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The present paper explores the conceptual limitations of the bully discourses that ground UK anti-bullying policy frameworks and psychological research literatures on school bullying, suggesting they largely ignore gender, (hetero)sexuality and the social, cultural and subjective dynamics of conflict and aggression among teen-aged girls. To explore the limitations of bully discourses in practice, the paper draws on a pilot, interview-based study of girls' experiences of aggression and bullying, illustrating how friendships and conflicts among the girls are thoroughly heterosexualized, en-cultured and classed. Drawing on girls and parent interview narratives, I also trace some of the effects of bully discourses set in motion in schools to intervene into conflicts among girls. I suggest these practices miss the complexity of the dynamics at play among girls and also neglect the power relations of parenting, ethnicity, class and school choice, which can inform how, why and when bullying discourses are mobilized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the development of two five-item Likert scales that classify juveniles' gender role expectations as highly traditional to nontraditional. One is composed of behavioral expectations that juveniles define as traditionally feminine and the other is composed of expectations they define as traditionally masculine. With a sample of junior and senior high school students, correlational and factor analyses of scale items were conducted to assess the validity of the assumptions of bipolarity and unidimensionality common in theoretical conceptualizations of gender roles. The results suggest that feminine and masculine role expectations are not bipolar opposites and do not form a unidimensional continuum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to assess the influence of used information sources on behaviour change related to physical activity (PA). It analyses secondary data from a nationally representative cross-sectional survey conducted in 2017 among 1050 Qatari adolescents aged 13–19 years. Multivariable logistic regression accounting for survey design examined the association between the outcome (attempt to change PA) and interpersonal, online, traditional, and social media information sources. Adolescents who used information from interpersonal and online sources to attempt changing their behaviour had nine times (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.15–21.08) and nearly three times (95% CI: 1.50–4.27) higher odds of a change in PA behaviour, respectively. The estimated average marginal effects of using information from interpersonal and online sources were 46-percentage point and 16-percentage point increase in the probability of attempting PA behaviour change, respectively. Policymakers may benefit from this research in designing appropriate PA interventions that adapt multiple delivery approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The innovative use of vignettes in quantitative surveys offers a novel means of assessing attitudes, capturing individuals' responses across diverse life domains to measure voice and agency more directly. Utilizing the use of scales and vignette-based inquiries, this study explores voice and agency on making marital decisions among 458 adolescents in India and Nepal. Regression analysis revealed that higher voice and agency scores correlated significantly with reduced odds of endorsing early marriage and increased support for continued education post-marriage. In vignette scenarios, greater voice and agency scores were linked to advocating against early sibling marriage and making independent choices for their own futures. These findings highlight that improved self-perception of agency empowers adolescents to assert independent decisions. Utilizing vignettes proved beneficial in this context as they enabled adolescents to understand community norms through storytelling, offering insights into their likely behaviour in specific situations, rather than drawing on abstract concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dark Triad is a term used to describe a group of three aversive personality traits – Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. This study evaluates the utility of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen for Peruvian adolescents through the evaluation of its psychometric properties; specifically, its factorial structure, measurement invariance according to gender and age group, and reliability. A total of 440 adolescents participated in the study (female: 48.2%; male: 51.8%); their ages ranged from 12 to 17 (Mage = 14; SDage = 1.38). The results showed a three-factor structure invariant by gender and age group and adequate internal consistency, although it was necessary to eliminate item 8. The findings suggest that the 11-item version of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen is a measure with adequate psychometric properties, reliable and useful for the study of Peruvian adolescents. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study assessed the family correlates of problematic Internet use (PIU) in a nationally representative sample of Saudi adolescents. Students (grades: 7–12; N = 2,546) from three cities in Saudi Arabia (random selection of schools) filled out a survey on Young's Internet Addiction Test (YIAT) and family characteristics (e.g. parents' socioeconomic status [SES], family harmony, family members' Internet use, and parental Internet controls). A multilevel log-binomial regression assessed family correlates of PIU (YIAT ≥40). The mean (SD) age was 15.6 (±1.8) years; 54% were girls; PIU prevalence was 41.8%. A poor SES (OR = 1.2, 95% CI 1.0, 1.4), low family harmony (bottom quartile OR = 1.4, 95% CI 1.2, 1.7), no parental restriction/supervision (OR = 1.4, 95% CI 1.2, 1.8), and heavy Internet use by siblings (OR = 1.3, 95% CI 1.1, 1.5) were significantly associated with PIU. Certain identified family risk factors are amenable to interventions given the high PIU prevalence among Saudi adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses juvenile delinquency in China. It is a response to the article "Social Change, Life Strain, and Delinquency among Chinese Urban Adolescents," by Wan-Ning Bao and Ain Haas, published elsewhere in the same issue. It is theorized that the country's one-child policy may have increased the degree of juvenile delinquency in China, due to a combination of over-indulgence by parents and over-reliance on peers in the absence of siblings. The question of whether Robert Agnew's general strain theory is sufficient to account for all aspects of this phenomenon is addressed.

