Parenting

Adolescents often say they want independence when what they really mean is social freedom - freedom from adult direction and restraint. Read More

Months ago the New York Times ran a piece about the Stefanski family, who recently splurged on a boat instead of putting away money for the kids' college funds. The father rationalized the decision by viewing the boat as an investment in their relationships. Read More

A new study just published in the journal Sex Roles has found that college women who join a sorority are more judgmental of their bodies and display more eating-disordered behaviors than women who don't join sororities.

Ashley Marie Rolnik completed her senior honors thesis on the topic. Read More

Why on Earth is drag superstar RuPaul held up alongside a convicted murderer and a "hard partying" eccentric sports star as an example of why parents and officials should be horrified at a school's Black History Month celebration? Read More

We have diligently learned the five questions to ask to determine whether something is a living organism. My friend made up a catchy chant to remember these questions, and I put it to a tune, so we sang it at the beginning of our co-op meeting. This was fun, not least because that was the one time in our home that you are allowed to use "poop" in a song. Read More

Welcome to the first installment of Becoming Adult. This blog is about 18 to 29 year-olds and the paths they take from adolescence into adulthood. This is the theme of my work as an applied developmental psychologist. Since my years as an undergrad working with Dr. Susan Whitbourne on studies of college students growing up, I have been intrigued by the lack of understanding that we have about the critical years when we lay the foundation of our adult lives. So much happens during these years. This is when the roads taken and the roads not taken diverge and begin to have an impact on the way we live until we die. Read More

What child doesn't remember a magical story told to them by a parent or loved one? What adult isn't captivated by an evocative piece on the radio, or a coworker's rendition of their weekend adventure? Storytelling is one of humans' most basic and effective forms of communication. Read More

In thinking about the many faces of infertility that I mentioned in my last posting, the most prominent one in my mind, ironically, is the invisible face. Adopted by both couples and individuals, this face comes across as having hardly a hint of the developing anguish felt inside. Read More

Five studies. That's the complete scientific literature about the effectiveness of different treatments for eating disorders for children and adolescents. The largest of these studies had 165 participants. No wonder patients, parents and professionals flail around when presented with the options. Read More