mechanisms for the streets they live on, while others will leave those streets and move on to create alternative realities for themselves. In all cases, young people are creators to varying degrees. The psychol- ogy of entrepreneurship will ultimately help us understand the myriad ways in which young people invent their futures, how they, at times, rebound from repetitive failures to make something more of themselves and our world, and how we can interact with the entrepreneurial proclivi- ties of youth to be optimally constructive. So what is adolescent psychology in today’s world? Most fundamen- tally, it is what it always has been: experiencing possibilities and figuring out—with participation from the world around—how best to move for- ward. The chapters that follow present contexts for youth possibility development around the world: they present the overlapping spheres of possibility and opportunity development, and the work being done at that intersection. Most importantly, though, we hope they serve as an opportunity for envisioning and acting upon the next phases of possibil- ity development in our collective work with youth. So, to latch on to the wonderful impatience of adolescence: There is no time to waste. The next steps are already being taken. What we have learned in editing this volume is already out of date. What you have learned in reading it is further out of date. So let’s build from here. Let’s synthesize the best of these ideas to invent a better future with and for youth, a future that they will transform into possibilities we cannot pos- sibly imagine. References Clonan-Roy, K., Jacobs, C., & Nakkula, M. (2016). Towards a model of positive youth development specific to girls of color: Perspectives on develop- ment, resilience, and empowerment. Gender Issues, 33, 96–121. doi:10. 1007/s12147-016-9156-7 Kierkegaard, S. (1855/1980). The concept of anxiety: A simple psychologically orient- ing deliberation on the dogmatic issue of hereditary sin (Kierkegaard’s Writ- ings, vol. 8). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Lerner, R. M., Almerigi, J. B., Theokas, C., & Lerner, J. V. (2005). Positive youth development: A view of the issues. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 25, 10–16. Nakkula, M. (2003). Identity and possibility: Adolescent development and the potential of schools. In Sadowski, M. (Ed.), Adolescents at school: Perspec- tives on youth, identity, and education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Conceptual Introduction 7
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