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]

Rates of overweight and obesity increase significantly whilst children and young people are in out-of-home care. This paper provides the protocol for a study, funded by the Australian Research Council (2012–2014), being conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a Healthy Eating and Active Living intervention programme for adolescents who live in out-of-home residential care. This randomised trial will be conducted with 118 adolescents aged 13–17 years of age in out-of-home residential care and the residential staff who look after them. Adolescents' eating habits, physical activity levels, psychological well-being, body dissatisfaction and weight status will be assessed at baseline, immediately post the programme (which runs for 6 months), and again 12 months post baseline. Similar measures will be obtained from residential carers (across the same time points). If effective, this programme could be implemented as usual care to modify levels of obesity amongst these vulnerable young people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The school type can greatly affect the posture and psychological state of adolescent girls by controlling many factors, such as school bag load and way of carriage, furniture-anthropometry degree of matching, and availability of resources. This study aimed to compare postural changes and psychological aspects of adolescent Egyptian girls, attending two different school types: public versus private schools. An observational study was conducted on 200 adolescent girls, whose ages ranged from 14 to 17 years, with a body mass index of 19–25 kg/m², selected from two different school types (two public and another two private) at El-Sharkia government, Egypt. They were assigned into two equal groups: group (A), including 100 public schoolgirls, and group (B) involving 100 international schoolgirls. Postural and mechanical changes were assessed at the head, rib cage, shoulders, hips, and knees in both groups by the Posture Screen® Mobile app and a photographic method from lateral and frontal views while standing. Assessing anxiety, depression, and stress signals was done using depression anxiety stress scales-21. The girls of public and international schools had different schoolbag characteristics but assumed the same poor posture. The results indicated more significant changes in the public schoolgirls of group (A) (p ˂ 0.05) in the head shift, shoulder tilting, hip shift, hip tilting, total shift, and total tilting, compared to the international girls of the group (B), while there were more changes in head weight, and effective head weight, indicating more forward head in the international girls of the group (B). For psychological aspects, the public-school girls had statistically significantly higher stress and anxiety scores (p ˂ 0.05) than the international schoolgirls. Thus, it could be concluded that the school type may affect the posture and psychology of Egyptian adolescent girls, as the girls at the public schools had more coronal postural changes together with more stress and anxiety than the girls enrolled in the private schools, while girls of the private schools had more forward head posture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a longitudinal, participant-observation study of one boy's spontaneous drawings from pre-adolescence to adolescence. Themes related to adolescent developmental psychology emerge in the drawings. Feeling, humor, divergent thinking, and love of incongruity characterize the drawings and indicate artistic behavior. Drawing from memory and borrowing image, style, or technique were distinguished from drawing from pictures and replication. The former strategies provide technique, yet permit free ideation which the latter restricts. While artistic behavior in drawing may include borrowing, it also involves idiosyncratic expression, imagination, restructuring, and metaphorical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pubertal status refers to the current level of physical development experienced by the adolescent relative to the overall process of pubertal change. Despite the fact that these pubertal changes are universal in nature, there are individual differences with regard to the age at which specific pubertal changes occur and this is referred to as pubertal timing. Thus, the present work makes an attempt to investigate the effect of these aspects of puberty as they carry importance for both psychological and social functioning of adolescents. For this purpose, data were collected from 772 adolescents using measures of Pubertal Developmental Scale (PDS; Petersen, Crockett, Richards and Boxer (1988) and Youth Self Report (YSR). Pubertal timing but not pubertal status was found as a significant predictor of problem behaviours in adolescents and this relation was not moderated by gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explored the potential for developmental and social factors to predict adolescent online risk behaviour. Employing a sample of 1184 adolescents aged 12–18 in South Africa, the study examined gender, age, egocentrism (Personal Fable and Imaginary Audience) and Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) on online risk taking. Results showed that all variables were significant predictors of online risk