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In this article, the author has commented on juvenile delinquency. The purpose of this note is to call attention to a serious oversight in this study, an oversight which has undoubtedly arisen because equal sized groups of delinquents and non-delinquents were studied and comparisons made between percentages of these groups. Non-delinquents are considerably more frequent in the general population than are delinquents. These actual frequencies must be taken into account in evaluating the predictive efficiency of the scoring plan reported. The preparation of prognostic tables for indicating the probability of a child's becoming delinquent, although highly desirable, lies much farther in the future.

This paper's thesis is that many adolescent problems, particularly those involving sex, can be strikingly reduced or eliminated by intelligent, rationally planned parental management beginning at birth. Among the principal features of desirable parental management, the paper stresses effective parent-child communication. Of approximately 1,500 couples who received routine medical and psychological preparation for marriage over a period of 35 years, approximately 500 remained under continuing counsel and observation after their children came for premarital service. Thus conclusions could be drawn as to how effective she parents had been in preparing their children for adolescence and for marriage, and what type of parental management reduces problems of adolescence and increases capability for successful marriage. Young people' demand for earlier marriage is seen as acceptable when they have matured under improved standards of democratic process and sex education in the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that youth tend to follow parental wishes in future oriented situations and peer wishes in current oriented situations. This paper evaluates this assumption and explores the utility of differing types of situations in measuring the parent and peer orientations of youth. It is found that (a) the content of the situation is more important in the choice of courses of action than the pressures of either parents or peers, and (b) parent-peer orientations have a systematic, but minimal influence, on choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a study of the influence of two membership groups on the attitude of a group of adolescents, many of whom find themselves in a cross-pressure situation. The membership groups with which people are concerned are among the most important to which the adolescent belongs, the family, his first membership group and one which plays an important role in the socialization process, and the peer group, the group in which the adolescent in particular finds many of his gratifications. Both groups exert pressures upon the adolescent. Frequently these pressures are mutually sustaining, but in some areas they may be in conflict, demanding from the adolescent patterns of thought and behavior which are mutually incompatible. For many adolescents one of these areas is religion. This paper examines the conflicting expectations that familial and peer groups have concerning one facet of the adolescent's religious orientation. Now the task is to examine the relationship between the adolescent's religious attitude and that of his membership groups to determine what this relationship is when the groups are defined as reference groups, and to evaluate the relative influence of these groups upon the adolescent in cases where their expectations conflict.

This paper examines the relationship between some aspects of family life and differential involvement with marihuana. Data are based on a survey of 1700 youths, aged 15 to 18, who live in an affluent suburban community and who attend the local public high school. Results point to a negative association between degree of involvement with marihuana and: (1) availability and quality of parental models for behavior, (2) high evaluation and amount of recognition received within the family, (3) perceptions of the family as warm and not simply rigidly controlling and/or indifferent, (4) subjective feelings of satisfaction and involvement with as well as the ability to rely upon the family as a unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is sociological terms that this paper attempts to frame and solve the sole question with which it deals, namely: Why does contemporary western civilization manifest an extraordinary amount of parent- adolescent conflict ? In other cultures, the outstanding fact is generally not the rebelliousness of youth, but its docility. There is practically no custom, no matter how tedious or painful, to which youth in primitive tribes or archaic civilizations will not willingly submit. What, then, are the peculiar features of the western society which gives one of the extremest examples of endemic filial friction in human history? The answer to this question makes use of constants and variables, the constants being the universal factors in the parent-youth relation, the variables being the factors which differ from one society to another. Though one's attention, in explaining the parent-youth relations of a given milieu, is focused on the variables, one cannot comprehend the action of the variables without also understanding the constants, for the latter constitute the structural and functional basis of the family as a part of society.

