for how urban friendships can be addressed in graduate level social work curriculum but with implications for other helping professions. Urban Youth Friendships and Community Practice is a must-have for community practitioners, whether their focus be social work, recreation, education, planning, or out-of-school programming.

The problems of studying families arise from the difficulty in studying systems where there are multiple elements interacting with each other and with the child. How should this system be described? Still other problems relate to indirect effects; namely the influence of a particular dyad's interaction on the child when the child is not a member of the dyad. While all agree that the mother-father relationship has important bearing on the child's development, exactly how to study this--especially using observational techniques--remains a problem. While progress in studying the family has been slow, there is no question that an increase in interest in the family systems, as opposed to the mother-child relationship, is taking place. This has resulted in an increase in research on families and their effects.
This volume, by leading figures in child development on families, attests to the growing sophistication of the conceptualization and measurement techniques for getting at family processes. The third in a series that aims to address topics relevant to the developmental problems and developmental disabilities of retardation, this volume is divided into two parts. Section 1 presents basic family processes and approaches for describing family dynamics. It deals with these issues from a broad perspective, including studying families at dinner, families in different cultural contexts, and the understanding of family in nonhuman primates. Section 2 looks at family processes in the service of studying families at-risk. The risk factors include poverty, malnutrition, and developmental delay and retardation. The study of family processes in these contexts provides data on family dynamics as well as how these dynamics impact on the children's developing competence. This volume will be informative for researchers, clinicians, and educators from a variety of disciplines and settings. The editors' aim is to bring a greater clarity to issues concerning the family life of children and highlight new research and possibilities for intervention.

In the half-century after 1913, approximately 5000 children were sent from Britain to Australia, Canada, and Rhodesia under the auspices of the Child Emigration Society, established by the South-African born Kingsley Fairbridge in 1909. The Fairbridge Society's child emigration scheme became the best known and most celebrated of the 20th-century juvenile migration schemes from Britain to the Imperial Dominions. This study investigates the motives for the establishment of the Fairbridge child migration scheme, examines its history in Australia and Canada, and outlines the experiences of many of the former child migrants. The book is based on material from Australia and Canada as well as archives of the Fairbridge Society in England, Western Australia and New South Wales, plus surviving records of the Society in British Columbia, and on interviews with former Fairbridge children. It aims to place the Fairbridge scheme in its historical context, and uses oral history, interviews and photographs.

Friendships are crucial to children's well-being and happiness and lay important foundations upon which later relationships in adolescence and adulthood are built. This overview of the nature and significance of children's peer relationships examines issues such as social-cognitive development; the context of children's relationships; relationship problems such as loneliness; shyness and social isolation; and methods of promoting positive relationships.

This book offers a fascinating yet disturbing account of the significance of racism in the lives of five and six year old children, drawing upon data from an in-depth study of an inner-city, multi-ethnic primary school and its surrounding community. It represents one of the only detailed studies to give primacy to the voices of the young children themselves - giving them the space to articulate their own experiences and concerns. Together with detailed observation of the children in the school and local community, it provides an important account of how and why they draw upon discourses on race in the development of their gender identities.
The book graphically highlights the understanding that these children have of issues of race, gender and sexuality and the active role they play in using and reworking this knowledge to make sense of their experiences.

eBook available with sample pages: 020302687X

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book provides a timely reappraisal of youth cultures in contemporary times. From the Birmingham School to the youthscapes of South Korea, this unique collection explores the impact of globalization and new technologies on youth cultures in contrasting geographic locations. Drawing on international examples of youth cultural formations in the UK, the USA, Russia, Spain, South Korea and India, the book profiles the best of new research in youth studies written by leading scholars in the field. Acknowledging the past to explore the present, the book is a landmark publication in the rich history of research on the expressive cultures of young people, reframing 'resistance' and 'ritual' to offer fresh insights into the meaning and significance of youth cultures on a global stage.