Presents a historical and cultural perspective of adolescence. Discusses the developmental tasks at this period and the negative behaviors that can result from tackling those tasks. Suggests that young adolescents' positive experiences with developmental tasks and interactions with adults may lessen the tendency to engage in at-risk behaviors. (SR)

Offers a detailed examination of both external and internal assets that middle school students may have, and discusses those that can be significantly affected by middle schools. Describes what successful middle schools do, and discusses teacher training and positive youth development. (SR)

The use of rules on nonverbal balance scale problems was studied among 5- to 19-year-olds. Latent class analyses indicated that children used rules, that different rules were used by children of different ages, and that both consistent and inconsistent rule use occurred. A model for the development of reasoning about the balance scale task was…

Students (n=150) ages 11, 14, and 17 were asked to explain the meanings of 24 different idiomatic expressions. Performance on the task gradually improved as subject age increased. High-familiarity idioms were easier to explain than moderate-familiarity or low-familiarity expressions. Easier idioms tended to be more transparent. (Author/JDD)

Writing programs for students with deafness should include teacher-demonstration ("writing aloud"), shared writing, and independent and guided writing done by students. Activities at each developmental level should focus on emerging writers--getting acquainted with print; beginning writers--using written language; developing writers--learning the…

Discusses the use of a dynamic approach to explain how young children master motor skills and perform an array of cognitive feats including word learning. Introduces a perspective that is a departure from established scientific theories of the mind. Argues that a child's physical, mental, and social lives arise out of a shifting interplay between…

Drug experimenters and drug abstainers were compared on identity achievement at a traditional, conservative, independent college (N=155). Drug abstainers were found to be more foreclosed than experimenters; however, in contrast to previous research, abstainers were not more identity-achieved. Additional findings and results are discussed.…

A basic goal for individuals as they struggle to face normative developmental tasks across their life span is to determine how to make meaning of their experiences, real and vicarious. The authors describe a workshop that gave counselors and human service practitioners meaning-making strategies that they could use in their personal and…

The present study was conducted to examine the development of attentional and oculomotor control. More specifically, the authors were interested in the development of the ability to inhibit an incorrect but prepotent response to a salient distractor. Participants, who ranged in age from 8 to 25 years, performed 3 different eye movement tasks: a…

This study applied a social identity perspective to the study of adolescent self-concept and social development. British adolescents aged 14-15 years (N=114) completed a questionnaire which asked them to: (i) rate their degree of identification with a school-based friendship group; (ii) complete a measure of multi-dimensional self-concept; and…

This article presents three studies that were designed to map the dimensions involved in "g," with an emphasis of the place of self-awareness in it. The first study involved preschoolers from 3 to 7 years of age. These were examined in three domains (spatial, quantitative and categorical reasoning) with both actual tasks and tasks addressed to the…

In this paper, we review findings from Project Competence on the nature of personality development from middle childhood through the early adult years and place these findings in the context of current research on temperament and personality traits. In a series of studies using data drawn from the Project Competence longitudinal project, we have…

This expanded edition of a 1982 book by Erik Erikson summarizes his work on the stages of the human life cycle, including chapters on psychosexuality and the cycle of generations, major stages in psychosocial development, and ego and ethos. An additional chapter on the ninth stage sets forth his philosophy on old age--i.e. the 80s and 90s--and how…

Reexamined the theoretical question of early childhood egocentrism by replicating Piaget and Inhelder's mountain experiment with variations to insure the age appropriateness of the task for 3- and 4-year-old children. (SDH)

The Career Development Inventory--Adult Form was used to measure career development, and three instruments were used to measure the life cycle or personal phasic development in order to seek a relationship between the adult life cycle and the professional career development cycle for women and men. Population for the study was a random sample of…