This report constitutes one of the first activities of the Forum on Adolescence, a cross-cutting activity of the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council of the National Academies. Established under the auspices of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families, the forum's overarching mission is to synthesize, analyze, and evaluate…

Career preparation represents a major developmental task of adolescence, which has not received sufficient attention in empirical research on career development. Thus, this study was designed to examine the structure, continuity, and change in adolescent career preparation and its relationships with adjustment. The data were collected from a…

This document discusses whether young people with difficulty entering adulthood can be helped, or if accumulated effects of various adversitites have caused irremediable damage. First the developmental tasks that adolescents need to accomplish before they can take on adult roles are described. Next, two well-known explanations for youths' failure…

Reviews the nature of middle schools and distinguishes them from junior high schools. Places special emphasis on the role of art in the middle school's curriculum in order to achieve knowledge, skill, and personal development goals. (JDH)

The middle school originated out of an understanding for the need of a learning environment geared specifically to the needs of the early adolescent. The transition from concrete to formal operational thought and the affective and psychomotor developmental stages demonstrate the uniqueness of the early adolescent experience. (JN)

Proposed and tested model for predicting college students' (n=224) identity. Sequentially considered information on students' reported conflictual independence from parents and their current mood states and generalized self-efficacy. Model explained significant variance in criterion measure for both sexes; respective contributions of model…

This study compared the timing of early vocational preferences in young adolescents from former East Germany and West Germany. Results suggested that as the memory of the Communist system fades and as younger adolescents have had less exposure to it, East-West differences tend to disappear. The formation of early vocational preferences was…

Establishment of identity represents a normative developmental crisis at adolescence. It is commonly speculated that adopted adolescents find resolution of the identity crisis especially difficult. Some theorists and researchers suggest that adoptees who search for information about their birth heritage have failed to make satisfactory progress…

Continuous progress education is designed to relate to the special interests, needs, and abilities of each individual learner. A curriculum responsive to the needs of early adolescents would include the elements of content organization, learning activities, time allocations, student assessment, staff and materials development, and budget. (JN)

Examined relationship between developmental tasks and academic achievement among first-term college freshmen (n=83) enrolled in program for students at risk. Results support limited relationship between growth on developmental tasks of young adulthood and academic performance of university freshmen. Sex differences also were found on predictors of…

The association between attachment representations and adolescents' coping with 3 developmental tasks of emerging adulthood-leaving home, advancing in the capacity for mature intimacy, and developing individuation-was examined. Israeli male adolescents (N = 88) were administered the Adult Attachment Interview during their high-school senior year.…

This factsheet considers the psychological task of adolescence, explains the adolescent's separation from his/her parents, and gives child and parent checklists for evaluating family functioning. Patterns of family development are discussed, including midlife parental development and the influence of previous generations. The role of non-family…

A study was conducted to determine if the "New Realism" in adolescent literature provided a more realistic picture of the psychological and social characteristics of adolescents than did earlier forms of the genre. An analysis was conducted of five novels written before 1960 and five written after that date to determine themes of identity and the…

Describes a developmental guidance curriculum on transition for grades six, seven, and eight. Provides the background, methodology, and some of the children's responses to the material, which consists of units on awareness, understanding, and challenge. Includes a list of children's stories on transitions. (JAC)

The task of dissolving infantile dependency ties to the mother and family during adolescence has been frequently cited as a major developmental task of adolescence. The role of the mother in the resolution of the rapprochement crisis as it continues into adolescence was illustrated through a case analysis of a 14-year-old boy and his mother. The…