The consumption of beverage alcohol in American society has always been surrounded by a sharp ambivalence. Even during the colonial era moderate use of non-distilled beverages, such as beer, wine, ale, was expected and fully approved, but drunkenness, usually viewed as a moral defect indicating weak self-control, was frowned upon and often punished. During the Revolution and post-revolutionary period, this ambivalent attitude was fostered and alcohol was viewed, on the one hand, as a temporary desirable release from relentless reality and, on the other hand, as a major cause of poverty, crime, divorce and deviancy. The wet-dry controversy was climaxed, of course, by the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1917. After a long struggle, the "wet" forces were able to obtain the repeal of this amendment in 1933. The impact of this struggle is still felt in contemporary American society. Organized religion, as has been true within the larger society itself, has been divided into several opposing views on the subject of alcohol use. Several of the more fundamentalist groups view the use of alcohol as a moral issue and see total abstinence as the desirable, if not the only acceptable, mode of behavior. On the other hand, Roman Catholics, Jews and Episcopalians are officially unopposed to moderate use of alcohol, although drunkenness is certainly frowned upon. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of organized religion as it affects the use of alcohol among a sample of teenagers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article predicts post-hospital school attendance of disturbed adolescents. Subsequent to hospital admission and in planning the adolescent inpatient's program, the question of involvement in the institutional school usually arises. If the school is essentially academic in nature, one factor that deserves consideration is the likelihood of the patient continuing his education following discharge. The paper reports some relevant and significant findings from a follow-up study of 204 former adolescent patients. The data were obtained from questionnaires sent directly to the former patients and from such informants as agency workers and probation officers.

This is an overview of a large-scale study of "delinquent gangs" involving collaboration of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago and a research team under the direction of the author. Detached workers from the YMCA provide entree to the gangs for the research team and constitute a primary source of data concerning the boys, individually and collectively. The research is directed to the examination of recent theories concerning the impact of the social class structure on adolescent boys. Semantic differential data suggest that negro and white lower class gang and nongang boys, and middle class boys do not differ in their recognition of the moral validity and the legitimacy of some middle class values. However, gang boys evaluate illegitimate images more highly than do other boys, and their behavior is inconsistent with middle class values. An explanation for this discrepancy is sought in terms of the operation of "aleatory" factors peculiar to lower class settings and group process considerations. Further study is under way concerning these processes and various elements of competing delinquency theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the second part of the paper "Suburban Runaways of the 1960's" which discusses the method used by the Mental Health Study Center in conducting the study in Maryland. A special form of recording missing persons was designed to achieve an accurate count of reports of missing adults or children. A uniformed patrolman was also assigned to take information from complainants' own home to obtain specific and descriptive information useful in locating a missing person. A copy of the report is then filed with the Juvenile Bureau, who in turn forwarded a copy to the project office and sent an explanatory letter to the parents of a missing child. An intensive interview with the child and family was then conducted after the return of the child.

The article discusses the study which is aimed to evaluate the community attitudes toward the adolescent drop-in and service center in the U.S. The samples for this study include 321 students and adults in the two school districts in the target area. School students were sampled from each secondary school grade in each of the two school districts. Adult data were collected from each other school district. The adolescent drop-in center has surveyed the adults and young people in the community. It was found that the agency was well known and seen as providing effective help with the problems of adolescents.

The purpose of the study was to investigate in young adolescents the effects of level of ego development and prior help on helping behavior. 79 eighth-grade middle-class boys served as subjects. Each subject completed Loevinger's Sentence Completion Test as a measure of ego development, participated in an experimental situation, and answered interview questions. Amount of prior help was positively related to helping behavior in the experimental situation. Ego development and race were not related to help in the experimental situation or to extracurricular helping behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on proceedings of the clinical section of the Society of Analytical Psychology during the year 1955-56. On October 3, 1955, there will be a discussion on the topic "Symbolic Transformation and Theories of Object Relations," by M. Jackson. R. Hobson is going to speak on the topic "Symbolism and "Synthetic Analysis" in Adolescence," on November 7, 1955. K. Lambert will speak on his research paper "Some Aspects of the Homosexual Transference With Special Reference to the Analysis of a Single Session."

