Erin Phelps

Positive Youth Development, Participation in Community Youth Development Programs, and Community Contributions of Fifth-Grade Adolescents: Findings From the First Wave Of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development

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 the study, structural equation modeling procedures provided evidence for five firstorder latent factors representing the “Five Cs” of PYD (competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring) and for their convergence on a second-order PYD latent construct. A theoretical construct, youth contribution, was also created and examined. Both PYD and YD program participation independently related to contribution. The importance of longitudinal analyses for extending the present results is discussed.

Use of Missing Data Methods in Longitudinal Studies: The Persistence of Bad Practices in Developmental Psychology.

Developmental science rests on describing, explaining, and optimizing intraindividual changes and, hence, empirically requires longitudinal research. Problems of missing data arise in most longitudinal studies, thus creating challenges for interpreting the substance and structure of intraindividual change. Using a sample of reports of longitudinal studies obtained from three flagship developmental journals-Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and Journal of Research on Adolescence-we examined the number of longitudinal studies reporting missing data and the missing data techniques used. Of the 100 longitudinal studies sampled, 57 either reported having missing data or had discrepancies in sample sizes reported for different analyses. The majority of these studies (82%) used missing data techniques that are statistically problematic (either listwise deletion or pairwise deletion) and not among the methods recommended by statisticians (i.e., the direct maximum likelihood method and the multiple imputation method). Implications of these results for developmental theory and application, and the need for understanding the consequences of using statistically inappropriate missing data techniques with actual longitudinal data sets, are discussed.

Using positive youth development to predict contribution and risk behaviors in early adolescence: Findings from the first two waves of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development:

Theories of positive youth development (PYD) regard such development as bases of both community contributions and lessened likelihood of risk/problem behaviors. Using data from the 4-H Study of PYD, we tested these expectations by examining if PYD in Grade 5 predicted both youth contributions and risk behaviors and depression in Grade 6. Results of random effects regression and SEM models indicated that, as expected, PYD in Grade 5 predicted higher youth contributions and lower risk behaviors and depression at Grade 6. There were significant sex differences for contribution (girls had higher scores) and for risk behaviors (boys had higher scores), but not for depression. In turn, the structural model fit was equivalent for boys and girls. Results are discussed in regard to promoting PYD to enhance successful development, or thriving, and to reduce problem behaviors.

Words speak louder than actions: understanding deliberately false remarks

DEMOREST, AMY; MEYER, CHRISTINE; PHELPS, ERIN; GARDNER, HOWARD; and WINNER, ELLEN. Words Speak Louder Than Actions: Understanding Deliberately False Remarks. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 1527-1534. This study investigated the ability in 6-, 9-, and 13-year-olds and adults to understand sincere, deceptive, and sarcastic remarks. Remarks of each type were constructed by varying evidence for the speakers belief and communicative purpose (what the speaker wants the listener to believe). As hypothesized, 3 steps in understanding were documented. First, children tend to interpret all remarks as sincere: they assume that the speakers belief and purpose are in line with his statement. Next, at ages 9 and 13, children appreciate deliberate falsehood but tend to see all false remarks as deceptive: they appreciate that the speakers statement may be intentionally discrepant from his belief, but not from his purpose. Finally, adults identify sarcasm with some frequency: they recognize that the speakers belief and purpose may both be out of line with his statement. The role of evidence to discriminate speaker belief and purpose is discussed.

The role of adolescents’ hopeful futures in predicting positive and negative developmental trajectories: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development

Hope for ones future and intentional self-regulation skills may be important in the development of positive and problematic outcomes across adolescence. Using data from 1273 participants from Grades 7 to 9 of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), we assessed the role of a hopeful future in predicting developmental outcomes, measured by trajectories of PYD, contribution (e.g., thinking about and acting on social justice behaviors), risk behaviors, and depressive symptoms. A measure of intentional self-regulation, which involves selecting goals (S), optimizing resources to achieve goals (O), and compensating when original goals are blocked (C), was also used to predict outcomes. Higher levels of both hopeful future and selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) significantly predicted membership in the most favorable trajectories, controlling for sex and socioeconomic status (SES). Hopeful future was a stronger predictor than SOC for each of the outcomes assessed. Implications for future research about individual-context relational processes involved in PYD are discussed.

Positive and Negative Developmental Trajectories in U.S. Adolescents: Where the Positive Youth Development Perspective Meets the Deficit Model

Using data from Grades 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), the patterns of change associated with indicators of PYD, contribution, and risk/problem behaviors were assessed among 1,909 youth. In addition, the role of intentional self-regulation—as indexed by a measure of the Freund and Baltes (2002) model of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC)—in determining which developmental paths youth follow was examined. Results indicated that five PYD trajectories represent change across grades, four trajectories were associated with indicators of youth contribution, four trajectories were associated also with indicators of depressive symptoms, and three trajectories were associated with indicators of risk/problem behaviors. Binomial logistic regression results indicated that youth with higher SOC scores were significantly more likely to be in the most favorable trajectory than any of the other possible trajectories for each of the outcome variables. Significant sex differences were also found for all four constructs. Implications are discussed for developmental theory and applications aimed at enhancing resilience and positive development among adolescents.