behaviour. Higher Imaginary Audience, higher FoMO and older age emerged as strongest predictors, and males engaged in more online risks. FoMO also correlated significantly with egocentrism constructs. The findings indicate that egocentrism is a relevant developmental construct for understanding adolescent online risk taking along with social factors like FoMO, which can inform more targeted online safety efforts at particular developmental stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research addresses how framing may influence the effectiveness of advertising messages aimed at preventing smoking among adolescents. The research applies regulatory focus theory to explore the effectiveness of message framing in antismoking advertisements. The finding reveals that adolescents demonstrate (1) lower intentions to smoke, (2) lower perceived pharmacological benefits of smoking, and (3) lower perceived psychological benefits of smoking when the fit between the regulatory goal and the antismoking message frame is congruent (versus incongruent). Therefore, antismoking messages for adolescents with a promotion focus should emphasize promotion-related merits of abstaining from smoking, whereas antismoking messages for adolescents with a prevention focus should emphasize prevention-related merits of abstaining from smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between parent–child relationship and emotional regulation in adolescents across four countries regarding: (a) mother–child relationship; (b) father–child relationship; (c) adolescents' emotion regulation; and (d) the relationship between mother–child/father–child close relationships and adolescents' emotion regulation. Sex differences were also considered in the analysis. The sample of 270 Zambian, 216 Argentinian, 200 Ghanaian, and 180 Indian adolescents answered The Experience in Close Relationship Questionnaire and the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire. Results revealed cultural differences in the way adolescents perceived their relations with parents. Zambian adolescents were more likely to perceive their relationship as avoidant compared to Ghanaian, Argentina and Indian. Consistent with literature, Zambian and Argentinian adolescents who perceived their parents as avoidant were likely to use less cognitive appraisal as an emotion regulation strategy. Finally, Argentinian adolescents who used expressive suppression were also likely to perceive their parents as avoidant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to analyse how different styles of online and offline communication were associated in middle adolescence with certain indicators of the quality of peer relationships and school victimisation. A longitudinal study with two waves separated by one year was conducted, in which 882 adolescents aged 13–16 years old from Andalusia (Spain) completed self-report measures. Results showed that online communication was very frequently used to talk with friends, even more often that offline means. Cross-sectionally, online communication was positively associated with quality of peer relationships and negatively to school victimisation, reaching stronger associations than offline communication. Longitudinally, results indicated that more frequent text messaging was related to more easiness to make friends and no bullying in those adolescents with more initial difficulties. Thus, it suggests the need to develop safe spaces for online interactions in order to improve the quality of their relationships with their friends and partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'waithood' has become increasingly used to describe the situations of 20-something males and females throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The suggestion is that, following a youth life stage, young adults' lives stall due to males' inability to obtain sufficiently stable and salaried employment to enable them to head new family forming households, which leaves young women, most of whom do not enter the labour market, unable to marry. We use quantitative and qualitative evidence from research in three North-West Africa countries (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) to argue that the situation is more nuanced. We conclude that youth life stage transitions in present-day MENA exhibit a region-specific combination of features. The combination is atypical globally, but neither intolerable for young people in MENA nor unsustainable societally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyse: the relationship between socio-demographic variables and overall HRQoL and its domains; the predictor role of negative psychological dimensions (anxiety, depression and stress) and positive ones (subjective happiness, self-esteem and life satisfaction) on overall HRQoL and its domains. The sample consisted of 465 Portuguese students (53.5% girls), aged 13–18 years (M = 15.20, SD = 1.16). The students answered to the following measures: Kidscreen-27, Subjective Happiness Scale, Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, Self-Esteem Rosenberg Scale and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-Children. Gender, age and chronic disease predicted perceptions of some HRQoL domains. The results showed that both negative and positive psychological dimensions predicted HRQoL and its domains. Depressive