This study examines civic identity exploration among African-American and Asian-American urban youth who participated in a grassroots organizing campaign to improve their local high schools. Drawing on 9 months of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with participants, the study found that the campaign provided a venue for participants to wrestle…

This article reflects on outcomes of a playmaking project conducted with 14-20-year-old urban students in the USA. The playmaking experience was part of a larger research project designed to facilitate students' understandings of the ways in which their own experiences of discrimination are reflected in pervasive inequity at the societal level,…

Youth who experience either LD or teenage motherhood often drop out of school. Further, about 50% of young girls with LD become mothers by their early 20s compared to 28% of young women in the general population. There is therefore a high likelihood that teenage mothers with LD will drop out of school. Dropping out of school is of concern because…

The high school transition was examined in an ethnically diverse, urban sample of 1,979 adolescents, followed from 7th to 10th grade (M[subscript age] = 14.6, SD = 0.37 in 7th grade). Twice annually, data were gathered on adolescents' perceptions of school climate, psychological functioning, and academic behaviors. Piecewise growth modeling…

Studied perceptions about the perceived masculinity and femininity of kibbutz male adolescents of 79 Israeli adolescents, half of whom were urban and half of whom were raised on a kibbutz. Kibbutz targets were generally seen as more masculine. Exceptions and differences among urban and rural adolescents are discussed. (SLD)

This study investigated urban adolescents to determine their knowledge of child development and health and to examine the relationship of this knowledge to discipline approaches to common problems of child rearing. Results indicate that urban adolescents have inadequate knowledge of child health and development. Recommendations are offered. (MT)

Studied the frequency of self-mutilation among adolescents through a literature review, epidemiological data, and screening measure results for 440 students from an urban and a suburban high school. Interviews suggest that 13.9% of students had hurt themselves on purpose at some time, with girls more likely to hurt themselves and cutting the most…

Despite an increased interest in adolescent depression from theoretical and clinical perspectives, there have been few attempts to investigate depression in non-clinical populations. To identify demographic, sociocultural, and behavioral factors related to adolescent depression in a non-clinical population of urban adolescent females, a racially…

This manual suggests ways of developing youth leadership, especially among urban youth in multicultural settings. The manual is divided into three sections. Section I, "What You Need To Know: By Youth for Youth," written by youth leaders from Cambridge Public Schools, provides tips on how to be an effective group leader. It discusses decision…

This study examined the specific nature of the relationship between involvement in various risk-taking behaviors and levels of gang involvement. Forty-nine high school students, 24 girls and 25 boys, ages 14 to 18, from a rural Texas community, completed a gang involvement questionnaire and the Risk Inventory and Perception Scale during individual…

Females had significantly higher attitude and competency scores on the Abbreviated Career Maturity Inventory, completed by 114 female and 187 male African-American high school students. Educational plans were consistent with occupational expectations; 90% females and 74% males preferred careers requiring degrees, and 89% females and 86% males…

Examines the commitment to career choices process for at-risk urban high school students (N=189). Results indicate that students' level of commitment to their career choices was related to vocational identity, their need for occupational information, their perceived barriers to occupational goals, and the number of occupations they considered.…

Identifies the pressures and problems in adolescents' family, peer, and school worlds that they perceive as having impact on their learning. Interviews with 55 ethnically and academically diverse urban youth show problems with social worlds and transitions and the social, emotional, and educational consequences of these problems. (SLD)

While prospective investigations of social support, coping, and stress are accumulating, there is relatively little empirical knowledge regarding how these variables are related to each other among adolescents, and virtually no empirical knowledge regarding their relationship to subjective states in that population. This study examined the…

In a study of African-American (n=119) urban high school students, coping with life stressors was positively and negatively associated with the use of substances. This study focused on how grade point average (GPA), psychological adjustment, and coping styles contribute to the reported use of substances as a way of dealing with stress. The results…