"Young People's Leisure and Lifestyles" examines the importance of leisure in the socialization of young people. The findings quite clearly show the significance of leisure time, when different forms of self-expression emerge, and in particular, with the opportunity to socialize outside the family, self-identity begins to be defined in new ways. Drawing on the results of a major seven-year longitudinal study involving 10,000 young people, the authors closely analyze issues concerning young people in school, home, leisure and work settings. They look, for instance, at young people in the context of the family and explore the impact of parenting style on lifestyle development. Other topics considered in relation to young people's development include and analysis of social class and occupational trajectories, "risk" behaviours and adolescent health and well-being, sports participation, and the formation of friendship groups and the importance of peers across the adolescent years. Importantly, the authors also assess whether class and gender relations override youth culture, values and behaviour as the determining factors of youth lifestyles.

Equal opportunities for girls is the subject of this far-reaching and topical study. The author analyses educational provision in the decades following the passing of the Sex Discrimination Act, and asks whether the school curriculum is male-orientated. Are women still presented as the second sex? Are they, as has been suggested, almost invisible? Is the language of the classroom sexist? Despite many apparent handicaps, however, girls actually achieve more examination passes than boys. There is therefore a problem of squaring up the disadvantages shown up in girls' experiences of schooling and the measurable outcome of that process - a conflict which this engaging text seeks to address.