Adolescence in India: An Interdisciplinary Perspective highlights the need and importance of studying adolescence in the domain of education. Using an interdisciplinary approach, it discusses adolescence from the perspective of sociology, psychology, education and health studies. Against the backdrop of economic development and globalization, the book looks at adolescence in the changing social milieu. It offers an understanding of adolescence by exploring the socio-cultural influences on adolescents and their interactions in various spaces like the school, among peers, family and the media. The book reflects on classroom group processes and instructional practices for better psychosocial growth of adolescents as well as discusses the need for a greater emphasis on making resources available for adolescents to realise and strengthen their skills and agency. The book outlines various life-skills policies and programmes in India and uses vignettes, anecdotes, emerging classroom discussions, case studies, activities, and self-assessment tools and questionnaires to facilitate a deeper understanding of the concept. The book will be of interest to students, teachers, and educators in teaching programmes including educational psychology, adolescent psychology, and human development. It will also be useful for policymakers, NGOs, and public and private sector bodies who work in the field of adolescent psychology.

This book provides a comprehensive, in-depth and practical approach towards an understanding of the multitude challenges of adolescence in India. Going beyond the traditional ‘storm, stress and strain’ view of adolescents, it focuses on the strengths of adolescents and highlights a community approach towards an understanding of adolescents. The book is divided into three sections. Section 1 introduces the concept of adolescence in the Indian context, discusses the identity development and peer relations in adolescents. Section 2 deliberates on issues and challenges such as depression, suicide, violence, substance use and behavioural addiction, keeping in mind the Indian socio-cultural context. It also highlights concerns of adolescents related to disabilities. Section 3 provides various prevention and intervention measures including both individual-based and group-based interventions to deal with these challenges, thereby facilitating the journey of adolescents. It helps the reader to focus on the positive development of the adolescents. The book is useful for students in psychology, education, counselling, mental health and development. It is also a great resource book for professionals working in the field of health in general and mental health in particular.

Publisher description

Set against the backdrop of social change and globalization, this book presents the contents and contours of adolescence in contemporary urban India. Based on the trends derived from a series of mixed-method studies with adolescent girls and boys, and parents from urban upper middle class families, it explores adolescents’ and parents’ interpretations of the stage of adolescence, illustrates views on parenting, and discusses approaches to interpersonal disagreements to derive a framework of the parent-adolescent relationship. Drawing from the cultural-contextual perspective of human development, the book in its essence offers a culturally and contextually sensitive model of adolescence that is shaped along the central tenets of family interdependence, harmony, and sensitivity to parental concerns. Highlighted as well are aspects that have remained mostly unexplored, for example, adolescents’ capacity for empathy and perspective taking, and emerging issues of autonomy in a primarily relational culture. At a broader level, the book reflects upon the interplay of cultural continuity and change, and contributes to an understanding of globalizing influences on human development. Overall, the depiction of adolescent development captured in the book has significant implications for enhancing family relationships and fostering self-growth---elements that are crucial for positive youth development.The book will be of immense use to scholars in human development, psychology, and allied fields as well as to practitioners who work with adolescents.

The young and adolescents are an epitome of change, hope and progress. The lives of adolescents are subject to global challenges faced by information and technological revolution, changing markets and globalization, and specific changes taking place in family dynamics, cultural traditions, religious beliefs and other socialization practices. This book on Adolescence Education assumes importance in view of the likely impact of acquired skills and behaviours during this period on an individual’s prospects in adulthood. This book is an attempt to understand the broader context in which adolescent lives are embedded. The theoretical perspective presents a multi-disciplinary view of adolescence that helps to understand the evolution of the concept of adolescence. Presenting an elaborate account of adolescence as experienced by young in India and highlighting the challenges that emerge as a result of dynamic changes in society, the attempt is made to identify the emerging issues and concerns that impact the lives of adolescents and provide a perspective to adolescence education. The historical account presented helps to build an understanding of the various socio-cultural forces that led to the emergence of the existing Adolescence Education Programme (AEP). The text presents the key features of the present AEP that are imperative for its successful implementation. The UN and civil society initiatives are mapped with a view to locate the characteristic features and thrust of various interventions. The text gives some gleaning insights from available evidences regarding execution of various existing adolescent programmes, and existential realities of adolescents’ lives. The book is intended for the undergraduate and postgraduate students of Education, Psychology and Sociology. Besides, the book is equally beneficial for the students opting for Psychology at their +2 level.

The Developmental Science of Adolescence: History Through Autobiography is the most authoritative account of the leading developmental scientists from around the world. Written by the scholars who shaped the history they are recounting, each chapter is an engaging and personal account of the past, present, and future direction of the field. No other reference work has this degree of authenticity in presenting the best developmental science of adolescence. The book includes a Foreword by Saths Cooper, President of the International Union of Psychological Science and autobiographical chapters by the following leading developmental scientists: Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Robert Wm. Blum, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, B. Bradford Brown, Marlis Buchmann, John Bynner, John Coleman, Rand D. Conger, James E. Côté, William Damon, Sanford M. Dornbusch, Nancy Eisenberg, Glen H. Elder, Jr., David P. Farrington, Helmut Fend, Andrew J. Fuligni, Frank F. Furstenberg, Beatrix A. Hamburg, Stephen F. Hamilton, Karen Hein, Klaus Hurrelmann, Richard Jessor, Daniel P. Keating, Reed W. Larson, Richard M. Lerner, Iris F. Litt, David Magnusson, Rolf Oerter, Daniel Offer, Augusto Palmonari, Anne C. Petersen, Lea Pulkkinen, Jean E. Rhodes, Linda M. Richter, Hans-Dieter Rösler, Michael Rutter, Ritch C. Savin-Williams, John Schulenberg, Lonnie R. Sherrod, Rainer K. Silbereisen, Judith G. Smetana, Margaret Beale Spencer, Laurence Steinberg, Elizabeth J. Susman, Richard E. Tremblay, Suman Verma, and Bruna Zani.

"Annotating the literature of the past three decades, both theoretical and empirical, on the Indian adolescents, the present book examines the trends shaping adolescence in the areas of physical and mental well-being, family and peer relations, experience of schooling and their personality development. Issues concerning adolescents' political participation, community involvement, social deprivation, crime, employment and services available are also addressed. The authors project a mixed future for adolescents in India. Rapid technological advancements, increasing materialism with its impact on adolescents' value system and lifestyles are likely to result not only in intergenerational conflicts but will also provide opportunities for global connectivity, new role models with increasing peer influences which may become critical in deciding adolescents' developmental trajectory. The book is geared for scholars and students of social/developmental psychology, education, sociology, human development, psychiatry, as well as policy makers and practitioners."

This edited volume advances the conceptual framework of the 'everyday urban' to unpack the ways in which processes of modernity in India shape young subjects and, in so doing, centers the analytical categories of childhood and youth. In rejecting simplistic binaries of agency, and teleological logics of development and modernity, the authors focus on the complex pathways of negotiation and conflict that mark the lives of young people across various historical and contemporary contexts in urban India. Chapters are organized across two key themes: Shaping Modern Subjects and Being Modern Subjects, while spanning multiple disciplines including anthropology, history, sociology, disability studies, and psychology. Together, the contributions aim to advance the field of childhood and youth studies in South Asia and beyond.

The study of adolescence in the field of psychology has grown tremendously over the last two decades, necessitating a comprehensive and up-to-date revision of this seminal work. This multidisciplinary handbook, edited by the premier scholars in the field, Richard Lerner and Laurence Steinberg, and with contributions from the leading researchers, reflects the latest empirical work and growth in the field.