Of the 1.2 billion adolescents in the world today, 90% live in low- and middle-income countries. These adolescents face many challenges in their lives. Enrollment in secondary schools is still low in many parts of the world, with illiteracy rates approaching 30% in the least developed countries. Further, adolescents not in school are more vulnerable to trafficking, recruitment into armed conflict, and child labor. Many adolescent girls marry and begin bearing children at a young age, contributing to the perpetuation of poverty and health problems.

Despite these many challenges, adolescents also represent a resource to be cultivated through educational opportunities and vocational training to move them toward economic independence, through initiatives to improve their reproductive health, and through positive interpersonal relationships to help them avoid risky behaviors and make positive decisions about their futures.

Edited by Jennifer E. Lansford and Prerna Banati, the Handbook of Adolescent Development Research and its Impact on Global Policy tackles both the challenges and the promise of adolescence by presenting cutting-edge research on social, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and physical development. In addition to providing actionable strategies for policy-makers and practitioners, this volume consciously adopts a positive framing of adolescence, representing young people as opportunities, rather than threats. Throughout the book, readers will find a valuable investment at the individual and societal levels as a way to contribute to a positive shift in the public discourse around young people today.

Jennifer E. Lansford is a Research Professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy and Faculty Fellow of the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University. A developmental psychologist by training, Lansford leads an international study of parenting and child development in nine countries that is currently in its tenth annual year of data collection. Her research focuses on the development of aggression and other behavior problems in diverse cultural contexts, with an emphasis on how family and peer contexts contribute to or protect against these outcomes. She has consulted with UNICEF on standards for parenting programs in a number of countries.

Prerna Banati is Chief of Programmes at UNICEF's Office of Research - Innocenti. Her research focuses on the social and structural forces that are among the most fundamental determinants of poor wellbeing among children. She was a Takemi Fellow in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University, and has previously worked at the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria and at the World Health Organization. Before WHO, she was based in South Africa leading research on community HIV prevention and has published in the fields of HIV prevention, reproductive health, health systems and financing.

1. Introduction: Adolescence in a Global Context
Prerna Banati and Jennifer E. Lansford

Section 1: Domains of Adolescent Development

2. Health and Wellbeing in Adolescence: A Dynamic Profile
Susan M. Sawyer and George C. Patton

3. Neurocognitive Development During Adolescence
Nikki C. Lee, Miriam Hollarek, and Lydia Krabbendam

4. Studying Positive Youth Development in Different Nations: Theoretical and Methodological Issues
Richard M. Lerner, Jacqueline V. Lerner, G. John Geldhof, Steinunn Gestsdóttir, Pamela Ebstyne King, Alistair T R Sim, Milena Batanova, Jonathan M. Tirrell, and Elizabeth Dowling

5. Adolescent Civic Engagement in Contemporary Political and Technological Realities
Colette Daiute

Section 2: Social Relationships

6. Parent-Adolescent Relationships in Global Perspective
Marc H. Bornstein and Diane L. Putnick

7. Peer Relationships
Doran C. French and Hoi Shan Cheung

8. The Contribution of Nonfamily Adults to Adolescent Well-Being: A Global Research and Policy Perspective
Peter C. Scales and Eugene C. Roehlkepartain

Section 3: Risks and Opportunities

9. How to End Child Marriage Around the World: Strategies, Progress and Action Needed
Lakshmi Sundaram, Ellen Travers, and Matilda Branson

10. Adolescents and Armed Conflict: War, Conflict, and Child Soldiers
Theresa S. Betancourt, Stephanie Zuilkowski, Emily Coles, Katharine Collet, and Musu Jambai

11. Immigrant and Refugee Youth Positive Adaptation and Development
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi

12. Push-out, Pull-out, or Opting-out? Reasons Cited by Adolescents for Discontinuing Education in Four Low and Middle Income Countries
Renu Singh and Protap Mukherjee

13. Poverty, Risk and Resilience: The Case of Street-Involved Youth
Silvia H. Koller, Juliana Prates Santana, and Marcela Raffaelli

14. Parent-Based Models of Adolescent Substance Use: A Global Perspective
Andrea M. Hussong and Ruth K. Smith

Section 4: Interventions and Policies

15. Making Strategic Investments in Adolescent Wellbeing
Elena Camilletti and Prerna Banati

16. Social Protection, Adolescent Well-Being, and Development in Low-and Middle-Income Countries
Suman Verma

17. Mental Health Challenges and Interventions for Adolescents: The First 1,000 Weeks
Lorraine Sherr

18. Teens in Public Spaces and Natural Landscapes: Issues of Access and Design
Sara Brunelle, Mariana Brussoni, Susan Herrington, M. Kyle Matsuba, and Michael W. Pratt

19. HIV Prevention Among Adolescents: What Have We Learned and Where are We?
Audrey Pettifor and Hamsa Subramaniam

Section 5: Empowerment of Adolescents

20. Adolescent Development and Capacity Building
Esther F. Akinsola and Anne C. Petersen

21. Gender Equity and the SDGs: Collective Impact for Change
Elizabeth Dettori and Geeta Rao Gupta

22. Young People's Participation in Program Design Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation
Pamela Wridt

23. Conclusions: Adolescent Development Research and Its Impact on Global Policy
Jennifer E. Lansford and Prerna Banati