Bringing together theories, ideas, insights and experiences of practitioners and researchers from Brazil, India, South Africa and the UK, this book explores children and young people's involvement in public action. The contributors consider the potential of children and young people's participation to be transformative.

Teen gangs are a hot issue in the United States. This volume shows the international scope of the phenomenon today. Gang activity in 14 countries, including the United States, is discussed within the larger framework of social and economic conditions. Each chapter explains the nature of the gang activity in that country; touches on the causes, such as poverty, marginalization, and self-identity problems; and heavily emphasizes the responses, including education and community-based intervention. Students and researchers will find a wealth of current information on teen gangs to mine and use for comparisons.

This book examines the migration of older persons to rural retirement destinations in the United States. While the majority of older persons are residentially stable, those who migrate are disproportionately likely to move to a rural community. Moreover, with the aging of the baby boom generation, particular rural communities can expect to continue attracting older in-migrants in the future. The book examines rural retirement migration from the older in-migrants' perspective and from the vantage point of the destination communities to which they move. This integrated micro-macro approach permits the authors to view older in-migrants as embedded in particular types of environments that facilitate and/or constrain their opportunities for productive living during older age. It also permits the examination of positive and negative effects of older in-migration for destination communities.

This collection provides a comprehensive insight into disabled children and youth in Nordic countries. It seeks to understand the experiences of children from their own perspectives and takes a multidisciplinary approach grounded in the new social studies of childhood and the Nordic relational approach to disability.

This book examines the key aging processes in seven countries (United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan, China, Nepal, and South Africa) and the main policies that have been, and are being, developed to deal with this rapid change in the demographic profile. It addresses the problems that are identified as well as the positive aspects of aging within each of these contrasting societies. Thus it makes a significant contribution to the major debates about growing old across the globe.

This provocative book takes a look at children's consumption of sexualized media messages while providing parents, teachers, and professionals with strategies for abating their influence. In this eye-opening book, experienced child psychologist Jennifer W. Shewmaker contends that the manner in which a child is raised influences how they respond to media messages, particularly those shaded by sexual overtones. This text takes a hard look at the impact of advertisements, products, and entertainment on a child's psyche and offers strategies for helping kids become critical, active media consumers. Drawing from research in a wide variety of disciplines, this book explores the interpersonal factors within children's lives that impact how they learn to process sexualized media messages. The book argues that an increase in marketing to children along with media-based fabrications of beauty, masculinity, and femininity impact the confidence and character of young children who are often greatly affected by what they see and hear. The author shares invaluable tips for promoting strengths in children and adolescents of both genders and presents the protective influence of communities to help children dismiss distorted media images. Provides a quick overview of previous works in child development, communication, and education Discusses four mediating variables influencing children's values: culture of celebrity, family factors, gender, and community systems Includes an "In Their Voices" section featuring specific responses from children, adolescents, parents, and professionals Covers television, movies, music, and other media Demonstrates the impact of both positive and negative media messages

In this new, revised edition of his landmark book, Montagu compels us to reevaluate the way we think about growth and development, in all its phases, throughout life. Humans are designed to grow and develop their childlike qualities, and not to become the ossified adults prescribed by society. Montagu demonstrates how our culture, schools, and families are in conspiracy against such childlike traits as the need to love, to learn, to wonder, to know, to explore, to think, to experiment, to be imaginative, creative and curious, to sing, dance, or play. He also reveals the many links between physical and mental aging and tells how to prevent psychosclerosis, the hardening of the mind, so that we can die young--as late as possible. The best statement ever written on the most important, neglected theme of human life and evolution. "Stephen Jay Gould, Harvard University"

In this new, revised edition of his landmark book, Montagu compels us to reevaluate the way we think about growth and development, in all its phases, throughout life. Humans are designed to grow and develop their childlike qualities, and not to become the ossified adults prescribed by society. Montagu demonstrates how our culture, schools, and families are in conspiracy against such childlike traits as the need to love, to learn, to wonder, to know, to explore, to think, to experiment, to be imaginative, creative and curious, to sing, dance, or play. He also reveals the many links between physical and mental aging and tells how to prevent psychosclerosis, the hardening of the mind, so that we can die young--as late as possible.

This edited collection captures the intersection between migration, mobility and childhood studies. Contributors explore under-researched child and youth short-term and micro movements within major migration fluxes that occur in response to migration and global change.

This book brings together the newest and the most innovative scholarship on Nigerian children-one of the least researched groups in African colonial history. It engages the changing conceptions of childhood, relating it to the broader themes about modernity, power, agency, and social transformation under imperial rule.

