Speaks to adolescents about such topics as drug abuse, sex, family conflict, friendship, love, and conformity.

A respected authority on child development answers questions about the teenage years: how to implement discipline, build confidence, and talk about puberty.

Why don't you trust me? Why do you tell me what I can't wear? Why do you always correct my manners? If you're hearing those kinds of questions from your children -- or if you know that you're going to -- you need this informative guide. Educator James Stenson explains here how you can keep your children's adolescence from being dominated by rebellion and conflict, and how to give your children clear moral direction. He even includes a question-and-answer section to help you plan for troubles before they arise.

In this groundbreaking guide, psychotherapist and educator Maria Clark Fleshwood provides a tested, six-step approach to engage, guide, and prepare their pre-teen daughters for the challenges and changes of adolescence.

The most trying times in a child’s life are during their pre-teen and teen years. Even the most well-meaning and engaged parents and teachers are often ill equipped to deal effectively with adolescents and their remarkable yet confounding social and emotional changes. Surviving Adolescence follows the roller coaster ride parents with teenagers experience, stages that author Michael Gilbert calls Ratcheting Up, the First Drop, Loop-de-Loop, Climbing, the Steep Drop, In the Tunnel, Into the Daylight, and Leveling Off. These stages cover issues such as preparing for adolescence, the reality of confronting puberty, the family unit, and how to help teens confront a new social environment, including cyberspace. Additional areas covered are recognizing the need for productive activities, discussing burgeoning sexual issues, bullying, and substance abuse. Suggestions for communicating effectively and taking care of yourself are included, too, making this a well-rounded and valuable resource for parents and educators alike.

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.

The introduction of the psychological construct of self-efficacy is widely acknowledged as one of the most important developments in the history of psychology. Today, it is simply not possible to explain phenomena such as human motivation, learning, self-regulation, and accomplishment without discussing the role played by self-efficacy beliefs. In this, the fifth volume of our series on adolescence and education, we focus on the self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents. We are proud and fortunate to be able to bring together the most prominent voices in the study of self-efficacy, including that of the Father of Social Cognitive Theory and of self-efficacy, Professor Albert Bandura. It is our hope, and our expectation, that this volume will become required reading for all students and scholars in the areas of adolescence and of motivation and, of course, for all who play a pivotal role in the education and care of youth.

Even those who wait at home are eager to hear all about kindergarten. The animals are in a tizzy; Tommy is missing. The dog says Tommy is gone to a place called kindergarten. ?Where is kindergarten? they exclaim. ?What will happen to Tommy there? Will he ever come back?!? Eventually Tommy bursts into the barn with tales of all he learned in kindergarten. A charming and tender story that's sure to reassure any child heading to kindergarten.

Is Gen Z resistant to growing up? A leading developmental psychologist and an expert in the college student experience debunk this stereotype and explain how we can better support young adults as they make the transition from adolescence to the rest of their lives. Experts and the general public are convinced that young people today are trapped in an extended adolescence—coddled, unaccountable, and more reluctant to take on adult responsibilities than previous generations. Nancy Hill and Alexis Redding argue that what is perceived as stalled development is in fact typical. Those reprimanding today’s youth have forgotten that they once balked at the transition to adulthood themselves. From an abandoned archive of recordings of college students from half a century ago, Hill and Redding discovered that there is nothing new about feeling insecure, questioning identities, and struggling to find purpose. Like many of today’s young adults, those of two generations ago also felt isolated and anxious that the path to success felt fearfully narrow. This earlier cohort, too, worried about whether they could make it on their own. Yet, among today’s young adults, these developmentally appropriate struggles are seen as evidence of immaturity. If society adopts this jaundiced perspective, it will fail in its mission to prepare young adults for citizenship, family life, and work. Instead, Hill and Redding offer an alternative view of delaying adulthood and identify the benefits of taking additional time to construct a meaningful future. When adults set aside judgment, there is a lot they can do to ensure that young adults get the same developmental chances they had.

In Teaching for Purpose, Heather Malin explores the idea of purpose as the purpose of education and shows how educators can prepare youth to live intentional, fulfilling lives. The book highlights the important role that purpose—defined as “a future-directed goal that is personally meaningful and aimed at contributing to something larger than the self”—plays in optimal youth development and in motivating students to promote the cognitive and noncognitive skills that teachers want to instill. Based on a decade of research conducted at the Stanford University Center on Adolescence, the book explores how educators and schools can promote purpose through attention to school culture, curriculum, project learning, service learning, and other opportunities. Malin argues for expansive thinking on the direction schools should take, especially in terms of educating students to be creative, innovative, and self-directed critical thinkers. The book includes profiles of six organizations working in schools across the US that have made purpose development a priority. Infused with the engaging voices of purposeful youth, Teaching for Purpose offers a fresh, inspirational guide for educators who are looking for new ways to support students to succeed not only in school, but in life.