Adolescence is a time when youth make decisions, both good and bad, that have consequences for the rest of their lives. Some of these decisions put them at risk of lifelong health problems, injury, or death. The Institute of Medicine held three public workshops between 2008 and 2009 to provide a venue for researchers, health care providers, and community leaders to discuss strategies to improve adolescent health.

This is Volume X of twelve in a collection of the Sociology of Youth and Adolescence. Originally published in 1951, this is a book of studies in social psychology The study of children in their social relationships, the effect of membership of groups, the school as a social therapeutic institution. These are relatively novel phrases and like all such fresh phrases they point to a new emphasis in the observation of human beings and in the formulation of basic hypotheses as to their nature.

This book provides an in-depth examination of adolescents’ social development in the context of the family. Grounded in social domain theory, the book draws on the author’s research over the past 25 years Draws from the results of in-depth interviews with more than 700 families Explores adolescent-parent relationships among ethnic majority and minority youth in the United States, as well as research with adolescents in Hong Kong and China Discusses extensive research on disclosure and secrecy during adolescence, parenting, autonomy, and moral development Considers both popular sources such as movies and public surveys, as well as scholarly sources drawn from anthropology, history, sociology, social psychology, and developmental psychology Explores how different strands of development, including autonomy, rights and justice, and society and social convention, become integrated and coordinated in adolescence

For most young people, development through adolescence involves exposure to a variety of new social worlds. Parents provide increasing room for personal autonomy and take account of emerging skills and responsibilities. Peers become more important as confidants and as sources of support. Relationships with the opposite sex become more significant and move towards greater intimacy and commitment. Progress through school leads to clearer ideas about personal aspirations and career choice. Areas such as culture, social priorities and politics begin to attract more interest and involvement. The direction, nature and extent of the adolescent's engagement in each of these social worlds is influenced by factors such as personal history and characteristics, physical maturation and intellectual capacity. This book provides a detailed examination of a variety of these different social worlds. The processes involved in social interactions are considered with specific reference to adolescent development. A framework for analysing research dealing with relational contexts such as the family is presented and its application is illustrated and discussed. Further chapters focus upon more specific topics: physical maturation and social development; dating behaviour; relationships with parents and peers; stress and coping in adolescence; loneliness and its characteristics; relationships with the institutional order. The final chapter returns to theory and urges the need to develop a more realistic conceptual structure which is relevant to the real'life experiences of young people growing up in today's world. The book discusses new theoretical ideas and recent findings in both traditional and emerging areas of research on social development. In doing so, it provides an unusually detailed picture of the changing nature of social relationships and social contexts during the adolescent years.