On November 9–10 of 2006, a small group of researchers gathered at the
Institute for Juvenile Research to honor Dan Offer’s contributions to the study of adolescence (see Levesque
2007a). Several of the papers that resulted from the conference were printed in this journal, in the first issue of volume 36, 2007. That issue revealed the remarkable depth and breadth of Dan’s influence on the participants as well as the study of adolescence. The collection of papers examined several vibrant areas of study. For example, some of the articles addressed cutting-edge issues dealing with adolescence’s diversity, such as diversity emerging from age (Arnett
2007), ethnicity (Gaylord-Harden et al.
2007), and sexual orientation (Cohler and Hammack
2007). Other articles dealt with vulnerabilities and opportunities associated with adolescents’ developmental tasks, such as those ranging from risk-taking (Alberts et al.
2007), to family and community connections (Larson et al.
2007), psychopathology (Rutter
2007), depression (Steinhausen et al.
2007), and to resilience (DiRago and Vaillant
2007). The impressive collection of papers revealed, among other things, that the study of youth and adolescence flourishes as it continues to delve deeply just as much into established areas of research as into new ones. …
