Explore the complexities of international independent child migration. This volume gives particular focus to agency and vulnerability as central concepts for understanding the diverse experiences of children who have migrated alone. Combining perspectives from academics and practitioners, the volume is filled with thought-provoking insights into the nature of current programmatic interventions for independent child migrants. It further invites critical reflection on the complex socio-economic, political, and cultural contexts in which migration decisions are taken. Contributors recognize that independent child migrants, despite vulnerabilities, are active decision-makers in determining movement, responding to violent and discriminatory situations, resisting stereotypical assumptions, and figuring out integration and life choices as these are shaped by existing structural opportunities and constraints. This is the 136th volume in this series. Its mission is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in child and adolescent development. Each volume focuses on a specific new direction or research topic and is edited by experts on that topic.

As the chapters in this volume demonstrate, young, disadvantaged men from urban neighborhoods face a unique set of challenges and constraints as they transition to adulthood. Yet, these challenges are not always contained by place. Research among Latino and White disadvantaged men in nonurban settings highlights the pressures that come along with fatherhood for disadvantaged men. In contrast to popular understandings of absent or disengaged fathers, findings reveal how fatherhood and increasing levels of interdependence during early adulthood can buffer men as they make the difficult transition to adulthood. The innovative field-based research featured in this volume illuminates the contexts, processes, and meanings in life pathways for disadvantaged men as they move from adolescence into adulthood and should help to inform policies and practices directed at minimizing their marginalization from mainstream society. This is the 143rd volume in this series. Its mission is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in child and adolescent development. Each volume focuses on a specific new direction or research topic and is edited by experts in that field.

Explore how the peer relationship and extracurricular organized activities—like sports, the arts, and community-based organizations—influence academic functioning, social development, and problem behavior. This volume shows how out-of-school activity offers an ideal context to study peer processes, and to explore both how and why peers matter for organized activity participation. Starting with the theoretical and empirical research on peers and organized activities, it goes on to address several questions including: Does co-participating in an organized activity with your friend improve the quality of the relationship? When do peer relations amplify the benefits of participating and when do they exacerbate negative outcomes? Does participation in organized activities help adolescents manage difficult transition periods? Finally, the volume concludes with a conceptual framework to guide future research on how organized activity characteristics influence peer processes and how these processes within organized activity contexts influence outcomes for adolescents. This is the 140th volume in this series. Its mission is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in child and adolescent development. Each volume focuses on a specific new direction or research topic and is edited by experts on that topic.

In the United States and in many other countries around the world, digital games have become an integral part of children’s lives. Discussions of research on youth and digital games often focus solely on negative effects (e.g., of violent video games), but this is far from the whole story. As natural problem-solving activities, digital games provide a rich context for applied cognition. This volume explores topics such as: The benefits of digital games for children and adolescents’ cognitive skills The nature of their learning from educational media The influence of developmental factors on their interactions with digital games The use of developmental research and established educational practice to create effective educational games that they will play. This is the 139th volume in this series. Its mission is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in child and adolescent development. Each volume focuses on a specific new direction or research topic and is edited by experts on that topic.

Examine the structure and context of identity development in a number of different countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Italy, China, and Japan. While some identity development proceeds in much the same way across national contexts, this issue suggests that there are important nuances in the ways in which identity unfolds in each country. Macrocultural forces, such as permissiveness in Sweden, collective guilt in Germany, and filial piety in China, direct the identity development process in important ways. Expectations regarding obligations and ties to family also direct the identity development process differently in many of the countries included in this volume—such as extended co-residence with parents in Italy, lifelong obligations to follow parents' wishes in China, and democratic independence in Sweden. The various countries are compared and contrasted against the United States, where much of the early identity research was conducted. The volume also reviews specific identity challenges facing immigrant and ethnic-minority individuals in countries that receive large numbers of immigrants—Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy—and suggests many future directions for identity research in various parts of the world. This is the 138th volume in this series. Its mission is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in child and adolescent development. Each volume focuses on a specific new direction or research topic and is edited by experts on that topic.

In an increasingly interconnected world, a dialogical self is not only possible but even necessary. People are closer together than ever, yet they are confronted with apparent and sometimes even insurmountable differences. While there is a need of increased dialogue between individuals, groups, and cultures, it is equally important to develop of dialogical potentials within the self of the individual person. Elaborating on these concerns, the authors present and discuss a Dialogical Self Theory based on the assumption that the self functions as a society of mind. The self is not simply participating in a “surrounding” society, but functions itself as a mini-society, which is, at the same time, part of the society at large. The authors: Present the theory in detail Explore the developmental origins of the dialogical self Elaborate on the identity development of adolescents growing up in multicultural societies Discuss a striking example of a social movement in India, where individual and collective voices merge in a nationwide protest. This is the 137th volume in this series. Its mission is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in child and adolescent development. Each volume focuses on a specific new direction or research topic and is edited by experts on that topic.

The scope and complexity of child migration have only recently emerged as a critical factors in global migration. This volume assembles for the first time a richly interdisciplinary body of work, drawing on contributions from renowned scholars, eminent practitioners and prominent civil society advocates from across the globe and from a wide range of different mobility contexts. Their invaluable pedagogical tools and research documents demonstrate the urgency and breadth of this important new aspect of international human mobility in our global age.