scholarly journals The Importance of Positive Psychological Strengths in Well-Being and Adjustment of Romanian Emerging Adults: A Pattern and Variable-Oriented Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Ferrer-Wreder ◽  
Kyle Eichas ◽  
Delia Stefenel ◽  
Carmen Buzea ◽  
Nora Wiium
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Transition To Adulthood ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Unexpected Finding ◽  
Class 1 ◽  
Five Cs ◽  
Psychological Strengths

Transition to adulthood in countries that have seen recent historical structural changes in society as well as changes in what it means to be an adult represents important contexts for investigations of ways in which positive development and transition to adulthood are experienced. Situated in such context, this cross-sectional study aimed to (1) describe profiles of positive psychological strengths, as measured by the Five Cs of positive youth development (PYD) and (2) document how identified profiles might differ in relation to other aspects of positive and problematic development. Participants were 272 Romanian emerging adults attending university (76% female; aged 19–29 years old, Mage = 21 years old). Latent class analysis was performed to identify patterns of psychological strengths using the Five Cs theory of positive youth development. Pairwise Wald chi square difference tests were then conducted to determine if the identified Five Cs profiles were associated with significant differences in other key outcomes. Findings indicated that, a two-class model emerged as the best fitting model, and in this model, Class 1 was similar to Class 2 on strengths of competence, confidence, and connection. However, the two classes were distinguishable by caring and character, with Class 2, the numerically more common profile (89%), being elevated on character and caring relative to Class 1 (which was a less frequently occurring profile, 11%). This finding highlights the importance of examining the diversity of positive development, even within the same theoretical framework. Further results indicated that the two identified classes showed similarities in problematic behaviors as well as in purpose in life and psychological complaints. Other group difference tests by profile/class indicated that Class 2 was higher in general and social well-being relative to Class 1, with a trend in the same direction for hope. However, an unexpected finding was that Class 2 was also elevated in somatic complaints relative to Class 1. These are important findings not only because of the contribution to the generalizability of the Five Cs theory and measure but also because of the implications of the findings to research, policy, and practice in the Romanian context and beyond.

scholarly journals The 5Cs of Positive Youth Development, Purpose in Life, Hope, and Well-Being Among Emerging Adults in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nor Ba’yah Abdul Kadir ◽  
Rusyda Helma Mohd
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Purpose In Life ◽  
Emerging Adult ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Positive Development

A substantial body of evidence supports Lerner and colleagues’ 5Cs model of positive youth development (PYD) in the United States (U.S.). Nonetheless, it remains unclear whether the 5Cs can be used to identify positive development in the under-researched Asian contexts, such as Malaysia. Thus, this study examined the 5Cs of PYD (competence, confidence, character, connection, and caring) and their importance to purpose in life, hope, and well-being in a sample of emerging adult undergraduate university students in Malaysia. Data were collected from 400 participants from 15 Malaysian universities (132 males, 268 females; ages ranged from 18 to 26 years old, M = 22). A hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that two of the 5Cs of PYD (confidence and connection) as well as hope were important to explaining variation in well-being. The findings imply that there are strong links between PYD, especially confidence and connection, and well-being, while purpose in life and hope were indirectly related to the 2Cs (confidence and connection) of PYD and well-being. Therefore, mental health professionals are encouraged to review and redefine their treatment design to include confidence, connection, purpose in life and hope when working with Malaysian emerging adult university students.

scholarly journals Helping Young Men Thrive: Positive Youth Development and Men’s Health

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 352-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dzung X. Vo ◽  
M. Jane Park
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Community Intervention ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Community Interventions ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Healthy Development ◽  
Five Cs

Positive youth development (PYD) is a strong and growing field that complements the traditional problem-focused view of youth, and describes and promotes the healthy development and positive outcomes of young people. The PYD perspective can be applied in clinical and community intervention settings. Frameworks such as the “Five Cs” and the Search Institute’s developmental assets model have guided researchers and practitioners in better understanding the process of PYD and the effectiveness of community interventions to promote PYD. The PYD literature lacks a coherent guiding framework to describe gender differences in positive development, which in turn could guide community and clinical interventions designed to help young men thrive.

scholarly journals Intentional Self Regulation and Positive Youth Development: Implications for Youth Development Programs

