Adolescent researchers are increasingly aware that they must examine development both across time and across context. To do so, however, requires new conceptualizations and methodological approaches to the study of development, including attention to the pathways young people choose in adolescence and follow into adulthood. This volume assembles work by key researchers in the field who are struggling to understand how developmental trajectories are constructed and maintained throughout the adolescent period. A complete understanding of developmental pathways requires the recognition that adolescents' social contexts--family, school, neighborhood, and/or peer group--are important influences on the choices they make at this developmental period. Researchers have traditionally studied contexts in isolation rather than examining the interrelationships among contexts and their implications for adolescent development. The present volume seeks to address this gap in the literature, with attention given not only to the interrelationships among contexts for white, middle-class youth, but also to these issues for minority adolescents in neighborhoods that vary in terms of access to resources. It concludes with an examination of researcher-community collaboration as a strategy to move communities toward a greater awareness of adolescent development and the problems facing youth in their community, and as a means to promote potential avenues for policy change and intervention.

Adolescent researchers are increasingly aware that they must examine development both across time and across context. To do so, however, requires new conceptualizations and methodological approaches to the study of development, including attention to the pathways young people choose in adolescence and follow into adulthood. This volume assembles work by key researchers in the field who are struggling to understand how developmental trajectories are constructed and maintained throughout the adolescent period.
A complete understanding of developmental pathways requires the recognition that adolescents' social contexts--family, school, neighborhood, and/or peer group--are important influences on the choices they make at this developmental period. Researchers have traditionally studied contexts in isolation rather than examining the interrelationships among contexts and their implications for adolescent development. The present volume seeks to address this gap in the literature, with attention given notonly to the interrelationships among contexts for white, middle-class youth, but also to these issues for minority adolescents in neighborhoods that vary in terms of access to resources. It concludes with an examination of researcher-community collaboration as a strategy to move communities toward a greater awareness of adolescent development and the problems facing youth in their community, and as a means to promote potential avenues for policy change and intervention.

This book explores the risk and protective factors of rural life and minority status for youth and their families. It provides innovative perspectives on well-documented developmental challenges (e.g., poverty and lack of resources) as well as insights into the benefits of familial and cultural strengths. Coverage includes recent theories in child development, empirical studies of rural minority populations, and leading-edge interventions for urgent issues. The volume presents a spectrum of opportunities for understanding and providing services for youth in the United States through the lens of a diverse collection of ethnic minority experiences in rural settings. Topics featured in this volume include: Theoretical models focused on the intersection of ethnicity and rural settings. Family processes, child care, and early schooling in rural minority families. Promising strategies for conducting research with rural minority families. Strengths-based educational interventions in rural settings. Promoting supportive contexts for minority youth in low-resource rural communities. Rural Ethnic Minority Youth and Families in the United States is a valuable resource for researchers and professors, clinicians and related professionals and graduate students across such disciplines as clinical child, school and developmental psychology, family studies, social work and public health.

Amid its growing diversity and shifting demographics, the U.S. is still home to glaring health inequities by race, ethnicity, and class. Yet while it is customary to identify poverty as their root cause, other complex mechanisms are involved in their perpetuation. Based on recent major studies on African-American, Latino, Asian-American, and Native American populations, Health Disparities in Youth and Families offers a thorough, nuanced examination of a wide range of causal and protective factors. Rigorous theories and models take into account cultural, contextual, and personal variables, including the roles of family identity, school, and neighborhood, and motivation toward health awareness (with attention paid to less frequently studied phenomena such as within-group inequalities and the Hispanic Health Paradox). Contributors approach their subjects with realism as well as optimism as the book: Provides reliable information on the scope and etiology of health disparities. Identifies the methodological and political challenges associated with this issue. Proposes comprehensive, integrative models for understanding disparities. Features examples of innovative programs for improving minority health. Includes an in-depth chapter on substance use and mental health among Native American youth. Offers a useful starting point for the exchange of ideas necessary to address health disparities. A provocative resource on a pressing social concern, Health Disparities in Youth and Families is necessary reading for health policy researchers, health care providers, and others dedicated to better health outcomes for all Americans Content Level Research Keywords health literacy - minority health - patient-provider communication - provider discrimination Related subjects Community Psychology - Public Health

The relationships between children and their parents are the building blocks for f- ily relationships throughout life. The nature of the parent-child relationship begins with parenting-the practices and strategies that parents engage in as they raise their children. Parenting during childhood sets the stage for parent-adolescent relati- ships. These relationships make a critical difference during the teenage years: we know that when parent-adolescent relationships are healthy and strong, adolescents are more likely to have high aspirations and achievement, and to make healthier choices when it comes to risk-taking. Most of the research in this ?eld has been based in the United States and has been conducted through studies of European American families. Yet a growing body of research suggests important ethnic differences in styles of parenting and the qua- ties characterizing the parent-adolescent relationship. In this area of research, most existing studies have examined ethnic and cultural group differences using widely accepted measures and concepts of parenting. Comparative studies assume that dimensions of parenting such as parental warmth or control have the same meaning across cultures; however, given that conceptualizations of adolescent-parent re- tionships have been developed and tested on samples comprised largely of European Americans, we cannot rule out the possibility that the way we understand parenting has been shaped by the predominantly Western- and U. S. -focused research in this ?eld.

In what ways do individuals influence the course of their lives? How do people construct a unique life path within the opportunities and constraints afforded by their world?
This volume examines how agency in the life course can be conceptualized and investigates the specific ways in which personal characteristics and contextual variables play a role in shaping individual lives. The contributors offer differing perspectives on agency, how its expression changes over a lifetime, and how it is constrained, channeled, or altered by cultural and social institutions.

Each chapter focuses on one aspect of individual agency that can have a cumulative influence on an individual's life. Following an overview of the subject by Lisa J. Crockett, Jochen Brandtstadter and Klaus Rothermund provide a life-span model of agency focused on "intentional self-development" and goal accommodation. Ellen Skinner and Kathleen Edge discuss the development of coping, a potential underpinning of agency. In a concluding essay, Michael J. Shanahan and Glen H. Elder Jr. examine agency within a life-course framework, showing that the impact of individual agency on people's lives depends on the opportunities and constraints present during a particular historical era.

The decline of the socialist governments in Eastern and Central Europe and the resulting political and economic reorganizations of the 1990s provided a dramatic illustration of the far-reaching effects of social change. For those interested in the health and well-being of youth, such instances of social upheaval raise the question of how young people are affected socially and psychologically by societal changes, and whether their development is compromised or enhanced. This important volume considers the processes through which societal changes exert an impact on the course of adolescent development and identify individual and contextual factors that can modify the impact of social change and enhance the likelihood of a successful transition to adulthood.

The decline of the socialist governments in Eastern and Central Europe and the resulting political and economic reorganizations of the 1990s provided a dramatic illustration of the far-reaching effects of social change. This important volume considers the processes through which societal changes exert an impact on the course of adolescent development and adolescents' social and psychological adjustment. Additionally, several chapters identify individual and contextual factors that can modify the impact of social change and enhance the likelihood of a successful transition to adulthood. Chapter authors include a diverse group of social scientists from Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.