This article presents an abstract of the academic paper "Plans for Locating Emotionally Unstable Youth: Secondary Schools to Aid Selective Service," by Harry Jager published in a scholarly periodical. High schools followed certain procedures in completing DSS Form 213 for the Cooperative School Report in the U.S., which contains a rating scale and a list of characteristics of students to be checked by teachers.

Modern Africa has achieved great progress in education, urbanization, and economic development. Modernization, however, brings the traditional into frequent confrontation with the modern and tends to create conflicts in the lives of individuals. Modern Africa's youth need guidance. But to be effective, guidance practice must be based on philosophies that reflect true African thinking. Foreign models will be inadequate. This article examines some African viewpoints in order to suggest elements that might be used in formulating a philosophy of guidance and a mode of practice suitable for Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the psychological aspects of adolescence and presents a comparison of the characteristics of the adolescent peer group to those of a suppressed minority group which reveals some striking similarities in relation to antagonism. One possible way of analyzing the adolescent is to consider him a member of a suppressed minority groups. The argument for uniqueness of the adolescent is based on biological, psychological, and sociological observations. From the biological point of view, it may be concluded that adolescence can be biologically defined as that period of growth between the terminal stage of childhood, that is, from the beginning of puberty to the onset of maturity or adulthood. But on the other hand, adolescence is identified not only by a particular period of physical growth but also by a period of mental and social growth. The article concludes that the consequent feeling of general alienation among adolescents manifests itself in many different ways which can be grouped as rebellions and non-rebellious. Generally speaking, the kind of behavior is dependent upon the social and institutional mechanism available for reducing the alienation.

The article presents a study which examines the impact of peer pressure on the attitude of an individual. Two hypotheses are being presented which investigate the implication of group's experience on the well-being of a person. The study utilized a group of 30 students who were enrolled in a leadership training course at different seasons. They were exposed to the Bills Inventory of Adjustment tests and were evaluated through discrepancy scores between the real self and the ideal self and the average other person and the ideal self. Results of the study revealed a significant change in the real self rather than a change in the ideal self.

Forty-one college students in an adolescent psychology class completed the Allport-Vernon Scale of Values, Part 2. Three weeks later they met singly with one, and then another, student and discussed a topic for five minutes with each of them. Before and after each discussion they filled in the A-V Scale as they thought their partners had filled theirs in. During one of the interactions the Ss believed that their partner had selected them as a person with whom they would like to talk, during the other interaction they believed that they had been selected as a person with whom their partner would rather not talk. Results indicated that increase in assimilative projection was associated with the order of the situations-increase occurred during the second inter- action-but was not associated with the stability (acceptance or rejection) of the group nor with the interaction of order and stability. Discussion of the results attempted to point out the need for further investigation of the construct change during such verbal interaction to account for the demonstrated effect of order on assimilative projection change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on mental conflicts of Eurasian adolescents. In the early colonizing days when only young unmarried men were sent out there seemed to be no expressed attitude toward mixed marriages or concubinage. Eurasians were looked upon as a "natural result" of the conditions under which "empire builders" were forced to live. Mixed marriages then began to be looked upon as contrary to tradition and Eurasians became an "ever-present reminder that taboos have been violated and caste integrity threatened." These Eurasians are generally so marked physically as to set them off from both parents, and, being excluded from either full-blood group, they constitute a third distinct class. One of the great tragedies to the Eurasion personality is the fact that the struggle to adjust himself to his environment results in the capitulation of his "ego." The "inferior ego" is a most significant problem for the Eurasian adolescent. Hygienic mental adjustment begins at the point where the adolescent is learning the hard lesson that other individuals be- sides himself exist and have rights similar to his own.

