Adolescence: an Introduction

Drawing on research published in America, Australasia and Europe, this accessible and student-friendly introduction to the psychological study of adolescence has an international and multicultural flavour. The text describes the major theoretical approaches to adolescent development, particularly Piaget's account of the development of reasoning in adolescence, development as a lifespan process, information processing models, social cognition, and psychoanalytic perspectives. Frequent use is made of illustrations, chosen to represent a variety of nations and cultures. Of topical interest is a chapter on adolescents and their media, which looks at teenagers' use of computers, computer games, music, magazines, the telephone, and the internet. The problems of adolescence, including drugs, delinquency, eating disorders, depression and suicide, are also explored in depth. To support student learning, each chapter contains an outline of its goals and structure, learning objectives, well-structured text with section headings, summaries, discussion points, suggestions for further reading, and definitions of key terms.