ADOLESCENCE RESOURCES

 

ORGANIZATIONS

Adolescence Directory On-Line, University of Indiana

Focus Adolescent Services

An online clearinghouse of information, resources and support for teens and parents.

 

Kidshealth
A comprehensive resource on all health-related issues for children, adolescents and teens - written for parents, kids or teens.

 

Society for Research on Adolescence
Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) is a dynamic, multidisciplinary, international organization dedicated to understanding adolescence through research and dissemination.

 

Stanford University Center on Adolescence

 

BOOKS

Benson, P., Williams, D., & Johnson, A. (of Search Institute). (1987). The Quicksilver Years: The Hopes and Fears of Early Adolescence

. Harper & Row.  A very important study of junior highs.

Bibby, R.W. & Posterski, D. (1992). Teen Trends

. Toronto: Stoddart.  Solid and significant research on Canadian teenagers. Applications to youth work.

Brierley, P. (1993). Reaching and Keeping Teenagers

. Tunbridge Wells, England: MARC, Monarch Publications. This book summarizes a fine researcher’s major survey of young people in the UK. Findings about their social environment, influences, leisure time, homes, schools, and churches provide a challenge for those who care about the present and future of church and society.

Calcutt, A. (1998). Arrested Development: Pop Culture and the Erosion of Adulthood

. London & Washington: Cassell.  The author sees in the counter-cultures of youth a romanticism, identifying themselves with children and with victims. He traces these twin motifs through his analysis of youth culture from the 1950s to the present.

Carlip, H. (1995). Girl Power: Young Women Speak Out! Personal Writings from Teenage Girls

. New York: Time Warner.  From various backgrounds and cultures come these stirring personal reflections.

Dumount, L. (1991). Surviving Adolescence: Helping Your Child through the Struggle to Adulthood

. New York: Villard Books. The director of Fair Oaks Hospital Adolescent Treatment Unit surveys stress producing situations such as transition, loss, and family dysfunction and negative emotional states and behaviors that can result. Parents and leaders are given help in understanding diagnosis and treatment for these behaviors.

Elkind, D. (1984). All Grown Up and No Place to Go

. Addison Wesley.  A classic book explaining the stress on adolescents in terms of their being hurried children pushed to grow up so fast that they learn by imitation rather than integration and become "patchwork selves."

Epstein, J.S. (ed.). (1998). Youth Culture: Identity in a Postmodern World

. Oxford, England and Malden, MA: Blackwell.  A wide range of essays showing how to study youth in a postmodern world with further insights into a sociology of youth. Chapters on Teens and Sexuality, Beevis and Butt-head, Deadhead Subculture, and more.

Feldman, S.S. & Elliott, G.R. (eds.). (1990). At the Threshold: The Developing Adolescent

. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.  Specialists here interpret the research on a broad range of adolescent issues: Minority Youth, Changing Family Systems, Peer Groups and Peer Culture, Schools, Leisure, Mass Media, Sexuality, Identity Development, and much more. This is the result of a major, long-awaited Carnegie Foundation study.

French, T. (1993). South of Heaven: Welcome to High School at the End of the Twentieth Century

. Doubleday.  Unfortunately this book is out of print, but...find it. It will take you inside a typical high school, and what you will find will be troubling, heart touching and instructive.

Friedman, E.H. (1985). Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue

. New York: The Guilford Press.

Gurian, M. (1996). The Wonder of Boys: What Parents, Mentors & Educators Can Do to Shape Boys into Exceptional Men

. New York: Putnam.  Several books were written in the nineties about society’s abuse of young women. Apart from the works of Jawanza Kunjufu written about black boys in the 1980s, this is a first consideration of boys.

Hechinger, F.M. (1992). Fateful Choices: Healthy Youth for the 21st Century

. Carnegie Council of Adolescent Development, Carnegie Corporation of New York.  A scholarly review and interpretation of current research on adolescents at risk. Chapters include: "Preventing Damage, Babies Born to Children: Adolescent Sex and Health, Drugs, Alcohol, Cigarettes, Death and Violence, Image and Competition vs. Nutrition and Exercise, Programs for Young People: The Youth Organization as Family Supplement, At the Crossroads."