Approximately 700 ninth-grade students of each sex, representing the total population in that grade in agricultural towns in northern India and western United States, answered questionnaire items concerning family cohesiveness, decision-making, and autonomy. Results clearly showed adolescents perceived greater cohesiveness in India and more self-decisiveness in America. Fathers were seen as more influential in India than in the United States. Interviews with Indian fathers further confirmed the continued traditional orientation of the Hindu family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The utility of examining the family as a formal organization receives support from an empirical study of 73 families. The interaction between two organization variables, family consensus and problem perception, and the relationship between these variables and the effectiveness of the family in its socialization function are considered. The success of socialization is measured by the adjustment and achievement of the family's adolescent son in school. The findings are discussed in the light of organization theory and research methodology in small groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educators are called upon to draw the necessary educational implications from the fact that in this transitional period of sex morality, sharply conflicting value systems exist among which no consensus is possible. Six contending value systems are analyzed along a repressive-permissive continuum; these systems must be evaluated and an ‘open forum’ created if teachers are to have the dialogue with youth essential for a meaningful educational process. Since most values in our official sex codes have become competing alternatives, the basic values of sex education must be sought in the core values of a democratic society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rather than viewing psychotherapy with teen-agers as essentially a holding operation and waiting until adult years when self-defeating patterns have become rigidified, the period may be considered as offering a unique opportunity for facilitating change and focusing on new directions in the life of the client. One workable psychotherapeutic procedure, a team approach involving Diagnosis and Planning, Bargain-Setting, Psychotherapy Proper, and Termination, is briefly described. Involving the parents is seen as being of major importance. Other special concerns briefly examined and illustrated are interpreting closeness, establishing controls, and exercising flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research exploring the organization of the adolescent personality has conceptualized personality as a self-other system which includes reference groups, role prescription, and self-conceptions among its components. Relationships within and among these and other components remain to be analyzed. An ultimate objective is a fully developed theory of adolescent personality which incorporates the sociological perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Chicago study of "Street Corner Groups and Pate terns of Delinquency," adolescent boys (gang and non gang lower- class, and middle-class) were asked to nominate adults wit/i whom they were in regular contact. Family members were excluded from nomination and the resulting rosters of adults, many of whom were local community residents, were included in a program of personal interviews. This article is a first report on these interviews and focuses on patterns of adolescent-adult relations in the communities under study. Particular attention is given to the fashion in which adults operate to shape the social and economic opportunities that youngsters will encounter. There are marked differences in this regard among the groups of adults studied. Adults close to gang boys are less likely to express concern for the life chances of boys they know and they are less likely to be sought out by the boys for advice in handling problems that the boys have encountered in school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delinquent activities are viewed from the perspective of converging research findings on the nature of groups and their impact on the behavior of members. Theory and research show the importance of group processes for adolescent behavior whet her socially desirable or undesirable. Their examination helps to resolve some paradoxes and predict "unexpected events" that currently plague formulations on delinquency. As part of the effort to achieve generally applicable concepts for theory and research, the advantage is noted of using non-pejorative terms as research tools without the stereotyped connotations of labels such as "gang" or "delinquent subculture." Based on accumulating experimental and empirical findings, a summary account is given of (a) the circumstances and motives conducive to group formation and (b) the step-by-step formation of the group. The socially harmful and socially desirable impact of reference groups on the identified membership is sketched and the function and importance of adolescent reference groups in modern societies are examined. With reference to research findings on roup formation, on adolescence, and on collective interaction, implications are drawn for research methods in the study of group processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an empirical examination, of the concept of "Youth Culture" and its relevance to the study of juvenile delinquency. Utilizing data from 410 male high school students in the Pacific Northwest, a factor analysis suggests three aspects of adolescence significant to our study: (1) involvement in activities with other adolescents; (2) engagement in activity and behavior aimed at school success, followed by college and a white-collar career; and (3) acceptance of peer over adult pressures. While involvement, commitment, and rebellion appear to be relatively independent of each other, there was general confirmation of the hypothesis that trouble, including delinquency, lies negatively in the commitment and positively in the peer rebellion dimensions. The study suggests that, for some, delinquency might occur when the lowering of commitment to the relatively unidimensional definition of success available to adolescents is followed by movement toward a peer culture which provides support for anti-adult attitudes and behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides guidelines to adolescent interviewing and counseling based on experiences in the University of Washington Adolescent Program. Initial interview between the patient and the physician; Impact of the attitudes and behavior of parents; Improvement of the adolescent's sense of dignity and personal worth when the physician is completely honest with the adolescent; Identification with the adolescent; Method of giving feedback and advice; Importance of reassurance; Dealing with the depressed adolescent, the talkative adolescent and the uncommunicative adolescent.

