The Teenage World: Adolescents' Self-Image in Ten Countries [Hardcover]

Daniel Offer (Author), Eric Ostrov (Author), K.I. Howard (Author), Robert Atkinson (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (April 30, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306427478
• ISBN-13: 978-0306427473
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,958,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Atkinson is Professor of Human Development and Religious Studies, director of the Life Story Center, and Senior Research Fellow in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute National Resource Center, at the University of Southern Maine.

After his B.A. from Southampton College of Long Island University, and an M.A. in American Folk Culture from SUNY, Cooperstown, his journeys took him to the Hudson River where he was a crew member on the maiden voyage of the sloop Clearwater with Pete Seeger. Next was Woodstock, then a stay in a cabin in the woods near the river, a visit with Ramblin' Jack Elliott to Arlo Guthrie's farm in the Berkshires, a fateful meeting with Joseph Campbell, an extended stay in a Franciscan monastery, and finally he returned to Southampton College to teach a course on folk-rock lyrics as poetry. The full details of all this and more can be found in his memoir of that period, Remembering 1969: Searching For the Eternal in Changing Times.

His first book - Songs of the Open Road: The Poetry of Folk Rock and the Journey of the Hero (1974, NAL/Signet; out of print, but still available here) - was a result of that first college course he taught. His second master's degree is from the University of New Hampshire in Counseling, and his Ph.D. is from the University of Pennsylvania in cross-cultural human development. He also completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Chicago, which resulted in the publication of The Teenage World, co-authored with his mentors.

At the University of Southern Maine, he has been the first Diversity Scholar in the College of Education and Human Development, a co-founding faculty of the Russell Scholars Program, a residential learning community, and a co-founding faculty of the Religious Studies minor, as well as a faculty member on the fall 2002 Semester at Sea voyage around the world. The Gift of Stories has been translated into Japanese, and The Life Story Interview into Italian and Romanian. His next book, due out in the spring of 2011, is Remembering Who We Are: Reviewing Our Life Story, Reclaiming Our Spiritual Heritage. Excerpts and previews of this book can be followed at his Wordpress blog, Remembering Who We Are.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Sound data for understanding teen self-image across cultures, June 4, 2008

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linda's books "Linda Abbott Trapp, PhD, autho... (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Teenage World: Adolescents' Self-Image in Ten Countries (Hardcover)

A landmark study in which nearly 6,000 young people rated approximately 100 descriptions in terms of relevance to the self. Their responses to the psychological, social, familial, sexual, and coping statements yield a fascinating snapshot of the self-image of adolescents in ten countries. Most useful for the layperson is the final discussion chapter, "Becoming an adult in the world". Additionally, the section on gender differences in adolescent self-image which begins on page 67 should be required reading for parents and educators. For a way of addressing gender and confidence issues, see Letters to My Granddaughters; Insights and inspiration for a life journey. Appendices include the questionnaire used, statistical tables, and the depression scale developed for this study. References and index follow.