Values, Religion, and Culture in Adolescent Development

Cultural values and religious beliefs play a substantial role in adolescent development. Developmental scientists have shown increasing interest in how culture and religion are involved in the processes through which adolescents adapt to environments. This volume constitutes a timely and unique addition to the literature on human development from a cultural-contextual perspective. Editors Gisela Trommsdorff and Xinyin Chen present systematic and in-depth discussions of theoretical perspectives, landmark studies, and strategies for further research in the field. The eminent contributors reflect diverse cultural perspectives, transcending the Western emphasis of many previous works. This volume will be of interest to scholars and professionals interested in basic developmental processes, adolescent social psychology, and the sociological and psychological dimensions of religion.

Gisela Trommsdorff received her doctoral degree and venia legendi from the University of Mannheim. She was Professor at the Technical University of Aachen from 1977 to 1987. She then served as Chair for Developmental and Cross-Cultural Psychology at the University of Konstanz before her 2007 appointment as Research Professor at the German Institute for Economic Studies, Berlin. Dr Trommsdorff's research interests are focused on intergenerational relations over the lifespan, transmission of values and children's socioemotional and prosocial development, including adaptation to socio-cultural change, with a primary focus on cultural contexts. Over the past twenty years she has established an international and interdisciplinary collaborative research team in Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, India, the United States and several Eastern and Western European countries. She has co-edited more than twenty books, authored numerous book chapters and articles and served on the boards of international journals and scientific institutions. Dr Trommsdorff is a member of the Academy of Sciences in Erfurt and a recipient of the German Federal Cross of Merit, 1st Class.

Xinyin Chen is Professor of Psychology at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science and a member of the Executive Committee of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development. Dr Chen is the recipient of a William T. Grant Scholars Award, a Shanghai Eastern Scholars Award, and several other academic awards for his scientific work. His primary research interests are in children's and adolescents' socioemotional functioning (such as shyness-inhibition, social competence, affect) and social relationships from a contextual-developmental perspective. Most recently, Dr Chen has been conducting, with his international collaborators, several large-scale, longitudinal projects in Canada, China, and other countries. His current work focuses on the implications of macro-level societal changes for socialization and socioemotional development. He is the co-editor of Peer Relationships in Cultural Context (2006) and the author of a number of articles in major journals including Child Development, Child Development Perspectives, Developmental Psychology and the Annual Review of Psychology. Dr Chen has also published book chapters concerning culture, children's social behaviors and peer relationships, and parental socialization practices.