Focuses on the dental needs of teenagers. Occurrence of dental caries at an early age; Determination of highest susceptibility in molar teeth; Evaluation of the effects of the gonadal hormones on the internal environment; Consideration of the contribution of psychological states on the development of dental caries; Importance of guidance and encouragement in oral care.

Many pediatricians do not know how to get started in relating to adolescents. The teenager then is deprived of a valuable helping resource. This article attempts to present a checklist that is pediatrically useful in getting started with an adolescent. The criteria to be checked in appraising an adolescent include heterosexual orientation, vocational orientation, emancipation from parents, and sense of ego identity.

Investigates pleasantness of two kinds of visual patterns of different levels of variability in late childhood and adolescence using a cross-sectional approach. Random shaped polygons and random dot configurations; Variability interaction in older children; Stimulus complexity.

Attempts to establish what behaviors are both predictive and persistent throughout the developmental span. Analysis of repeated ratings of a wide variety of behaviors shown by normal children from age five to 16; Dimensions of withdrawal-expressiveness, reactivity-placidity, and passivity-dominance; Sex differences and over-time changes in the pattern of correlates of the three dimensions.

The relationship between psychological health and cognition in adolescence was examined using five psychological health criteria and eight types of cognitive performance. The subjects were 292 boys and 241 girls enrolled in a Midwestern private school. The major findings indicated that the relationship under question shows systematic variability with school grade, sex, psychological health criteria, and type of cognitive function. In particular, the interrelationship between sex differences and the role of pathological fantasy pose a series of promising research questions. A tentative theoretical framework was suggested for a number of the major findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a study which examined the influences of acculturative stress on Maori adolescents. Background to the study; Research design; Factors affecting vocational and educational achievements; Transmission of Maori aspirational and motivational traits.

Focuses on the aspects of physiological functions for evidence of seasonal variation during adolescence. Facts about systolic blood pressure; Techniques in basal pulse rate; Usability of respiratory rate technique.

Investigates certain socio-moral judgments held by teenagers with regard to property. Difference in perceptions of the acts of stealing; Disregard of traditional moral and legal principles; Consequences of industrialization.

The hypothesis explored held that the extent to which adolescents are peer-conforming when confronted with parent-peer cross-Pressures depends upon the nature of the content alternatives presented to them; i.e.) they tend to be peer-conforming in making certain kinds of choices and parent-conforming in making other kinds of choices. Adolescent girls responded to hypothetical dilemmas involving conflicting parent-peer expectations. Their choices were consistent with the hypothesis. From these results and from interview data inferences were drawn about factors predisposing adolescents toward peer-conforming or parent-conforming chokes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on studies concerning the relation between absence of a parent and degree of courtship behavior of college students. A study conducted by researcher Robert F. Winch found that the degree of courtship behavior to be retarded in the males with father missing. The present study found accelerated courtship for both sexes when the father is absent. However, both the study fails to give a clear picture of the effects of absence of the mother on the courtship behaviour of either sex. According to the present researchers, the scale of degree of courtship behavior used in both studies is not a very efficient measure of the effects of such absence on the courtship behavior of the offspring.

