Scientific research and science-guided practice based on the promotion of an individual′s strengths constitutes a radical shift in a new and growing area of study within the field of human development. Its trademark term is `positive youth development′. This approach to human development is based on the idea that, in addition to preventing problems, science and practice should promote the development of competencies, skills, and motivation in order to enhance individuals′ developmental pathways. Approaches to Positive Youth Development, is based on this concept and brings together authors from across Europe and America who are leaders in their respective fields. The main focus of the book, beyond a clarification of the paradigmatic foundations, concerns the major contexts of adolescents and young adults, namely, neighbourhoods and leisure locales, school and family, and the major themes of healthy psychosocial development, namely, competences and knowledge, prosocial behaviour, transcending problems of delinquency, civic engagement, identity, agency, and spirituality.

Each chapter provides in-depth discussions and this volume serves as an invaluable resource for Developmental or educational psychology researchers, scholars, and students. Includes chapters that highlight some of the most recent research in the area of Positive Youth Development Each chapter provides in-depth discussions An invaluable resource for developmental or educational psychology researchers, scholars, and students

Cutting through the political rhetoric about the power of sport as a tool for social change and personal improvement, this book offers insight into how and why participating in sport can be good for children and young people. Still the only book to focus on the role of sport in positive youth development (PYD), it brings together high-profile contributors from diverse disciplines to critically examine the ways in which sport can be used to promote youth development. Now in a fully updated, revised, and expanded third edition, Positive Youth Development through Sport covers a wider range of disciplines including sport psychology, development psychology, physical education, sport development, and sport sociology. With every chapter asking why, what, so what, and what next, the book introduces the theoretical basis and historical context of PYD, quantitative and qualitative methods for assessing PYD in sport, and the potential of PYD in sport across different ages and abilities. This edition includes brand-new chapters on PYD in schools, in Indigenous populations, and across the lifespan, as well as new material on evaluating PYD programs and new case studies of PYD around the world. This is invaluable reading for all students, researchers, educators, practitioners, programmers, and policy makers with an interest in youth sport.

This book presents the results of the longitudinal 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. The volume discusses how self-regulation and contextual resources (e.g., strong relationships with parents, peers, and the community) can be fostered in young people to contribute to the enhancement of functioning throughout life. Each chapter examines a particular aspect of youth thriving, and offers findings on either the bases or the role of positive development in a variety of outcomes, from reduced risk of emotional problems and harmful behaviors to increased participation in the community. Contributors introduce a contemporary model of positive development for diverse youth, provide examples of effective youth development programs, and suggest applications for informing the next generation of policies and practices. Among the featured topics: The regulation of emotion in adolescence. School engagement, academic achievement, and positive youth development. Peer relationships and positive youth development. Identity development in adolescence and the implications for youth policy and practice. Promoting adolescent sexual health in youth programming. A positive youth development approach to bullying. Researchers in developmental psychology as well as practitioners in educational or youth development programs or policies will gain from Promoting Positive Youth Development a new appreciation of the central role of young people's strengths, and initiatives to build effective youth programs. “This volume is destined to become the handbook for anyone interested in the bourgeoning field of positive youth development. Based on ground breaking, longitudinal research from top researchers in the field, Promoting Healthy Development for America’s Youth presents a rich, theoretically grounded understanding of the landscape today’s youth and programs. The contributors provide clear, data-driven guidance regarding the types of programs and settings that are most beneficial to young people.” Jean E. Rhodes, Ph.D. Frank L. Boyden Professor Department of Psychology University of Massachusetts, Boston

This handbook examines positive youth development (PYD) in youth and emerging adults from an international perspective. It focuses on large and underrepresented cultural groups across six continents within a strengths-based conception of adolescence that considers all youth as having assets. The volume explores the ways in which developmental assets, when effectively harnessed, empower youth to transition into a productive and resourceful adulthood. The book focuses on PYD across vast geographical regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, North America, and Latin America as well as on strengths and resources for optimal well-being. The handbook addresses the positive development of young people across various cultural contexts to advance research, policy, and practice and inform interventions that foster continued thriving and reduce the chances of compromised youth development. It presents theoretical perspectives and supporting empirical findings to promote a more comprehensive understanding of PYD from an integrated, multidisciplinary, and multinational perspective.

