Miriam R. Arbeit

The Role of Ecological Assets in Positive and Problematic Developmental Trajectories.

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 preventing problem behavior and promoting PYD. Therefore, using data from the 4-H Study of PYD, the present study examines the role of assets in the family, school, and neighborhood in differentiating trajectories of goal-optimization and delinquency in a sample of 626 youth (50.9% female) from Grades 5 to 11. The results indicated that collective activity in the family best predicted membership for the five goal-optimization trajectories while school-based assets differentiated the four delinquency trajectories that were identified. The findings suggest that multidimensional approaches may be most effective to promote PYD and prevent problem behaviors.

Resilience and Positive Youth Development: A Relational Developmental Systems Model

Adolescents are not resilient. Resilience is also not a functional feature of the ecology of adolescent development (e.g., as may be represented by the concept of “protective factors”). Rather, resilience is a concept denoting that the relationship between an adolescent and his or her ecology has adaptive significance. That is, the relationship involves a fit between characteristics of an individual youth and features of his or her ecology that reflects either adjustment (change) in the face of altered or new environmental threats, challenges, or “processes,” or constancy or maintenance of appropriate or healthy functioning in the face of environmental variations in the resources needed for appropriate or healthy functioning. As such, the individual–context relationship summarized by the term “resilience” reflects individual well-being at a given point in time, and thriving across the adolescent period, in the face of features within the ecological context that challenge adaptation. In turn, this relationship also implies that, for the ecology or context, there are actions that could maintain or further the quality of its structure (e.g., the family, schools, or community programs for youth development) or its function in the service of supporting healthy adolescent behavior and development (e.g., parenting that reflects warmth and appropriate monitoring; low student–teacher ratios involving engaged students and high quality institutions; and access to competent, caring, and committed mentors in out-of-school-time [OST] youth development programs, respectively).

Self-Consent for HIV Prevention Research Involving Sexual and Gender Minority Youth: Reducing Barriers Through Evidence-Based Ethics.

This project examined the attitudes of sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) toward guardian permission for a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) adherence trial and their preparedness to provide informed, rational, and voluntary self-consent. Sixty sexually active SGMY (ages 14-17) participated in online survey and asynchronous focus group questions after watching a video describing a PrEP adherence study. Youth responses highlighted guardian permission as a significant barrier to research participation, especially for those not “out” to families. Youth demonstrated understanding of research benefits, medical side effects, confidentiality risks, and random assignment and felt comfortable asking questions and declining participation. Reasoning about participation indicated consideration of health risks and benefits, personal sexual behavior, ability to take pills every day, logistics, and post-trial access to PrEP. Results demonstrate youth’s ability to self-consent to age- and population-appropriate procedures, and underscore the value of empirical studies for informing institutional review board (IRB) protections of SGMY research participants.

“I Won’t Out Myself Just to Do a Survey”: Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents’ Perspectives on the Risks and Benefits of Sex Research

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents under age 18 are underrepresented in sexual health research. Exclusion of SGM minors from these studies has resulted in a lack of knowledge about the risks and benefits youth experience from sexual health research participation. Institutional Review Boards’ (IRB) overprotective stances toward research risks and requirements for guardian consent for SGM research are significant barriers to participation, though few have investigated SGM youth’s perspectives on these topics. This study aimed to empirically inform decisions about guardian consent for sexuality survey studies involving SGM youth. A total of 74 SGM youth aged 14–17 completed an online survey of sexual behavior and SGM identity, and a new measure that compared the discomfort of sexual health survey completion to everyday events and exemplars of minimal risk research (e.g., behavioral observation). Youth described survey benefits and drawbacks and perspectives on guardian permission during an online focus group. Participants felt about the same as or more comfortable completing the survey compared to other research procedures, and indicated that direct and indirect participation benefits outweighed concerns about privacy and emotional discomfort. Most would not have participated if guardian permission was required, citing negative parental attitudes about adolescent sexuality and SGM issues and not being “out” about their SGM identity. Findings suggest that sexual health survey studies meet minimal risk criteria, are appropriate for SGM youth, and that recruitment would not be possible without waivers of guardian consent. Decreasing barriers to research participation would dramatically improve our understanding of sexual health among SGM youth.

Chapter 14 Resilience Across the Life Span

This chapter discusses the concept of resilience from a life span perspective informed by relational developmental systems theory. Resilience involves mutually beneficial (adaptive) relations between characteristics of individuals (e.g., their self-regulation behaviors) and features of the ecology (e.g., resources promoting healthy development); these links may be represented as individual ←→ context relations, and they involve adjustment in the context of challenges or maintenance of appropriate functioning in the face of variations in the resources needed to achieve health. Resilience, then, is an attribute of positive human development (PHD) achieved through adaptive individual ←→ context relations (termed adaptive “developmental regulations”). We review research across the life span that speaks to the use of this conception of resilience for understanding the contributions individuals make to their own positive development and to the maintenance or perpetuation of PHD-supportive assets of their ecologies. Directions for further research and for applications aimed at promoting PHD are discussed.

