Introduction

Adolescence is when young people, for the first time in their lives, must become truly social agents – free but also responsible to make choices and commitments that to a large extent define their “social destiny,” that is, their places and roles in society often for the rest of their lives. Hence, in order to understand adolescents, it is critically important to understand the socioeconomic and cultural-historical dimensions of the society that the young people are entering as they prepare to become its full members. However, the reverse is also true. The society itself is perhaps well understood only when we have an idea of who the young people populating it are, how these people are adapting to and participating in society's transforming structures, and what the trends are that specify the life course of its younger generations.

This certainly holds true for the Russian society. The education and development of the younger generation is a key factor in this country's future. Today's adolescents in Russia grew up in an unusually turbulent and dynamic sociocultural and political context. It is today's adolescents who have suffered most because of the worsening conditions in schools due to lack of funds for education. But it is also they who grew up in freedom and can now appreciate an unprecedented access to information and diverse education, can plan more varied career paths due to the emerging, more dynamic job market, and can generally enjoy advantages brought about by democracy.