The longitudinal development of the intraindividual coupling between academic achievement, interest, and self-concept of ability (SCA) was analyzed in a sample of approximately 1,000 children between grades 1 and 12 (ages 6-17). Across all calculated indexes, the average level of coupling was positive. Individuals generally felt competent and interested in domains where they achieve well, and were interested in domains where they perceive their personal strengths. The degree of coupling was the highest between interest and SCA and the lowest between interest and achievement. For all indexes, evidence for an increase in coupling across time was found. Female gender was related to a lower level of coupling. There was evidence for a positive effect of conscientiousness on the amount of coupling.

As one leaves high school and ventures into emerging adulthood, the new demands on one's inter-and intrapersonal resources may be extensive, testing and sometimes overwhelming one's coping capacity. In the United States, there is a deeply rooted norm that this is the time one needs to begin experiencing emotional, financial, and overall lifespace independence from one's family (Arnett, 2000(Arnett, , 2004. This transition may trigger some diverging courses of mental health: Some troubled adolescents, who perhaps experienced a mismatch between their needs and the affordances provided by their family, may find new life in this transition out of the family home; others doing well in adolescence, perhaps because of a good match with their primary contexts, may lose this match (and lose their way) as they enter the new contexts and social roles of emerging adulthood, which may result in brand new difficulties and emergent psychopathology. And still others may use this time of increased personal freedom, loose conventional bonds, and experimentation to get a little crazy on their journey to becoming well-adjusted adults.In this chapter we embed considerations of mental health-particularly in terms of overall well-being, substance use, antisocial behavior, and depressive affect-within the experience of emerging adulthood. As a starting point, we offer the following general observations about the course of selected indices of mental health and maladaptation during emerging adulthood.• In the general population, mental health improves and problem behaviors subside. Consider Figures 6.1-6.4, where, for example, during I (Schulenberg) gratefully acknowledge grant support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA01411) and the National Institute on Mental Health (MH59396). We appreciate the helpful comments of the editors and thank Ginny Laetz, Tanya Hart, and Patti Meyer for their assistance.

This chapter outlines the major developmental challenges likely to affect overall well‐being during adolescence and emerging adulthood and discusses the personal and social assets needed to facilitate a successful passage through adolescence and into adulthood.

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The authors used data from Grades 5 through 7 of the longitudinal 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development to assess relations among sports participation, other out-of-school-time (OST) activities, and indicators of youth development. They used a mixture of variable- and pattern-centered analyses aimed at disentangling different features of participation (i.e., intensity, breadth). The benefits of sports participation were found to depend, in part, on specific combinations of multiple activities in which youths participated along with sports. In particular, participation in a combination of sports and youth development programs was related to positive youth development and youth contribution, even after controlling for the total time youths spent in OST activities and their sports participation duration. Adolescents' total time spent participating in OST activities, duration of participation in sports, and activity participation pattern each explained a unique part of the variance in some of the indicators of youth functioning. These findings suggest the need for future research to simultaneously assess multiple indices of OST activity participation.

Objective This study reports the results of the “Active by Choice Today” (ACT) trial for increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in low-income and minority adolescents. Design The ACT program was a randomized controlled school-based trial testing the efficacy of a motivational plus behavioral skills intervention on increasing MVPA in underserved adolescents. Twenty-four middle schools were matched on school size, percentage minorities, percentage free or reduce lunch, and urban or rural setting before randomization. A total of 1,563 6th grade students (mean age, 11.3 years, 73% African American, 71% free or reduced lunch, 55% female) participated in either a 17-week (over one academic year) intervention or comparison after-school program. Main Outcome Measure The primary outcome measure was MVPA based on 7-day accelerometry estimates at 2-weeks postintervention and an intermediate outcome was MVPA at midintervention. Results At midintervention students in the intervention condition engaged in 4.87 greater minutes of MVPA per day (95% CI: 1.18 to 8.57) than control students. Students in intervention schools engaged in 9.11 min (95% CI: 5.73 to 12.48) more of MVPA per day than those in control schools during the program time periods; indicating a 27 min per week increase in MVPA. No significant effect of the ACT intervention was found outside of school times or for MVPA at 2-weeks postintervention. Conclusions Motivational and behavioral skills programs are effective at increasing MVPA in low-income and minority adolescents during program hours, but further research is needed to address home barriers to youth MVPA.

This longitudinal study examines how extracurricular activity involvement contributes to "educational resilience"-the unexpected educational attainments of adolescents who are otherwise vulnerable to curtailed school success due to personal-and social-level risks. Educationally vulnerable youth characterized by significant risks and an absence of assets were identified during early adolescence (approximately age 14) using measures of academic motivation, achievement, and mental health as well as family, school, and peer contexts. Using a mixture of variable-and patterncentered analytic techniques, we investigate how both the total amount time that vulnerable youth spent in positive extracurricular activities and the specific pattern of their extracurricular activity involvement during late adolescence (approximately age 17) predict their subsequent enrollment in college during early adulthood (up through approximately age 21). Educational resilience was predicted uniquely by some, but not all, activity patterns. These results suggest that positive extracurricular activity settings afford vulnerable youth developmentally appropriate experiences that promote educational persistence and healthy development.Involvement in positive (e.g., structured or supervised) extracurricular activities, both within and outside of the school context, has been identified as an important factor in the promotion of positive youth development (e.g

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