The article presents a report on the social stratification and its impact on students, as revealed by a study of a 10th grade high school social studies class. The viewpoint is that of an educational sociologist, interested in understanding child groups and peer cultures, and the work has been carried out under a number of practical limitations. Subjects of the study include 10th grade social studies class. It had enrolled at the outset 44 pupils, all but seven of eligible 15 year olds in the school. The course was a flexible "core type" course, with students accustomed to planning units of study, making class trips and the like. No changes were made except that the teacher was to go with the class into its 11th year. Objectives of the study focused on three aspects; determination, by sociometric test, the friendship structure of the group, study of the stratification of these adolescents by use of the Warner technique of social class analysis, and to see what light these status data would throw on "best friend" choices.

Feelings of social rejection and inferiority characterized the subjects' pre-psychotic student experiences. These feelings were linked with a characteristic inability to associate with fellow students intimately and informally, and with the acceptance of adult norms of scholarly excellence, moral perfection, and sub-missiveness. Not without significance for a theory of schizophrenia, these cases support the hypothesis that the individual who successfully adjusts to adult demands must have prepared himself in the informal group life of adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparison is made of measured differences in personality traits of 482 Washington State College girls obtained by use of standard rating scales. Retiring traits characterize a greater proportion of farm-reared than of town- and city-reared girls. Farm girls are also less given to persuasiveness. Difference between residential groups in extroverted behavior are less in homes where parents have a high school education than in those where parents have only grade school training. The larger the area of residence the greater the likelihood of the girl being satisfactorily adjusted emotionally. The higher the level of the parents' schooling the greater the likelihood of the daughter's satisfactory emotional adjustment. The sorority girl is more often of the aggressive type, the ratio of aggressive types from the farm group being especially high. On the matter of emotional adjustment, sorority girls have a slight advantage over the independents. Emotional adjustment for all groups seems to have little relationship to intelligence test ratings. Little difference is found in home adjustment or health adjustment o£ the residential groups. On values ratings, the farm group is more practical minded, the city group more aesthetic minded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the problems faced by social workers, educationalists, and youth leaders in the study of youth. Young people in industrialized societies share in a common experience of being considered non-adult and are excluded from full participation in adult society. This situation is frequently contrasted with non-industrialized societies in which the transition from childhood to adult status is institutionalized and clearly marked by formal ceremonies. This contrast is explained by a variety of factors, such as the reduced significance of kinship based organizations in allocating adult status, the increasing differentiation accompanying the division of labor and the degree and rate of social change. When youth is viewed as problematic, this has consequences for investigation and for policy recommendations. Youth is problematical for adults within given social contexts. These social contexts exist within industrialized societies, with developed patterns of the division of labor which produces groups stratified in accordance with certain economic and technical demands. Second, the problems which arise from this division of labor stem from the contradictions inherent in the structure and are unmanageable within that structure. The lack of equality of status, either in controlling the means of power or decision making within a given political structure, is seen clearly between parties and their youth sections in Great Britain.

Presents the case of an adolescent boy in whom the turmoils and stresses of adolescence were exaggerated and augmented until his aggressive feeling boiled over into violence against his parents and his home, and necessitated his committal to a mental hospital. Ways in managing a negative delusional transference by using flexibility in times and deep interpretations; Analysis of the inability of the parents to tolerate the child's increasing independence as he grows healthie.

This article presents a logical derivation of pressures for conformity from the logical relationship of conformity to certain interaction states known to be rewarding. Beginning with the fact that for most people, perceived consensus, correct behavioral predictions, and influence are rewarding. The author deduced the relationship between conformity and these interaction states, demonstrating that the rewards of interaction vary with the conformity of the interactors. Pressures for conformity as defined here are therefore seen to be inherent in the interaction situation if it is to be rewarding. The theoretical analysis presented in this article is entirely compatible with the development or existence of a fractionated peer group, so that modal responses of sub-peer groups would be taken as the referent. Here it has simply been taken for granted that the entire peer group of a school represents a single interaction system on some level. Ten hypotheses from the theory were tested on a sample of fifty-one adolescent friendship groups.

