Today's youth is confronted not only with the developmental tasks of adolescence, but also with substantial social and economic changes on the macro level originating from globalization and economic volatility. Furthermore, these changes cascade down to nearly all domains of adolescence, such as education, peer relations, and family life. Adolescents often cannot rely on role models to cope with these changes because their parents grew up in a world with substantially different conditions.

This volume of New Directions for Youth Development brings together research on the implications of social and economic changes for today's youth and covers important topics: adolescents' future perspectives, the competencies they need to prosper in specific cultures, changes related to family and school, gender differences in economic roles within changing societies, the effects of technological progress on their lives, the way in which they cope with biographical transitions in flexible markets, and issues of health and resilience.

The articles provide valuable suggestions about what is being done and can be done with regard to individuals or particular groups of youth, especially concerning the application of research findings to interventions.