ABSTRACT
Adolescence has been described as a transition period, one involving multiple dimensions of change in individuals and between individuals and their contexts (Lerner, 1987, 1995). These changing relations involve the actions of the adolescent on the context and, of course, the actions of the context on the adolescent. In other words, adolescents’ actions are influences on, as well as are influenced by, the context of human development. In so affecting their context and thus shaping a source of behavioral change, adolescents are producers of their own development (Brandtstädter, 1998; Flammer, 1995; Gottlieb, Wahlsten, & Lickliter, 1998; Lerner, 1982; Lerner & Busch-Rossnagel, 1981). They are agents in their development; they exert control over the course of their lives. This relational influence of adolescents on their development constitutes the basic process of development in this period of life, and indeed, across life.
