Adolescent Development And Rapid Social Change

Hungarian and Polish adolescents discuss the recent social, political, and economic transitions in their countries and how these events have impacted their communities, homes, and personal lives.

In times of dramatic social changes, adolescents are the last children of the old system and the first adults of the new. The Hungarian and Polish adolescents documented in this book can be considered the omega-alpha generation of the great social, political, and economic changes that occurred during the late 1980s and early 1990s in central and eastern Europe. Adolescent Development and Rapid Social Change addresses the psychological consequences for these young people who came of age during a time of such uncertainty.

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.

Adolescenceâ€"beginning with the onset of puberty and ending in the mid-20sâ€"is a critical period of development during which key areas of the brain mature and develop. These changes in brain structure, function, and connectivity mark adolescence as a period of opportunity to discover new vistas, to form relationships with peers and adults, and to explore one's developing identity. It is also a period of resilience that can ameliorate childhood setbacks and set the stage for a thriving trajectory over the life course. Because adolescents comprise nearly one-fourth of the entire U.S. population, the nation needs policies and practices that will better leverage these developmental opportunities to harness the promise of adolescenceâ€"rather than focusing myopically on containing its risks. This report examines the neurobiological and socio-behavioral science of adolescent development and outlines how this knowledge can be applied, both to promote adolescent well-being, resilience, and development, and to rectify structural barriers and inequalities in opportunity, enabling all adolescents to flourish.

This book reviews broad social changes affecting youth development and the inconsistency of the legal system in updating its approach to adolescents’ rights. Legal experts examine current adolescent protections and offer research-based proposals for revising laws that underserve or criminalize youth under the rubric of protection. Focusing on the key areas of technology and media, education, and personal relationships, chapters discuss legal responses to a range of challenges impacting young people, including sexual exploitation, the right to privacy, military family issues, and the school-to-prison pipeline. The book’s nuanced concept of legal protection credits youth with greater competence than currently afforded, in hope that adolescents can take more ownership of their evolving lives in a rapidly changing society. Topics featured in this volume include: How to balance freedom of expression with adolescents’ right to data protection. The sexualization of media and its effects on youth attitudes and behaviors. The rising phenomenon of teenage sexting. Protecting students’ sexual identity in private schools. Youth sex and labor trafficking and possible solutions to alleviate the widespread crime. Adolescents, Rapid Social Change, and the Law is a must-have resource for researchers and professors, clinicians and related professionals as well as graduate students in developmental psychology, family studies, public health, educational policy and politics, and social policy.

Adolescence is one of the most fascinating and complex transitions in the human life span. Its breathtaking pace of growth and change is second only to that of infancy. Over the last two decades, the research base in the field of adolescence has had its own growth spurt. New studies have provided fresh insights while theoretical assumptions have changed and matured. This summary of an important 1998 workshop reviews key findings and addresses the most pressing research challenges.

After-school programs, scout groups, community service activities, religious youth groups, and other community-based activities have long been thought to play a key role in the lives of adolescents. But what do we know about the role of such programs for today's adolescents? How can we ensure that programs are designed to successfully meet young people's developmental needs and help them become healthy, happy, and productive adults? Community Programs to Promote Youth Development explores these questions, focusing on essential elements of adolescent well-being and healthy development. It offers recommendations for policy, practice, and research to ensure that programs are well designed to meet young people's developmental needs. The book also discusses the features of programs that can contribute to a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. It examines what we know about the current landscape of youth development programs for America's youth, as well as how these programs are meeting their diverse needs. Recognizing the importance of adolescence as a period of transition to adulthood, Community Programs to Promote Youth Development offers authoritative guidance to policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and other key stakeholders on the role of youth development programs to promote the healthy development and well-being of the nation's youth.

Social change, such as the consequences of German unification, is likely to impact normative as well as maladaptive development during adolescence. Beyond documenting effects by comparing adolescents' psychosocial development at various time periods of the unification process, this book offers insights into the macro and micro level mechanisms that bring about the changes, such as demands by new social institutions or challenges facing families. Furthermore, the book offers a rich collection of statistical methods appropriate for the analysis of data on individual development in times of rapid social change.

What is wrong with young people today? This question has captured the concerns of the older generation about the habits and attitudes of the adolescents in their midst. The assumption is that there is indeed something wrong with young people. Even Plato must have rolled his eyes, as he relates his diatribe about the adolescents of Greece. Is the current generation of adolescents less motivated or less focused than their parents? How will they respond to the challenges facing them as they progress to adulthood? When, in fact, do they become adults? Although every generation draws upon their own unique and varied experiences, the speed of our current societal changes has created a very different adolescent passage for contemporary youth than ever before. The world as we know it has changed significantly and because of it, much of today’s youth is decidedly different from their parents. Adolescence itself has shifted dramatically. Young children are displaying adolescent behaviors well before they are ready to act on or understand their meaning, and older adolescents are staying perpetual children. As one writer put it, “the conveyer belt that transported adolescents into adulthood has broken down”. This book provides an interdisciplinary collection of research on the constants and challenges faced by young people today. Failure to launch? Social media? Economic stagnation? For the generation that is coming of age in a post-terrorist world and in the midst of economic upheaval, the challenges might seem insurmountable. However, in this book, scholars from across the academy, from sociology, psychology, education, philosophy, science, and business, explain how the young people today are responding to the constants of growth and change in adolescence and the unique challenges of life in the 21st century.

More children born today will survive to adulthood than at any time in history. It is now time to emphasize health and development in middle childhood and adolescence--developmental phases that are critical to health in adulthood and the next generation. Child and Adolescent Health and Development explores the benefits that accrue from sustained and targeted interventions across the first two decades of life. The volume outlines the investment case for effective, costed, and scalable interventions for low-resource settings, emphasizing the cross-sectoral role of education. This evidence base can guide policy makers in prioritizing actions to promote survival, health, cognition, and physical growth throughout childhood and adolescence.