The essential reference for human development theory, updated and reconceptualized The Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science, a four-volume reference, is the field-defining work to which all others are compared. First published in 1946, and now in its Seventh Edition, the Handbook has long been considered the definitive guide to the field of developmental science. Volume 1, Theory and Method, presents a rich mix of classic and contemporary theoretical perspectives, but the dominant views throughout are marked by an emphasis on the dynamic interplay of all facets of the developmental system across the life span, incorporating the range of biological, cognitive, emotional, social, cultural, and ecological levels of analysis. Examples of the theoretical approaches discussed in the volume include those pertinent to human evolution, self regulation, the development of dynamic skills, and positive youth development. The research, methodological, and applied implications of the theoretical models discussed in the volume are presented. Understand the contributions of biology, person, and context to development within the embodied ecological system Discover the relations among individual, the social world, culture, and history that constitute human development Examine the methods of dynamic, developmental research Learn person-oriented methodological approaches to assessing developmental change The scholarship within this volume and, as well, across the four volumes of this edition, illustrate that developmental science is in the midst of a very exciting period. There is a paradigm shift that involves increasingly greater understanding of how to describe, explain, and optimize the course of human life for diverse individuals living within diverse contexts. This Handbook is the definitive reference for educators, policy-makers, researchers, students, and practitioners in human development, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and neuroscience.

In this Research Topic, our aim is to examine how personal resources related to competencies, skills, and self-perception as well as environmental, contextual, and relational features of the social contexts of diverse youth, directly or indirectly are important to mental health and psychological well-being. As previous research on young people has mainly focused on youth’s weaknesses rather than their strengths, our use of Positive Youth Development (PYD) in working with culturally diverse youth and their well-being in this Research Topic is novel. We invite contributions from researchers that were initially presented their papers in a meeting that was held by research partners of the Cross-National Project on Positive Youth Development (CN-PYD), and who represent an international and multidisciplinary panel of experts on PYD. The CN-PYD was initiated in 2014 at the University of Bergen and has an ongoing data collection that involves approximately 10,000 minority and majority youth and emerging adults (ages 16 to 29) living in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and South America. CN-PYD uses a strengths-based approach to the conceptualization of youth as resources and agentic, which is in opposition to the view of the developmental period of adolescence as being a period inherently fraught with problems and risks. The goal of the cross-national project is to assess personal strengths and contextual resources, considering how these resources come together to facilitate youth thriving and to document how young people make positive and valued contributions to themselves and others. We also advance research on the complex interplay between personal and contextual resources and their connections with risk behaviors and problems, in essence, taking a perspective of the whole child, both in terms of strengths and problems.

In this innovative book, elements of risk and resilience, positive youth development, and organizational collaboration are used to develop a comprehensive intervention framework, the Integrated Prevention and Early Intervention (IPEI) Model.

This book explores the transformative power of critical literacy in fostering youth engagement through university-community partnerships. It is based on a six-year study by The Literacy and Community Initiative (LCI) at North Carolina State University. This book examines the potential, possibilities, and challenges of using critical literacy in university-community partnerships to amplify youth voices. Through the LCI program, youth in four community-based organizations completed a critical literacy curriculum, published their writings in a book, and participated in public readings to engage and lead their communities. The authors draw on data from semi-structured individual interviews, focus groups, youth narratives, and socio-emotional surveys across four unique youth populations. The youth populations involved collaborations with youth of color in urban communities, Latine immigrant and second-generation youth, girls in foster care and high-risk situations, and youth from immigrant and refugee backgrounds. Results of the study suggest that after engaging in the LCI critical literacy program, youth demonstrated improved literacy skills, enhanced social-emotional well-being, and increased community leadership and self-advocacy. Presenting a novel theoretical framework for the effective use of critical literacy to promote positive youth development in conjunction with first-hand insights into the successful development and sustainment of university-community research partnerships, this book ultimately provides a unique insight into how critical literacy and successful university-community partnerships can combine to result in powerful support for underserved culturally and linguistically diverse youth. This book will appeal to scholars, educators, and practitioners with interests in critical literacy, positive youth development studies, and adolescent research.