Sometimes a war's greatest heroes are its survivors, those who manage to forge new lives despite the tragedy they have experienced. For the sixteen unsung heroes profiled in Beyond Their Years, surviving also meant surrendering their childhood. These children found themselves on the edge of the fray - both in combat and in the throes of daily life - helping, or simply enduring, as best their interrupted youths allowed. Their behind-the-scenes stories illustrate what it was really like for children during the Civil War. Meet Ransom Powell, a thirteen-year-old drummer boy who survived grueling Confederate prison camps; writer and patriot Maggie Campbell, only eight years old when the war ended; Ulysses S. Grant's son Jesse, who rode proudly alongside Abraham Lincoln's son Tad and Ella Sheppard, daughter of a slave mother and a freed father, who lived through the backlash of slave rebellions. Each of these young survivors' lives represent an amazing contribution to the war effort and to postbellum life. Learn the inspiring stories of these American children who displayed courage, devotion, and wisdom beyond their years.

In this collection, the contributors look at the current spread of universalizing discourses concerning young children across the globe, examining the way these discourses, which purport to describe everyone in a scientific and neutral way, actually create mechanisms through which children are divided and excluded. The contributors to this book employ post-structuralist, postcolonial, and feminist theoretical frameworks.

The complexities and tragedies arising from teen violence are problems faced on every continent in the world. Fourteen case studies of carefully selected countries, representative of every region of the world, are presented in this absorbing volume that is the first to examine the causes and possible solutions for the problem of teen violence around the world. Students and teachers can make cross-cultural comparisons to discover how the problem is viewed in different countries, how the problem is changing, which factors seem to contribute to the rate of teen violence in almost all of the countries and which are unique to specific countries. Readers can also take a fascinating look at the various solutions to the problem that have been proposed and tested throughout the world.

Each chapter is divided into similar subsections, so students can easily compare specific topics among different countries and cultures. They will find that the perception of teen violence in different countries does not always reflect the reality. They can discover how such factors as drug use, family dynamics, and educational settings play an important role in teen violence across many different cultures, while also discovering the unique settings and situations that contribute to violence in unfamiliar cultures. This world view will help build better understanding of how social issues affect all societies.

This volume examines children's and young people's emotions in policy-making and professional practice. It seeks both to inform readers about up-to-date research and to provoke debate, encouraging and enabling critical reflections upon emotions in policy and practice, relevant to readers' own context.

Look up, up high and see all the trees! Who lives in the tree and what wonderful fruit can you pick? What do trees look like as the year goes by? Lift the flaps to discover red autumn trees, leafless wintry trees and even lots of things that can fall from trees! With bright illustrations and simple, accessible and interactive text, this is the perfect first introduction to trees for preschoolers. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world famous centre for botanical and mycological knowledge. With two inspiring gardens at Kew in London, and Wakehurst in Sussex, visitors are enchanted with the wonder of plant diversity. Over the past 250 years Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has made innumerable contributions to increasing the understanding of plants and fungi, with many benefits for humankind. Bloomsbury's Lift and Look board books are packed full of large cut-out flaps, specially designed for little hands. They also feature bright and beautiful illustrations and fun, engaging text, which children will adore. Available in a range of young children's favourite topics, including Bugs, Garden, School, Dinosaurs and Space.

The first fully comparative empirical analysis of the relationship between education and social cohesion, this book develops a new "distributional theory" of the effects of educational inequality on social solidarity. Based on a wide-ranging theoretical critique, and extensive analysis of data on inequality and social attitudes for over 25 developed countries, the study shows how educational inequality undermines social trust, civic co-operation and the rule of law. It is not how much education a country has that matters for social cohesion but how it is distributed and the co-operative values that people learn.

Statistics show that women live longer than men, and that they constitute a substantial majority of the North American population over age 50. But more research has been done on the lives of older men, and the lack of empirical data on aging women has perpetuated a number of myths and stereotypes. Twenty years ago, for example, there was a presumption that only males worked and only males retired, though women often held jobs outside the home and these jobs were sometimes their only source of income. Studies of retirement, therefore, rarely treated the experience of women. Many fallacies still remain, despite a growing body of research conducted by women investigators. This reference provides a comprehensive overview of current research on women and aging and helps correct many mistaken assumptions. Chapters are written by expert contributors and are grouped in several broad sections. The first section provides a historical and theoretical perspective on women and aging and covers topics such as sexism and ageism, representations of older women in the arts, and the attitudes of society toward aging women. The second section treats economic issues related to employment and retirement. The third section explores the psychological and physical health of women and includes related information on topics such as voluntarism and religious activity. The fourth section looks at the particular concerns of women from diverse racial and ethnic groups. It also includes a chapter on the special needs of the rural elderly. The final section studies the relationships of older women, including the impact of widowhood and the significance of friendship patterns. Each chapter cites current research and the volume closes with a selected bibliography of major studies.

"In recent years children have become an increasingly important consumer market, and there is growing concern about the commercialisation of childhood. This book sheds light on these debates, offering new empirical data and challenging critical perspectives on childrens engagement with consumer culture from a wide range of international settings"--

This is the first annotated guide to recent young adult literature that is organized into specific problem areas: alienation and identity, disabilities, homosexuality, divorced and single parents, adopted and foster families, abuse, eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and bulimia), alcohol and drugs, poverty, dropouts and delinquency, teenage pregnancy, AIDS, death and dying, and stress and suicide. More than 900 recommended books published through 1993 have been annotated. Reading levels of recommended books are grades 5-8 and interest level is through grade 12.

