Encyclopedia of Adolescence

The Encyclopedia of Adolescence breaks new ground as an important central resource for the study of adolescence. Comprehensive in breath and textbook in depth, the Encyclopedia of Adolescence – with entries presented in easy-to-access A to Z format – serves as a reference repository of knowledge in the field as well as a frequently updated conduit of new knowledge long before such information trickles down from research to standard textbooks. By making full use of Springer’s print and online flexibility, the Encyclopedia is at the forefront of efforts to advance the field by pushing and creating new boundaries and areas of study that further our understanding of adolescents and their place in society.

Substantively, the Encyclopedia draws from four major areas of research relating to adolescence. The first broad area includes research relating to "Self, Identity and Development in Adolescence". This area covers research relating to identity, from early adolescence through emerging adulthood; basic aspects of development (e.g., biological, cognitive, social); and foundational developmental theories. In addition, this area focuses on various types of identity: gender, sexual, civic, moral, political, racial, spiritual, religious, and so forth. The second broad area centers on "Adolescents’ Social and Personal Relationships". This area of research examines the nature and influence of a variety of important relationships, including family, peer, friends, sexual and romantic as well as significant nonparental adults. The third area examines "Adolescents in Social Institutions". This area of research centers on the influence and nature of important institutions that serve as the socializing contexts for adolescents. These major institutions include schools, religious groups, justice systems, medical fields, cultural contexts, media, legal systems, economic structures, and youth organizations."Adolescent Mental Health" constitutes the last major area of research. This broad area of research focuses on the wide variety of human thoughts, actions, and behaviors relating to mental health, from psychopathology to thriving. Major topic examples include deviance, violence, crime, pathology (DSM), normalcy, risk, victimization, disabilities, flow, and positive youth development.

• Adolescent obesity
• Adolescent romantic relationships
• Antisocial behavior
• Dating
• Depression
• Early adolescence
• Extracurricular participation
• Family processes
• Gender
• Gender and race
• Individuation
• Juvenile justice
• Mental health
• Middle school
• National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
• Obesity
• Other-sex friendship
• Parent–adolescent relationship
• Peer crowd affiliation
• Peer relations
• Positive youth development
• Prevention
• Psychosocial outcomes
• Pubertal timing
• Sex differences
• Sexual initiation
• Socialization model
• Sports
• Stress reactivity
• Substance abuse
• Theory of Reasoned Action
• Weight concerns
• Weight control behaviors
• Young adults

From the reviews:

Choice - Outstanding Academic Title in 2012

“Encyclopedia offers a comprehensive examination of adolescence. … provides a broad sense of research in the field and wide breadth (ranging from parenting styles to terrorism). … the essays contain thorough analyses that are clear to nonexperts on adolescence. … This material is highly useful for anyone interested in pursuing research. … The editor recommends this … for educators, students, researchers, and practitioners, but parents who want more information on adolescence would benefit as well. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.” (W. S. Miner, Choice, Vol. 49 (11), July, 2012)

• Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

  Roger J. R. Levesque

Roger J.R. Levesque, J.D. (Columbia Law School), Ph.D. (Psychology, the University of Chicago), is professor of criminal justice at Indiana University and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Prior to his current faculty position, he was Professor of Psychology and Law at the University of Arizona.

Professor Levesque's research focuses on the legal regulation of families and the nature of children/adolescents' rights. In addition to having published numerous journal articles, Levesque is the author of eight books (and editor of one) dealing mainly with the nature family life and the laws that shape our intimate lives. His most recent text Adolescents, Media, and the Law was published by Oxford University Press in 2007. One of his other texts dealing with intersections between human development and the law, Not by Faith Alone: Religion, Law and Adolescence (New York University Press), won the Society for the Study of Adolescence 2004 best authored book award. He also is the author of the first (and still only) law case book, Child Maltreatment Law (Carolina Academic Press), which presents legal materials and related social science information to help readers understand the breadth and depth of legal responses to child maltreatment.

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