Foreword - Frank F. Furstenberg, Ph.D -- Introduction to the Psychological Well-Being of East Asian Youth: Transition from Early Adolescence to Young Adulthood - Chin-Chun Yi -- Part I. The Family Context -- The Concept of Guan in the Chinese Parent-child Relationship - Ming-Yeh Wu -- Growing Up in Single-Parent Families: An Illustration from Taiwanese Families - En-Ling Pan and Kuei-Hsiu Lin -- Family Relationship Quality and Its Psychological Effects among Taiwanese Adolescents - Yuh-Huey Jou -- Part II. The School Context -- Deviant Peers and Delinquency: The Influence of Classroom Context - Chyi-In Wu and Man-Kit Lei -- Exploring the Antecedents and Effects of Structural Holes in Teenagers’ Friendship Networks - Zong-Rong Lee, Chyi-In Wu and Yu-Ting Huang -- Academic Competition and Cram Schooling - Ying-Hwa Chang -- Part III. Entering into Adulthood -- The Developmental Outcome of Taiwanese Youth: Effects of Educational Tracking during Adolescence - Chin-Chun Yi, Gang-Hua Fan and Ming-Yi Chang -- Working, Schooling and Psychological Wellbeing: Evidence from Longitudinal Data for Taiwanese Youth - Fung-Mey Huang and Yu-Ning Chien -- Premarital Sexual Permissiveness among Taiwanese Youth - Chi Chiao and Chin-Chun Yi -- When Young Adults Leave Home: Dependency or Autonomy? - Lang-Wen Huang -- The Effects of Self-Esteem on Adolescent Delinquency: Is the Relationship Linear? - Shu-Ping Tzeng and Chin-Chun Yi -- Part IV. East Asian Additions - Academic achievement-oriented society and its relationship to the psychological well-being of Korean adolescents - Sun-Young Ahn and Hye-Jeong Baek -- Social Capital and Psychosocial Adjustment of Migrant Children in China: The Role of Children’s Personal Agency - Qiao-Bing Wu and Lawrence A. Palinkas -- Subjective Well-being of the Post-80s Generation in Hong Kong: Implications for Social and Political Stability - Chung-Yan Ip and Xiao-Gang Wu.

This book provides readers with a comprehensive picture of diverse growth trajectories of East Asian youth from early adolescence to young adulthood.  Based on a unique panel dataset of Taiwanese youth from the year 2000 to 2009, various life experiences since the junior high to senior high and to college are discussed in terms of influences on the long term development of psychological well-being.  Situated in a rapidly changing social context, a typical youth in this region is faced with the constant pressure from traditional norms which remain strong as well as with the overwhelming impact of modern ideologies.  This book aims to describe significant social mechanisms affecting different growth patterns and to delineate the interplay of various mechanisms in the developmental process during this particular life course.   The book includes comparative data from other East Asian societies such as Korea, China and Hong Kong.