This report constitutes one of the first activities of the Forum on Adolescence. Established under the auspices of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families, the Forum's overarching mission is to synthesize, analyze, and evaluate scientific research on critical national issues that relate to youth and their families, as well as to disseminate research and its policy and programmatic implications. The forum's mission suggested that an excellent starting point would be the work already done on relevant topics by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine; nearly 60 reports published by the National Academy Press touch on adolescent issues and issues relevant to their health and development. To ensure that the data presented are reasonably up to date, this volume emphasizes reports published after 1990. The reports covered address only adolescents in the United States. A number of themes emerged in this synthesis. Adolescence is viewed as a time of both tremendous opportunity and risk, and the social context in which adolescents are developing has changed markedly during the past decade. American families have also experienced dramatic changes. Adolescent development does benefit from the support of a variety of social institutions; and specific strategies can be used to promote the health and well-being of adolescents. Another theme of the studies is that adolescents are increasingly joining the U.S. workforce. Finally, dramatic sociodemographic changes are anticipated in the 21st century, including a great increase in the number of adolescents, as well as increasing cultural diversity within this age group. This report amplifies the aforementioned themes with findings gleaned from the reports examined. Chapter references and figures and appended list of summarized Institute of Medicine/National Research Council reports relevant to adolescence