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 89-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Chauveron ◽  
Miriam R. Linver ◽  
Jennifer Brown Urban
Keyword(s):  
Character Education ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
Intentional Self Regulation ◽  
Five Cs ◽  
The Relationship

Character education programs are mission-aligned with the positive youth development (PYD) perspective, which, in research with American youth suggests that intentional self-regulation (ISR) develops through mutually beneficial interactions between youth and their environment. Cross-cultural studies of Western youth suggest an adolescence-specific ISR process may exist. We begin to extend this work to assess the relationship between ISR and positive development in young Scottish adolescents (approximately 7th grade, N = 82; 50% male), a previously unexamined group. ISR was correlated with the Five Cs of PYD and OLS regression analyses demonstrated that ISR predicted two of the Five Cs: Character and Connection. We discuss implications for youth development programs of the findings that ISR and some indices of PYD were linked in a sample of Scottish youth. 

scholarly journals Psychological Engagement and Behavioral Activity Participation As Predictors of Positive Youth Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 88-109
Author(s):  
Heather L. Ramey ◽  
Heather L. Lawford ◽  
Linda Rose-Krasnor
Keyword(s):  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Emerging Adult ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Activity Participation ◽  
Behavioral Activity ◽  
Psychological Engagement ◽  
Physical Presence ◽  
Activity Types ◽  
Five Cs

Youth’s structured (e.g., sports) and unstructured (e.g., socializing) activities are key contexts for positive development. Both behavioral participation (e.g., frequency) and elements of psychological engagement (e.g., enjoyment, challenge) in programs and activities have been linked to components of youth development. We tested a model in which both psychological engagement and behavioral participation in activities predicted overall positive youth development in older adolescent and emerging adult samples (Sample 1, n = 235, mean age = 18.7 years, SD = 1.4 years, 67.7% female; Sample 2, n = 186, mean age = 20.0 years, SD = 2.1 years, 68.8% female). In the first known study to include behavioral participation and multidimensional psychological engagement in predicting the Five Cs of positive youth development, we found that greater psychological engagement, but not behavioral participation, was related to higher positive youth development across samples and different activity types. Findings suggest that promoting youth’s psychological engagement in programs and other activities, rather than just their physical presence, may be advantageous for strengthening positive youth development.

The Positive Perspective on Youth Development

2017 ◽  
pp. 543-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret L. Kern ◽  
Nansook Park ◽  
Daniel Romer
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Positive Education ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Positive Perspective ◽  
Mental Well Being

This chapter covers positive youth development, positive psychology, and positive education, which suggest that mental health is more than the absence of mental illness and involves proactively supporting the mental well-being of young people. The assets of youth that protect against problems and allow young people to do well include both individual psychological characteristics and aspects of their social context. Positive approaches aim to maximize the potential of young people by encouraging both personal and environmental assets. Research findings over the past three decades have brought empirical support for key premises of positive youth development and have provided important insights into individual and contextual factors that underlie youth thriving. Future studies will continue to refine measures, improve interventions, and use empirical findings to understand and influence the processes that give rise to positive development.

scholarly journals Beliefs in the Future as a Positive Youth Development Construct: A Conceptual Review

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel C. F. Sun ◽  
Daniel T. L. Shek
Keyword(s):  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Personal Mastery ◽  
Supportive Environment ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
The Future ◽  
Sociocultural Values ◽  
Future Outcomes

Beliefs in the future are an internalization of hope and optimism about future outcomes. This paper reviews and compares several theories of hope and optimism and highlights the features constituting beliefs in the future. This paper points out that beliefs in the future include a series of goal-directed thoughts and motivation, such as setting up valued and attainable goals, planning pathways, and maintaining self-confidence and mastery, so as to keep adolescents engaged in the pursuit of goals. This kind of personal mastery, together with sociocultural values, family, school, and peers are the antecedents leading to beliefs in the future, which is related to adolescents’ well-being and positive development. In order to cultivate adolescents’ beliefs in the future, enabling their ability to manipulate goal-directed thoughts and motivation and providing a supportive environment including their family, school, peers, and the society are recommended.

scholarly journals Qualitative and Quantitative Assessments of Thriving and Contribution in Early Adolescence: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Eva Alberts ◽  
Elise DiDenti Christiansen ◽  
Paul Chase ◽  
Sophie Naudeau ◽  
Erin Phelps ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Generational Groups ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
Axial Coding