What Does Healthy Sex Look Like among Youth? Towards a Skills-Based Model for Promoting Adolescent Sexuality Development

Sexuality is central in human life, perhaps especially in adolescence when multiple dimensions of change constitute physical, psychological, and social challenges and opportunities for the developing young person. Understanding this constellation of challenges and opportunities and formulating constructive, supportive interventions would be greatly facilitated by a skills-based model for promoting sexuality development in adolescence. Moving beyond the deficit, sex-negative approach, I propose a model that identifies three key elements of skillful adolescent sexuality development: sexual selfhood, sexual negotiation, and sexual empowerment. I link these components through the processes of personal agency, interpersonal intimacy, and social advocacy. I consider limitations of the model as well as the next steps for applying this theoretical framework to future empirical studies that seek to describe, explain, and optimize sexuality development throughout the adolescent years.

The GPS to Success Growth Grids: Measurement Properties of a Tool to Promote Intentional Self-Regulation in Mentoring Programs

Mentoring programs may be contexts for building important intentional self-regulatory skills in adolescents. In this study, we provide data about the factor structure of new measures that assess youth intentional self-regulation (ISR) within such programs: the “GPS growth grids.” Using data from 409 mentor/youth dyads from 24 programs around the United States, we assess whether the resulting factor structure can be invariantly measured across mentor and mentee raters and three times of measurement. Results indicated that a single-factor structure best fit older and younger mentee age groups’ data. Older mentee and mentor data displayed measurement invariance across time and rater, while younger mentee and mentor data displayed invariance across time. Results also indicated differences in the factor correlations, means, and variances across rater and age group. These findings support using these measures for future longitudinal work assessing the role of youth, mentor, and program characteristics in promoting youth ISR skills.

“Make Sure You’re Not Getting Yourself in Trouble:” Building Sexual Relationships and Preventing Sexual Violence at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point

Sexual violence continues to present a problem on college campuses nationwide and among members of the U.S. military. This study attended to patterns of response in how students (cadets) at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) discussed sexual and romantic relationships, both potential and actual, in order to examine how, if at all, they enact their sexuality-related values. Constructivist grounded theory was used to analyze semistructured interviews with three male and three female cadets from each of the 4 years of the undergraduate program, in which they are intended to become “leaders of character” who will serve as Army officers. Findings indicated limitations in cadets’ access to developing and implementing sexuality-related skills within this context. Cadets’ fear and distrust erected barriers to their pursuing their desires; the ways in which cadets avoided getting in trouble for sexual harassment or sexual assault shifted responsibility from a potential perpetrator onto a potential victim; and cadets were caught in dilemmas regarding romantic relationships as sources of both emotional support and social stigma. These findings have implications for promoting gender equity and for preventing sexual violence at this institution and at others like it, including both university campuses and other military settings.

It Could Affect You as a Person, Character-Wise: Promoting Character Development and Preventing Sexual Violence at West Point.

Abstract The United States Military Academy at West Point develops cadets into “leaders of character” who will become Army officers. This focus on character presents an opportunity for the prevention of sexual violence through an emphasis on military values. Using constructivist grounded theory, this study examined how cadets experience their own sexual selfhood and their future roles as Army officers in relation to their values. The findings identified ways in which cadets were (a) finding strength and vulnerability in sexual desire, (b) shaping sexual identity through humility or hubris, (c) applying and misapplying military ethics, and (d) being optimistic yet underprepared for officership. These findings illustrate both opportunities and risks in leveraging character development approaches for sexual violence prevention in adolescence and the transition to adulthood.

I Mean, We're Guys: Constructing Gender at an All-Male Trade School

For young men, the transition to adulthood may be a time of heightened adherence to traditional gender roles and norms of masculinity. However, recent research with young men in gender-specific contexts has indicated that some contexts support a construction of masculinity that is more inclusive. Through a theoretical thematic analysis of interviews with young men in their first week at an all-male trade school, we explored if and how participants talked about gender and its role in their lives, how these discussions of gender may reflect individual gender ideologies, and how these discussions may inform participants’ experiences in particular developmental contexts. The themes we identified included the following: Becoming a man as an active process, experiences of male embodiment of size and strength, intersections of school identity and being a man, students’ perceptions of their all-male school environment and what it means to not have female classmates, and their reflections on the parts of themselves they see as feminine. We discuss the implications of our findings for future research with adolescents and young adults in relation to gender, relationships, and professional development.