Promotion as Prevention: Positive Youth Development as Protective against Tobacco, Alcohol, Illicit Drug, and Sex Initiation

The present study was designed to examine the association of positive youth development with the likelihood of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, hard drug, and sex initiation between 5th and 10th grades. A national, largely middle-class sample of 5,305 adolescents, participating in a longitudinal study funded by the National 4-H Council (although not all participants were enrolled in 4-H or other after-school programs), completed measures of positive youth development (PYD) constructs and of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drug use once per year between 5th and 10th grades. At the 9th and 10th grade assessments, adolescents were asked whether they had initiated sexual intercourse and, if so, at what age they had first engaged in intercourse. Although the present sample was somewhat lower risk compared to national averages, survival analysis models indicated that PYD was significantly and negatively associated with the initiation hazards for tobacco use, marijuana use, and sex initiation for girls only, and with hard drug use for both genders. PYD was also positively associated with the odds of condom use across genders. Results are discussed with regard to PYD as a preventive process.

Academic Competence for Adolescents Who Bully and Who Are Bullied Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development

School bullying has negative implications for adolescent academic competence, making it important to explore what factors promote such competence for adolescents who bully and who are bullied. Potential contextual and individual variables linked to academic competence were examined in the context of bullying. Data were derived from the Grades 5 and 6 of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, a national longitudinal investigation of adolescents in the United States that began in 2002. Longitudinal random effects hierarchical regression analyses with a subsample of 620 adolescents indicated that being a bully negatively impacted academic competence beyond demographic background, including sex and maternal education, and prior year academic competence. Concurrent random effects hierarchical regression analyses of a subsample of 250 adolescents suggested that educational expectations and school engagement interacted in fostering academic competence for bullies and victims. These findings highlight the importance of addressing academic competence in bullying interventions.

A naturalistic study of children's social understanding.

This study examines developmental aspects of social understanding in three related contexts: a one-to-one interview, a real-life activity group, and related group discussions. Six middle-class girls, homogeneous with respect to grade (second and third vs. fourth and fifth) and level of reflective social understanding (as expressed in the interview) were assigned to each of four small activity groups. Each group met for 12 consecutive school weeks in adult-supervi sed after-school cooperative group activities and group discussions about group functioning. Discussions from each group meeting were coded for instances of verbally expressed communicative competencies. Results suggested a relation between level of social understanding, reflectively expressed, and frequency of competent communications expressed in the course of the group discussions. Childrens strategies for task-related negotiation were also coded. The number of developmentally advanced strategies was significantly lower for the group of young children with lowlevel reflective social understanding as compared to the other three groups. Results are discussed in the context of the problems with assessing developmental levels of social understanding in natural settings. The social development of human beings is unique among species. Relatively early in development the child discovers that individuals have the capacity to conceptually coordinate social perspectives, both within the self and between the self and another. Selman and his colleagues (Cooney & Selman, 1978; Selman, 1976, 1980; Selman & Jaquette, 1978) have developed a sequence of developmental levels in the process of understanding how the psychological and social perspectives of self and other are coordinated within four domains of social understanding: self, friendship, peer relationships, and parent-child relationships. From an initially confused and syncretic understanding, there emerges at roughly 3 to The first three authors share equally in the primary authorship of this article. The research was supported by a grant from the Foundation for Child Development, and preparation of this report was facilitated by a Research Scientist Development Award (No. K07MH00156) to Robert L. Selman from the National Institute of Mental Health. The cooperation of the children, parents, teachers, and principals of two Watertown, Massachusetts, public schools is gratefully acknowledged, as are the comments

Problematics of Time and Timing in the Longitudinal Study of Human Development: Theoretical and Methodological Issues

Studying human development involves describing, explaining, and optimizing intraindividual change and interindividual differences in such change and, as such, requires longitudinal research. The selection of the appropriate type of longitudinal design requires selecting the option that best addresses the theoretical questions asked about developmental process and the use of appropriate statistical procedures to best exploit data derived from theory-predicated longitudinal research. This paper focuses on several interrelated problematics involving the treatment of time and the timing of observations that developmental scientists face in creating theory-design fit and in charting in change-sensitive ways developmental processes across life. We discuss ways in which these problematics may be addressed to advance theory-predicated understanding of the role of time in processes of individual development.