The current review explores the complex paths that can lead to adolescent and young adult males becoming sexually abusive. Because sexual abuse is an ongoing issue in our society that is often oversimplified, this article distinguishes between the various risk factors that predict sexually abusive behavior and types of sex offenders, particularly recidivistic offenders. It is imperative to focus on adolescents and young adults who sexually abuse because they represent a particularly important intervention point in preventing sexual abuse in comparison to older age groups and address the importance of differentiating among youths who sexually abuse, particularly between one-time offenders and recidivistic offenders. Implications for addressing these differences are discussed.

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Social media is riddled with memes (i.e., captioned images intended to convey cultural ideas or beliefs) that often promote maladaptive and unsupported beliefs about human development and parenting. This paper presents a scientific writing assignment designed to help spread accurate information on human development beyond the classroom through creation and sharing of original material on social media. Students were tasked with identifying applicable themes of the course, transforming these themes into scientific memes with supporting research articles, posting these materials to social media, and reflecting on their experiences. This assignment helps students develop critical thinking and scientific literacy, as well as their ability to apply course concepts to everyday life and share those applications with others. Student outcomes from several sections of Lifespan Development—those with the scientific meme assignment versus those with a traditional writing assignment—were analyzed for differences in quantitative measures of student success (i.e., grades). Students’ written reflections were also assessed for common themes. Findings suggest advantages of social media assignments with regard to students’ sense of purpose, experience with scholarly discourse, and student growth, and may inspire creation of additional innovative assignments that promote student learning and application.

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Peer leader programs train students in supporting introductory learners in traditional classrooms via instructional sessions of peer-to-peer learning. Assessments of these programs typically focus on benefits to learners rather than leaders, with any gains for leaders shown via self-reported growth measures. This study examined benefits to leaders using additional indexes such as standardized scores of content knowledge and grade point average. Participants were high-achieving psychology students who underwent a pedagogical training program and led instructional sessions for learners weekly. We found evidence that peer leaders experience gains in content knowledge, academic success, and career readiness. Peer leader programs serve as useful additions to academic programs by aiding learning in classrooms and improving leadership abilities and content knowledge in advanced students.