Filtered by category: Applying Findings Clear Filter

The Story of You: Individuation and Archetypes

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) once said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” The famous wit may have intended an irreverent quip, but this sentiment holds truth. The two are inextricably intertwined. From the first oral traditions that passed learned information down through the generations, storytelling cuts through life. It binds groups, transmits experiences, and guides understanding. But does storytelling also have a place within the individual, helping them broadcast and understand their own experiences as narratives?

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Is the COVID-19 Pandemic Slowing Down the Teen Vaping Epidemic?

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Monitoring the Future (MTF), a national survey of teen substance use, reported that rates of electronic cigarette (e-cig) use among adolescents were steadily increasing (Miech et al., 2019; Willet et al., 2019). However, with the onset of the pandemic, rates of e-cig use seem to be stalling out. As of May 2020, over a third of underage e-cig users reported desisting use, while another third reported reducing the frequency of their use (Gaiha et al., 2020). Although mostly speculation, some emerging literature points to the COVID-19 as being an unintentional catalyst for this decrease in e-cig use among teens (Dumas et al., 2020; Gaiha et al., 2020)

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Quaranteened! Helping Adolescents Cope with Boredom during COVID-19 and Summer

Elizabeth Weybright, Ph.D., Linda Caldwell, Ph.D., Erica Doering, M.S.

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Exposure to Community Violence and Mental Health Outcomes in Adolescents

What Is The Impact Of Exposure To Community Violence On Adolescents’ Mental Health?

It has been well researched that urban adolescents are also exposed to high amounts of community violence, which can affect their overall and mental well-being. Over 85% report witnessing some type of violence in their lifetime, and over 60% have been victims of violent acts. With such high levels of violence exposure, the youth living in these communities have lived lives that are characterized by repeated violence that is present at school, at home and out in the neighborhood. It also speaks to the fact that violence exposure is a common aspect of growing up. 

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The Promises and Pitfalls of Youth Mentoring Programs

Youth Mentoring Is A Popular, Cost-Effective Intervention, And We Need To Be Realistic About What It Can And Can’t Do.

Youth mentoring relationships are formed between young people and caring, non-parent adults. Enthusiasm for mentoring – from researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and the general public alike – has exploded over the past two decades, resulting in a rapid expansion in the size and number of mentoring programs. These programs, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, typically seek to match adult volunteers with a young person (often designated as “at risk”) who needs a positive adult role model. At a given time, mentoring programs are serving an estimated 4.5 million children and adolescents in the U.S.

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5 Ways Sexual Objectification in Mainstream Media can Impact Adolescent Viewers

The Science On Sexual Objectification, Its Impact On Teen Girls, And How They Can Push Back.

Adolescents learn about themselves, their bodies, and how to be a person in the world in many ways — from each other, from their families and schools, and also from popular culture. While most of these sources of influence can be facilitated intentionally by parents and educators, what happens in popular media cannot be controlled. However, parents and educators and other people supporting the positive development of adolescents can take an active role in helping young people understand and navigate the impact of popular media. To contribute to that process, this blog post examines one aspect of sexism in popular media: sexual objectification.

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Why you should care about #BlackPanther and #WakandaWeek

I  put Black Panther on my calendar months ago. When they announced the opening date, primed for the middle of Black History Month, I proclaimed that–come hell or high water–I was going to watch it on Friday, February 16.

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How to Support the Adolescent Activists in your Life

We are watching them mobilize across the country: youth fighting for gun control; youth fighting for a Clean DREAM Act; youth fighting against police brutality and structural racism. Here are ways you can offer support to the adolescent activists in your life — and maybe also help a young person along the pathway to plugging into these social movements for change.

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Ethnic Identity Development among Latino Adolescents…Who, What, When, Where???

Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor, Ph.D.

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