This study investigated the relationship between social maturity and cognitive functioning in adolescence. Previous research at Worcester State Hospital and Clark University has been concerned with cognition and its relation to social adaptation. A common theoretical framework was adopted for both these forms of behavior in order to achieve a more meaningful interpretation of the interrelations between cognition and adaptive patterns. The present study attempted to organize systematically the relationships between level of social maturity and cognitive functioning in normal adolescent boys. As such, it paralleled J.E. Lane's study with normal adult men. The assessment of cognitive functioning has frequently been measured in the perceptual sphere by means of the Rorschach test. A developmental scoring system for the Rorschach has had wide application in earlier research. The present study went beyond Mary T. Wilson's in that the relationship of Rorschach developmental scoring and level of social maturity was examined in adolescence. The general hypothesis investigated was that effectiveness in social adaptation would be related to developmental level of perceptual-cognitive functioning.

This article reviews some studies about the adolescent's relationship with God, which were conducted at the Centre for Religious Psychology of Louvain. The first part is dedicated to discussing Likert scale studies and intends to distinguish various relational patterns. The second section concentrates on two open question studies over the meaning of God for adolescents. These two studies will be examined separately, paying a particular attention to the evolution according to age and to the differences between boys and girls. Finally, the complementarity of these two types of studies will be defined and the way they introduce light and shade into one another will be investigated. For all groups and sub-groups, God is the absolute. This is a name adolescents attach to God and also its most specific characteristic. This absolute may be translated into various modalities. God is referred to through these modalities and above all his transcendent dimension is underlined by them. A second stable element is the appearance of doubt and faith difficulties among late adolescents. This feature is recurrent in many studies of this age group. The questioning of the various life values may also be detected in these questions, doubts and difficulties.

This article presents information on the casework treatment of adolescents with learning inhibitions. According to the author, for many school learning, like living, is an anxious, precarious process. Strong deterrents to learning may be derived from many sources. Sexual conflicts and fantasies can interfere with the adolescent's ability to study. An adolescent whose childhood curiosity was mishandled may develop learning difficulties in special subjects; for example, science and biology can be threatening to the youngster who is struggling against allowing the emergence of repressed childhood curiosity about the creation of life and bodily functions. Children whose narcissism has been overly fed in childhood and those who were reared in overly permissive environments may, in adolescence, be unable to tolerate the tensions of competition with peers, striving toward mastery of knowledge, and postponement of immediate gratification, and withdrawal from learning may occur. Some children are proficient only under teachers who show a special liking for and interest in them, doing poorly under indifferent teachers.

The article discusses the cultural deprivation, poverty and the dropout in adolescence. The importance of considering academic achievement separately for male and female students were given much consideration in a study by researchers. The authors describe the variation among the culturally deprived adolescent as concrete, content-centered, slow, externally oriented, inductive and physically oriented. The fact of variation among culturally deprived students is not as important as its association with differentially appropriate educational environments.

The article studies the cognitive development in adolescence. Beginning with the adolescent period, children have become less dependent upon the availability of concrete-empirical experience in meaningfully relating complex abstract propositions to cognitive structure. The authors have argued that developmental transition between adolescents occurs gradually rather than abruptly or discontinuously, variability exists both between different cultures and within a given culture with respect to the age at which the transition takes place, fluctuations occur when time in the level of cognitive functioning manifested by a given child, the transition to the formal stage occurs at different ages both different subject matter fields and for component subareas within a particular field and that environmental as well as endogenous factors have a demonstrable influence on the rate of cognitive development.

This article presents a study on mental development during preadolescent and adolescent period of the youth in the U.S. Several studies attempted to isolate specific adolescent intellectual traits or dealt with their relationship. Of the Primary Mental Abilities tests, the vocabulary test gave the highest correlation with arithmetic problem test. a researcher analyzed fluency for high-school seniors into two factors: word fluency and ideational fluency. On the other hand, a number of investigators compared subjects at various ages by measures which were designed to reveal growth in particular traits.