symptoms were a negative predictor and self-esteem a positive predictor of overall HRQoL and all of its domains. These results create opportunities for new insights into health and optimal functioning of adolescents from an ecological perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Early sexual activity and multiple sexual partners are deemed risky sexual behaviors and connected to mental disorders such as depression. Parent–adolescent relationship is connected both to risky sexual behaviors and depression. Objective:To ascertain if there is a connection between parental involvement and adolescent sexual behavior in different age groups from early to late adolescence, and the role of depression in this association. Methods:Data from School Health Promotion Study, a cross-sectional school survey in Finland from the years 2010 and 2011 with 186,632 adolescents as informants was used. We examined the association of sexual behaviors and parental involvement with self-reported depression, at first separately and then in the same model. Analyses were conducted in seven age groups, separately for girls and boys. The main outcomes were analyzed byχ2test and logistic regression. Results:Among both girls and boys, low level of parental involvement was connected to having experienced sexual intercourse and, among those sexually active, reporting more sexual partners in early and middle adolescence. Parental involvement and depression were independently associated with the sexual behaviors studied and had only a slight modifying effect on each other in this context. Conclusion:Promoting parental involvement in adolescents’ lives is likely to be beneficial to adolescents’ sexual health. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives: This study evaluated a school-based behaviour change intervention for adolescents to address unhealthy eating habits that may otherwise “track” into adulthood.Design: A behaviour change intervention was conducted utilising implementation intention formation (or if-then planning) for adolescents to achieve two healthy eating goals: (1) including fruit and vegetable in each daily meal, and (2) replacing unhealthy snacks with healthy choices.Methods: Participants (N = 107) aged between 16 and 18 years were randomised to intervention, active control and passive control conditions. Intervention participants formed implementation intentions for achieving the healthy eating goals; participants in the active control condition completed health-related tasks; and passive control participants read health information. Eating habits and intentions were measured at baseline and 5-month follow-up.Results: Findings showed that the intervention was not effective in achieving the healthy eating goals.Conclusions: Our findings give some indication that implementation intentions alone may not be a powerful enough means of changing eating behaviour in this age group. We reflect in detail upon the elements of the intervention that may have prevented its success in changing behaviour, for example, its failure to raise motivation, and the target of potentially unsuitable self-regulatory goals. We also discuss our findings, for example, on forming multiple plans and the role of intentions, within the context of current literature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this systematic literature review is to map the longitudinal research in the field of Internet Use (IU) and Problematic Internet Use (PIU) in adolescents and emergent adults. Further, this study endeavours to examine the terminology and instruments utilized in longitudinal IU and PIU research and investigate whether statistically significant results have arisen from the areas of research focus. In a total of 29 studies, trends in the research of adolescent/emergent adult IU and PIU were discovered. These trends were conceptualized into individual, contextual and activity-related factors. Findings suggested that individual factors are the most researched and have demonstrated significant relationships with adolescent/young adult PIU. However, more research on contextual and activity-related factors is needed in order to achieve a clearer understanding of young people’s IU and PIU behaviours, and to incorporate into a comprehensive model that will guide future research in this growing field. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) using an Australian adolescent sample (n = 135). The MLQ is made up of two, five-item subscales – Presence (how meaningful one considers his/her life to be) and Search (a desire to discover more or new meaning in one’s life). A convenience sample of 135 high school students aged 12–18 years (M = 15.18 years, SD = 1.42) completed the questionnaire. Scale analysis results indicated the measure had satisfactory internal consistency, and confirmatory factor analysis results showed support for the proposed two-factor model. The MLQ appears to be a valid instrument for measuring life meaning in Australian adolescents. The key implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: Adolescents engaging in early sexual intercourse are at elevated risk for depression, but it is not clear at what point of adolescent development this connection ceases to be significant. Depression is a highly prevalent mental health problem in adolescence compared to childhood, especially