Youth & Society 

About: Youth & Society is an academic journal published by SAGE Publishing. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Poison control & Juvenile delinquency. It has an ISSN identifier of 0044-118X. Over the lifetime, 1516 publications have been published receiving 51108 citations. The journal is also known as: Youth and society.

Parental Disciplinary Patterns and Social Competence in Children

Abstract: In the United States today, parents rather than the state have primary responsibility for socializing their young. Socialization is an adult-initiated process by which the young person through education, training, and imitation acquires his culture as well as the habits and values congruent with adaptation to that culture. There is no way in which parents can evade having a determining effect upon their children's personality, character, and competence. Children are not the originators of their own actions in the sense that their parents are or should be. Adults can contribute to their own development by altering the stimuli that impinge upon them, and by defining objectives for themselves which, once formulated, then structure their actions. Children, on the other hand, will be presented with stimuli and asked to accomplish goals formulated for them by upbringers. Adult caretakers will play a determining role in the way their children develop, either consciously and conscientiously or by default. Several researchers (Spence, 1966; Siege1 and Konn, 1959) have found that nonreaction by adults is most frequently interpreted by

Identity and Agency in Emerging Adulthood: Two Developmental Routes in the Individualization Process.

Abstract: The study of emerging adulthood—the prolonged transition to adulthood extending into the 20s—is a rapidly growing area of research. Although identity issues are prominent during this period, the role of personal agency and individualization in the identity formation process during these years is not well understood. This study examines three psychological aspects of identity formation (style, status, and process) in relation to personal agency associated with the individualization process. Structural equation modeling analyses suggest that higher levels of agency are positively related to exploration and flexible commitment, unrelated to conformity, and negatively related to avoidance. Cluster analysis was used to examine and support a theorized polarity between developmental and default forms of individualization. Replicated across three U.S. ethnic groups, the results suggest that emerging adults utilize agentic capacities to varying degrees, and that the degree of agency utilized is directly related to...

A Social Capital Framework for the Study of Institutional Agents and Their Role in the Empowerment of Low-Status Students and Youth

Abstract: This article builds on a sociological account of working-class minority youth development and differential access to social capital—defined in terms of key resources and support provided by institutional agents (Stanton-Salazar, 1997, 2001, 2004). The article elaborates on the concept of institutional agents—specifically, high-status, non-kin, agents who occupy relatively high positions in the multiple dimensional stratification system, and who are well positioned to provide key forms of social and institutional support. The article focuses on the kinds of institutional support such agents are able to provide, and on the multiple and simultaneous [help-giving] roles assumed by those who provide this support. Drawing from empowerment theory in critical social work, the article provides a discussion about manifesting one’s capacity as an institutional agent in ways that not only entails providing key resources, but also that enables the authentic empowerment of the student or young person. Influenced by Fre...

A Constructionist Discourse on Resilience: Multiple Contexts, Multiple Realities among At-Risk Children and Youth

Abstract: An ecological approach to the study of resilience, informed by Systems Theory and emphasizing predictable relationships between risk and protective factors, circular causality, and transactional processes, is inadequate to account for the diversity of people’s experiences of resilience. In contrast, a constructionist interpretation of resilience reflects a postmodern understanding of the construct that better accounts for cultural and contextual differences in how resilience is expressed by individuals, families, and communities. Research supporting this approach has demonstrated a nonsystemic, nonhierarchical relationship between risk and protective factors that is characteristically chaotic, complex, relative, and contextual. This article critically reviews research findings that support an ecological perspective and explores the emerging literature that informs a constructionist approach to the study of resilience. It will show that an alternate constructionist discourse on resilience greatly enhances ...

Experiences of discrimination among African American, Asian American, and Latino adolescents in an urban high school

Abstract: Interviews and participant observation are used to describe how ethnic minority students in an urban high school experience discrimination. The findings suggest critical variations among students that contributed to a hostile school environment. Asian American students discussed physical and verbal harassment by peers, while Black and Latino students reported discrimination by adults, such as teachers, police, and shopkeepers. Findings suggested a circular process whereby teachers preferred the Asian American students, often basing their preference on model minority beliefs, and the African American and Latino adolescents resented that teacher bias and thus harassed the Asian American students. Asian American and Latino students also expressed intraracial tensions around issues of language, immigration, and assimilation. Findings underscore the importance of exploring adolescents’ subjective experiences of discrimination.