Poised between the commercialism of mass consumption and a questioning of prevailing social norms, youth cultures offer a fascinating insight into the social and cultural state of western societies. This book provides an exploration of such cultures, with all their implicit ironies and contradictions, at the end of the 20th century. The contributors highlight current forms of expression - music, style, fashion, entertainment - and the richness of youth cultures' historical and contemporary variety. Key issues analyzed include: why are young people seen as at risk from popular culture? how does late modernity affect changing shifts in gender relations? how do young people relate to texts, from the literary to the transgressive? how do the young construct alternative social spheres and symbolic forms? At the same time the book outlines the range of approaches to understanding youth culture and subculture and their relations to, or differences from, popular and high culture. This collection should be useful reading for students of cultural studies and communications, and for all those across the humanities and social sciences interested in the nature, formation and dynamics of youth cultures.
Features writings by death-row inmates, family members of victims and perpetrators, religious and political figures, journalists, criminologists, and legal experts, along with information on programs designed to help young people who have gone astray. It reveals the fear and regret of death-row inmates as well as the horror of their loved ones.
Violent television programmes and video games, printed tobacco advertisements, television beer commercials and sexually suggestive music videos: how do these and other forms of popular media affect teenagers' thinking, behaviour and health? This volume clearly makes the case that the media play a role in diverse facets of at-risk behaviour and adjustment. The author reviews current research findings on the influences of media on adolescents, how the influences occur, and the short- and long-term effects of exposure. He explores topics critical to mental and physical health including teenage violence, sexual activity, substance abuse and eating disorders.
This book untangles popular beliefs about substance abuse issues from historical, clinical and research evidence to address questions such as: What factors cause teenagers to abuse drugs and alcohol? How much of a role do economic factors and neighbourhoods play? Following an introduction which outlines the social history of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and heroin, the volume examines: individual, family, peer and community variables that contribute to substance misuse; resiliency factors that enable some adolescents to avoid such problems; substance abuse in rural and urban settings; pharmacological effects; and current treatment approaches.
This book untangles popular beliefs about substance abuse issues from historical, clinical and research evidence to address questions such as: What factors cause teenagers to abuse drugs and alcohol? How much of a role do economic factors and neighbourhoods play? Following an introduction which outlines the social history of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and heroin, the volume examines: individual, family, peer and community variables that contribute to substance misuse; resiliency factors that enable some adolescents to avoid such problems; substance abuse in rural and urban settings; pharmacological effects; and current treatment approaches.
This text confronts the many dilemmas facing investigators who do research on children and adolescents, and provides practical guidelines on solving them. Amongst the topics given detailed consideration are the kinds of research to which young people feel particularly vulnerable, right to privacy, how ethical guidelines - usually designed for research with adults - apply to work with minors, in what circumstances parental consent is not the right mechanism for protecting children's rights and the explanation of a research project to a young person.
A successful group treatment for juvenile delinquents which combines traditional and contemporary influences is described in this volume. Ferrara discusses the characteristics of delinquents relevant to understanding the value of group approaches, gives practical advice for conducting group sessions and provides a workbook for use directly with group members. Scenarios for role play and a test for evaluating the group's effectiveness for individual members are also included.
