Review by Choice Review
One of two books commissioned under joint sponsorship of the Society for Research on Adolescence and the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, this first volume deals with results of empirical research on the transition from childhood to adulthood. Brown (Univ. of Wisconsin), Larson (Univ. of Illinois) and Saraswathi (Maharaja Sayajirao Univ. of Baroda) gathered an international group of scholars and instructed them to look at parallel developmental issues in their geographical region: sub-Saharan Africa, India, China and Japan, Southeast Asia, the Arab countries, Russia, Latin America, and Western countries. Focusing on the conditions and future of adolescents in their respective countries, the essayists examine such issues as the definition of adolescence, family and educational contexts, peer relations, preparation for employment, health and social services, impact of the media, and civic involvement. The authors succeed in attending to variables that are relevant to their own culture and simultaneously comparing the cultures on a set of common variables, admittedly of unequal salience from one culture to the next. They also succeed in rectifying a heretofore almost entirely Eurocentric emphasis in the study of adolescence. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. J. P. McKinney emeritus, Michigan State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review