The present study is the first reported analysis of participant data from an afterschool leadership development program targeting the elementary to middle school transition for fifth-grade students. Data were collected from 2012 to 2015 from 261 adolescents who self-selected to participate in the afterschool program and provided parental…

Although the role of school engagement in influencing children's academic competence has been recognized in past theory and research, how school engagement may mediate the relationships between ecological and personal resources and academic competence remains largely unknown. Using structural equation modeling procedures, the present study was…

Theory and research suggest that structured, out-of-school-time activities, and in particular youth development programs aimed at promoting positive youth development (PYD), are key developmental assets for such development. Using longitudinal data from 945 fifth and sixth graders participating in the 4-H Study of PYD, initial descriptive…

Using data from the first three waves (Grades 5, 6, and 7) of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, this study assessed if being a bully or being a victim accounts for an adolescent's academic competence, if selected contextual and individual variables impact an adolescent's academic competence, and if such impact differs in relation to an…

The Search Institute, a nonprofit research organization in Minneapolis, Minnesota, defines developmental assets as good things everyone needs to be happy in life, such as a supportive family, a caring neighborhood, integrity, self-esteem, resistance skills, conflict resolution skills, constructive activities and a sense of purpose. "A…

Positive youth development (PYD) deserves more empirical attention, particularly among children of diverse racial-ethnic backgrounds. Given the need among families for monitoring and supervision during out-of-school time, community-based afterschool is a potentially promotive ecological setting. This study explores the quality of afterschool…

"Adults don't listen to me because they don't think I have anything interesting to say," an eleven-year-old boy explained to the authors of this article during one of the after-school focus groups that took place at Homer (Michigan) Community Schools. However, as part of the Youth Participatory Evaluation (YPE) team's effort to evaluate…

Concern about the growth in adolescent problem behaviours (e.g. delinquency, drug use) has led to increased interest in positive youth development, and a surge in funding for "after school programs." We evaluate the potential of youth sport programs to foster positive development, while decreasing the risk of problem behaviours.…

Current literature on youth development supports the theory that out-of-school programming has an effect on youth development. However, little research has been conducted on types of out-of-school programs and comparisons among involvement in various activities in relation to developmental assets. Hence, the purpose of this study was to analyze…

Two theoretical perspectives have been proposed to describe, explain, and intervene in adolescent development--prevention science and positive youth development (PYD). An integrative model bridging these two perspectives posits that it is important to assess the extent to which the same, similar, or complementary mechanisms may be responsible for…

The relations among observed ecological assets in youth's families, schools, and neighborhoods with positive and negative developmental outcomes were assessed with a sample of 646 fifth-grade youth. The majority of participants were Latino (37.5%) or European American (35.5%) and lived in 2-parent families. Ecological asset indicators were…

The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), a longitudinal investigation of a diverse sample of 1,700 fifth graders and 1,117 of their parents, tests developmental contextual ideas linking PYD, youth contributions, and participation in community youth development (YD) programs, representing a key ecological asset. Using data from Wave 1 of…