Background: Life history theory provides a unifying perspective on understanding human behaviors as adaptive strategies in response to particular environmental conditions. There is little empirical literature on the relationships between life history strategies and positive youth development. Objective: This study examines the relationships…

Positive Youth Development (PYD) model is a strength-based perspective of transition to adulthood derived from developmental systems theory. Developmental assets (DAs) framework describes the individual and contextual resources that may promote PYD. This work aims to analyze the associations between internal and external DAs and PYD, as well as…

Introduction: Based on internal and external assets, the positive youth development approach aims to increase the capacity among adolescents to overcome challenges as they transition to adulthood. Developmental assets have been found to be positively associated with academic achievement, a variety of health promoting behaviors, and improved…

Despite existing research on the contribution of social context and religiosity to adolescent behavioral outcomes, few studies have attempted to explore this topic among Muslim adolescents in non-Western settings, looking at both positive and negative outcomes. In response to this gap, the current study explored the effects of three dimensions of…

In order to prepare students for adulthood and responsible citizenship, most high schools offer extracurricular activities designed to facilitate the learning of a wide range of competencies. The purpose of this study was to examine how participation in a single or a combination of extracurricular school activities for high school students may…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a local afterschool program in helping underserved elementary school students improve their reading achievement. The study followed a cohort of students with 28 participants who were low-income, ethnic minority children in the 1st-6th grades between the ages of 6 and 12. Data on…

In this study, we explored socioeconomic status (SES) and family structure as predictors of resiliencies among "at-risk" youth before and after participating in schools-based mentoring programs. Twenty-four youths (13 girls) aged 13-18 ("M" = 16.21, SD = 1.76) participated. Youths completed pre- and post-test…

The link between adolescent sexual activity and psychological well-being is a controversial issue in developmental psychology. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between three aspects of teenage sexuality (genital sexual experience, age of sexual onset, and number of sex partners) and positive well-being (hedonic, eudaimonic,…

Having a sense of purpose has been discussed as a developmental asset for youth and as an outgrowth of establishing a sense of identity. Using the identity capital model as a theoretical framework, 3 studies examined purpose as a mediator in the relationship between identity and well-being among adolescents and emerging adults. In Study 1A, (n =…

This longitudinal study tested the "influence of involvement" and "selection" hypotheses for the association between religious versus non-religious activity involvement and two salient indicators of adolescent psychosocial adjustment (substance use and academic achievement). Participants included 3,993 Canadian adolescents…

(Purpose) This study contributes to the knowledge base about strategies for helping disconnected youth re-engage with schooling. The study presents findings of a rigorous impact evaluation of the Good Shepherd Services (GSS) Transfer School Model that is grounded in developmental theory positing that social and emotional factors are essential to…

Introduction: Positive parenting and Extracurricular Activities are contextual assets for enhancing Personal Positive Youth Development. However, these assets have not been studied simultaneously or in students of different ages. This paper analyzed these associations, by testing a mediator model in students with different academic trajectories.…

Conceptualizing both economic well-being (EWB) and children's development as multidimensional constructs, the present study examines their association using bioecological developmental theory and structural equation modeling with Zulu children (ages 7-10) in KwaZulu-Natal, a highly impoverished region of South Africa (N = 1,958). Relative EWB…

Social responsibility can be defined as a set of prosocial values representing personal commitments to contribute to community and society. Little is known about developmental change--and predictors of that change--in social responsibility during adolescence. The present study used an accelerated longitudinal research design to investigate the…

Background/Context: The landscape of English-medium independent schools today is increasingly multilingual, challenging traditional monolingual norms of English testing and teaching. Multilingual learners--students who are able to navigate school in more than one language--are more vulnerable to the negative impacts of standardized tests in…