Research and practice in youth development converge in an interest in positive development, or thriving. They converge also in seeking to promote among youth an orientation to act in support of their own and others’ well-being through contributions to self, family, and community. Based on the results of both qualitative (open and axial coding of parents’ and students’ answers to several open-ended questions) and quantitative analyses of data from Wave 2 (Sixth Grade; 2003-2004) of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), we found that adolescents and parents define a thriving youth in different ways and, as well, that the groups differ in the salience of contribution as part of their respective conceptions of thriving. We discuss the implications for research and practice of the two generational groups’ contrasting views of thriving and contribution.

The five Cs of positive youth development in Norway

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 559-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Holsen ◽  
John Geldhof ◽  
Torill Larsen ◽  
Elisabeth Aardal
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
School Students ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
The Us ◽  
Five Cs ◽  
Using Data

As the field of positive youth development (PYD) emerges internationally, models of PYD designed for use in the US must be extended to diverse contexts. For instance, a robust body of evidence supports Lerner and colleagues’ Five Cs Model of PYD in the US, but it remains unclear whether the Five Cs Model can validly capture positive development in other contexts. In this article we examined the Five Cs of PYD using data from 1195 upper secondary school students (ages 16 to 19) in Norway and 839 participants who took part in the 4-H Study of PYD in the United States. Despite some differences, the tests of weak and strong measurement invariance do suggest that the overarching PYD factor as well as a majority of the Cs, retain their qualitative interpretation between the two samples. We next examined correlations between the full battery of PYD items administered to the Norwegian sample and three relevant criterion measures: Anxiety and Depressive symptoms; Life Satisfaction; and Empowerment. The residual Cs tended to correlate positively with indicators of adaptive development and negatively with maladaptive outcomes. The one exception was a positive correlation between Caring and Anxiety and Depressive symptoms. These findings are discussed. Measuring the same constructs in the same way across countries is a prerequisite for studying cultural differences and similarities in development. This study thus represents a step forward in the application of PYD research among diverse youth.

scholarly journals Measuring well-being in emerging adults: Exploring the PERMA framework for positive youth development

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Sophie Leontopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Character Strengths ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Five Elements ◽  
Three Components

The PERMA theory brings together elements of the PERMA model, character strengths, and well-being. Set in the context of positive education this study set out to empirically test this multidimensional theory with emerging adults in higher education. 516 female and male students aged 18 to 29 years studying in Universities in Greece were asked to participate in a web-based survey of (a) the five elements of PERMA, i.e. positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment; (b) four character strengths, i.e. curiosity, gratitude, love for learning and humor; and (c) three well-being indicators, i.e. flourishing, resilience and positive perception. The patterning of associations within and between the three components of the theory was examined, leading to insights regarding both the multidimensionality of well-being and the specificity of relations between the three components. Conclusions were drawn regarding the theoretical and applied implications of the results for advancing positive youth development in higher education.

scholarly journals Exploring the Psychosocial Antecedents of Sustainable Behaviors through the Lens of the Positive Youth Development Approach: A Pioneer Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12388
Author(s):  
Marco Giancola ◽  
Maria Chiara Pino ◽  
Simonetta D’Amico
Keyword(s):  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Psychosocial Skills ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
Five Cs ◽  
Development Approach ◽  
Age Range

The current study explored, in a sample of 219 young Italian adults (105 M; 114 F; mean age = 22.10 years; SD = 2.69; age range = 18–29), the contribution of the five psychosocial skills (Five Cs) identified by the Positive Youth Development approach (competence, confidence, character, connection, and caring) to sustainable behaviors, including pro-ecological, frugal, altruistic. and equitable actions. We performed four regression analyses, in which the Five Cs were the independent variables and pro-ecological, frugal, altruistic, and equitable behaviors were the dependent ones. Results reveal that character predicted pro-ecological and frugal behaviors, whereas competence was a significant antecedent of altruism. In addition, we found that caring predicted pro-ecological and altruistic actions while connection was a positive predictor of equity. These findings suggest that psychosocial resources could be crucial for sustainability, opening new possibilities for research and intervention in order to promote sustainable practices that could guarantee the well-being of the present and forthcoming generations. Limits and future research directions are also discussed.

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