Hersch, P. (1998). A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence

. New York: Fawcett Columbine of Ballantine Publishing.  Frank and surprising interviews with eight rather typical teenagers from Reston, Virginia. A widely acclaimed publication.

Howe, N. & Strauss, B. (1993). 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?

Vintage.  This may be the best single book on Generation X. Can be difficult or overwhelming to read.

Ianni, F.A.J. (1989). The Search for Structure: A Report on American Youth Today

. The Free Press, Macmillan, Inc..  Having done significant research on adolescence, this Columbia University Professor of Education cites the results of studies and interviews showing the structural problems faced by urban, suburban, and rural youth growing up in America today. Emphasis placed on incongruent social systems: family, community, schools.

Kalergis, M.M. (1998). Seen and Heard: Teenager Talk about Their Lives

. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang. Many parents complain their kids won’t talk to them, that they may not even know how to communicate. This beautiful book of pictures and personal teenage essays proves how articulate teenagers can be. Here they talk candidly about family, school, religion, peer pressure, race, sex, drugs...and why they have pierced their bodies.

Kaplan, L.J. (1984). Adolescence: The Farewell to Childhood

. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Kett, J.F. (1977). Rites of Passage: Adolescence in America 1790 to the Present

. New York: Basic Books.  A fascinating and well-documented history and analysis of adolescence over two centuries.

Kunjufu, J. (1984). Developing Positive Self-images & Discipline in Black Children.

Chicago, IL: African-American Images.

Kunjufu, J. (1985). Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys

. Chicago: African American Images.  This author places the responsibility on all members of the African-American community and calls for a radical removal of negative conditions and positive reinforcement of young males.

Muus, R. (1982). Theories of Adolescence

. New York: Random House.  A fine history of the classic explanations of adolescence considering the educational implications of each idea.

Nielsen, L. (1996). Adolescence: A Contemporary View

. (3rd ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace.  Strong textbook in terms of gender and parenting issues, ethnic and cultural issues and strong research base.

Orenstein, P. (1994). School Girls: Young Women, Self-esteem & the Confidence Gap

. New York: Doubleday.  Research done with the American Association of University Women. Shows how girls begin first grade with same ambition and skills as boys but tend to lose out as they pass through middle school. Insightful interviews; important conclusions even though these have been criticized by some.

Pipher, M. (1994). Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls

. New York: Ballantine Books.  A powerful and important critique about our culture’s socialization of pubescent and teenage girls and how leaders and parents can respond.

Pollack, W. (1998). Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood

. New York: Random House.  It’s not just girls who are hurting, according to this author. He takes a different approach than Gurian (above) and says that boys who appear tough, confident and cheerful may be anything but. In fact, without guidance, they may well become troubled youth.

Quest National Center. Changes: Becoming the Best You can Be

.  Helping early adolescents grow up with confidence.

Quest National Center. The Surprising Years: Understanding Your Changing Adolescent

.

Schultz, Q. (ed.). et al. (1991). Dancing in the Dark: Youth, Popular Culture & the Electronic Media

. Eerdmans.  Important background understanding of the youth culture for youth workers.

Sebald, H. (1992). Adolescence: A Social Psychological Analysis

. (4th ed.). Prentice Hall.  Study the Table of Contents and summaries of chapters.

Skelton, T. & Valentine, G. (eds.). (1998). Cool Places: Geographies of Youth Cultures

. London & New York: Routledge.  A very important book on subcultures of youth emphasizing their need for and use of space, even personal body space. Some essays look at British subcultures, but there are also articles on global, German, American, and Sudanese cultures.

Specht, R. & Craig, G. (1987). Human Development: A Social Work Perspective

. Prentice-Hall.  A clear, readable text of development in social context.

Worden, M. (1991). Adolescents and Their Families

. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press.  Provides theory and strategies for family therapy with adolescents: initial interviews, assessments, evaluation, and intervention.

Zollo, P. (1995). Wise up to Teens: Insights into Marketing and Advertising to Teenagers

. Ithaca, NY: New Strategist Publications. This "teenage-marketing guru" has been the head of Teenage Research Unlimited for years...many articles on teenagers quote him and his statistics. Here you will find out what advertisers know about teenagers attitudes, values, social concerns and much more.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Journal of Adolescence