among girls. This study examines the association between selfreported depression and sexual intercourse across age cohorts throughout adolescence and separately in boys and girls. Methods: An analysis was conducted on the Finnish School Health Promotion Study data from the years 2010 and 2011 with 186,632 adolescents. Main outcomes were analyzed by χ² test and logistic regression. Results: In the whole sample, 44.5% of depressed adolescents had engaged in sexual intercourse, but only 34.6% of nondepressed adolescents (p ≤ 0.001). Self-reported depression in adolescents aged 14-16 was associated with having experienced intercourse. The association between self-reported depression and sexual experience was strongest in younger adolescents and diminished gradually toward late adolescence. In boys aged 19, self-reported depression was associated with not having experienced intercourse. Conclusions: Among early and middle adolescents, there is a significant connection between self-reported depression and experience of sexual intercourse. Such connection is not seen, or even the opposite is observed, among late adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Agnew's general strain theory (1992, 2006) as a theoretical framework, this study examines how China's ongoing social transformation has affected its youth, particularly in urban areas, and how general strain theory can be fruitfully applied to account for the country's rising rate of juvenile delinquency. In particular, we analyze how the sources of strain, at both societal and individual levels, have led to a higher level of interpersonal strain, heightened negative emotions, and limited legitimate coping resources among Chinese urban adolescents, which, in turn, increase the likelihood of a delinquent response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors contend that zero tolerance discipline policies are inconsistent with adolescent developmental needs for authoritative, as distinguished from authoritarian, discipline. Previous research has applied the notion of authoritative parenting to teaching styles in classrooms, and a similar model of authoritative discipline can guide schoolwide discipline policies and practices (Gregory & Weinstein, 2004; Walker, 2008; Wentzel, 2002). Schoolwide authoritative discipline combines high levels of both structure and support. The authors conceptualize school structure as adequate supervision of students and consistent and fair enforcement of school rules. They conceptualize school support as the availability of positive adult-student relationships, help for struggling students, and programs to address students' nonacademic needs. With its firm but fair and supportive approach, authoritative discipline can create a safe and secure learning environment conducive to student engagement and achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined associations of psychological characteristics and sexual behavior with types of reasons for episodes of sexual intercourse among youth. After completing a baseline assessment, 62 adolescents (47 female) used a handheld computer to report when they had sex as soon as possible after the event as well as in response to random signals. Youth indicated for each sex event the main reason, categorized as intimacy/desire, external, affect management, and other; analyses were restricted to sex with a main partner (234 events). Baseline sexual behavior was not related to reasons for sex. Higher anxiety was associated with external reasons for sex; younger age and lower self-esteem were associated with affect management reasons. Female youth with higher impulsiveness reported more external reasons and fewer intimacy/desire reasons. Among male youth, lower self-esteem was associated with intimacy/desire reasons, but lower depression was associated with affect management reasons. These findings may aid health care providers and researchers in understanding the differences in young people's motivations for sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has found that youth smoking choices are strongly influenced by peer smoking. However, these studies often fail to account for simultaneity and nonrandom peer selection. This article describes an equilibrium model of peer effects that incorporates both of these features, and estimates its parameters using data on California teenagers. Identification is aided by using the influence of observable variables on group selection as a proxy for the influence of unobservables. I find that the effect of peer smoking on the decision to smoke is much weaker than found in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines adolescents' learning about a historical issue from multiple information sources. Adolescents read 2 contradictory texts explaining the Fall of Rome and thought out loud after each sentence. After reading, a series of questions probed their understanding and ability to reason with the information. Think-aloud protocols were coded for the type of processing they reflected, as well as the content that was utilized (e.g., prior knowledge, other text information). Paraphrases and elaborations were the most common types of processing activity. Elaborations involved connections to prior knowledge as well as other text information (both within and across texts) and often-represented self-explanations. The