This work addresses bibliotherapy, but is not based on it. Instead, it is built on the premise that literacy is the key to growth and understanding. Each chapter deals with a specific adolescent problem area and begins with general comments about the problem, startling information and current statistics about its gravity and pervasiveness, warning signs to look for, and suggestions of what to do and where to go for help. Each entry contains complete bibliographic information. The format and readable annotations will make it easy for young adults, parents, librarians, teachers, clergy, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and health professionals to find appropriate fiction and nonfiction books and articles on the serious problems that adolescents face today.

This collection provides a guide to the legal requirements surrounding children's rights. The book discusses the practicalities and problems of listening to the child in educational, social and health settings.

The news of teenagers and even younger children committing ever more serious and violent crimes continues to shock and baffle. The escalating psychological and social toll of youth crime is being paid by all from victims to offenders to parents and siblings to teachers and to the community as a whole. "Adolescent Reputations and Risk" looks beyond traditional theories to examine, from a solid empirical basis, the motivation and values that make some young people choose antisocial over positive behavior, resulting in potent new insights and possible solutions to this ongoing problem.

Synthesizing 15 years of research with delinquent youth, this volume describes the volatile dynamic of child and adolescent social worlds, emphasizing reputation enhancement and goal-setting as bases underlying deviant behavior. In innovative and accessible terms, "Adolescent Reputations and Risk" addresses delinquency throughout the course of childhood and adolescence, offers the first detailed explanation of delinquency by integrating goal-setting and reputation enhancement theories, provides evidence analyzing deviant trends in goal-setting and reputation enhancement terms among primary and high school students, answers key questions on topics such as impulsivity, drug and inhalant use, early-childhood psychopathy, links between ADHD and aggression, and the psychology of loners and includes current data on interventions for at-risk youth, including family and school methods, cognitive-behavioral therapy, wilderness and boot camp programs, and interactive multimedia strategies.

This volume is an essential resource for clinical child, school, and counseling psychologists; social workers; and allied education and community mental health professionals and practitioners."

In its various manifestations, the campaign to end child soldiering has brought graphic images of militarized children to popular consciousness. In the main, this has been a campaign that has seemed to speak to African contexts without as much reflection on the myriad ways in which the lives of children are militarized in advanced (post)industrial societies. Proceeding from this quite striking omission, the contributors to this volume move beyond the usual focus on the global South. Making what will be an important contribution to a much needed critical turn in the vast and still rapidly growing child soldier literature, they address multifarious ways in which childhood is militarized beyond the global South through enactments of militarism that have drawn much less in the way of critical inquiry.

This book explores the adoption of "active ageing" policies by EU15 nations and the impact on older peoples' work and retirement policy options. It explores the labor market policies (including unemployment benefits, active labor market policies and partial pension receipt) and pension policies (pension principles, early retirement and incentives for deferral) adopted by these nations from the mid-1990s onwards, addressing three main questions. First, to what extent was the EU's vision of "active ageing" adopted in EU15 nations between 1995 and 2010? Second, what was the nature of policy reforms in these nations over this time period? Finally, which sub-groups within the older age cohort were subject to active ageing policies in these countries? The data indicate convergence towards the EU-vision of active ageing is complex, with nations adopting a variety of different reforms and policy mixes, which in turn focus on different groups within the older age cohort.

From politics to popular culture, baby boomers exert a profound impact on America. As they enter middle age and retirement, this generation, unprecedented in size, will confront a vast new realm of problems, choices, and decisions. Their needs will make the "graying of America" the most significant demographic event of our time. As a resource fitted to such an event, Aging: Lifestyles, Work, and Money, provides a definitive, comprehensive source of information about people aged 65 years and older. The information is indexed and included under easy-to-follow headings, allowing the reader to locate facts quickly and as needed, or browse and encounter valuable information serendipitously. More than 180 tables, graphs, and charts provide carefully selected information on: Marital status Living arrangements Family life Geographic location and geographic mobility Transportation and housing Community life Social activity Leisure Crime Citizenship Language Education Income and poverty Finances-assets, savings, debt, and attitudes consumer spending Work and retirement Social Security Vierck and Hodges not only provide exhaustive coverage of vital statistics (including many previously unpublished features), but also offer analytical support--describing trends, offering insights, and providing a framework for understanding the data. This volume is ideally suited to the elderly whose concerns it investigates, as well as to medical and nursing libraries, and anyone interested in the manifold issues associated with the elderly. It includes a bibliography, a listing of Web sites, and an appendix listing world records and fascinating facts, providing a record of some extraordinary achievements of theelderly.