complexity of reasoning about the historical event was predicted by think-aloud comments that increased the coherence of the texts: self-explanations that used prior knowledge or previously processed text information as well as surface text connections. Results are discussed in terms of theories of text processing from single and multiple texts, adolescents' competencies when processing them, and implications of the research for providing students with opportunities to learn to think in discipline-based ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines war trauma experiences by Eritrean youth, their psychological symptoms, and contextual factors related to their psychosocial well-being in the postwar environment in Eritrea. The youth offered retrospective accounts of trauma experiences in semistructured interviews that included open- and closed-ended questions and the administration of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire. Among the ninety-seven youth in this school-based sample from four regions of Eritrea, exposure to trauma and economic hardship were significant predictors of psychological distress. Refugee status did not predict lower symptom levels, a factor related to the stressors encountered in exile as well as to the earlier war events that forced the youth and their families to flee their country. For many youth, grief over the loss of parents and close relatives was not resolved. The youth were generally positive about the future, both personally and in the context of a free and independent Eritrea. This article suggests that the intrapsychic post-traumatic stress disorder framework may be too narrow for conceptualizing war trauma, which is essentially psychosocial in nature, and deeply contextualized in a community's socioeconomic and political realities of conflict and its aftermath. Expanding this knowledge base is important in order to ensure that practitioners and policy makers can effectively assist youth and their families with the post-conflict tasks of healing and reintegration, essential elements of building a lasting peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between a belief in the certainty of apprehension and self-reported marijuana use; the relative importance of this belief and ties to conventional others as sources of control; and the extent to which involvement with other users is related to the belief examined and use. The findings suggest that both the belief examined and conventional ties, in this case to the family and school, serve as independent sources of control among the high school youth studied. Of particular importance is involvement with other users; use is unlikely given the absence of group supports. This holds both for youth who maintain conventional ties and for those with weak ties. Further, involvement with nonusing peers is related to patterns of use as well as the belief that one will get caught should he try. The effectiveness of the law as a deterrent, then, is questionable given peer involvement and reinforcement for beliefs which effectively discount or support the certainty of apprehension as a viable reason for nonuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on an accessible method that helps adolescents to become thoughtful decision makers. The reasoning behind the method; Method of practicing the social decision-making/problem solving (SDM/PS); Conclusions and implications.

Explores several strategies for promoting moral development in early adolescence. Effectiveness of didactic courses in social studies and a high school Just Community on moral reasoning; Design features of studies employing a plus-one methodology; Theories behind the Deliberate Psychological Education studies.

Examines the amount and types of decision-making activities available to and used by adolescents. Perspectives on adolescent decisions; Effect of parental decision-making styles on adolescents; Decision strategies used by adolescents to become effective quasi-adults.

This study aimed to illuminate factors that undermine the healthy habits of adolescents from a multicultural community with low socioeconomic status (S.E.S.) in Sweden with regard to physical activity (P.A.) and food, as stated in their own voices. Adolescents (n = 53, 12–13 y/o) were recruited from one school situated in a multicultural community characterized by low S.E.S. Embracing an interpretive approach, 10 focus-group interviews were conducted to produce data for the study. The focus-group interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using qualitative content analysis. The analysis resulted in two major themes: (1) the availability of temptations is large, and support from the surroundings is limited; and (2) norms and demands set the agenda. The adolescents’ voices illuminate a profound awareness and the magnitude of tempting screen-based activities as undermining their P.A. and healthy food habits. Moreover, several gender boundaries were highlighted as undermining girls’ P.A. and healthy food habits. The adolescents’ stories illuminated that it is difficult for them, within their environment, to establish healthy habits with regard to P.A. and food. To facilitate the adolescents’ healthy habits, we suggest that support from family, friends, the school, and society at large is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]