Paul A. Chase

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).

The development of intentional self-regulation in adolescence: Describing, explaining, and optimizing its link to positive youth development

Intentional self-regulation (ISR) skills are key assets promoting healthy and positive development across the life span. In this chapter, we describe the development of ISR in adolescence, offer explanations for the development of these skills and their relation to positive youth development among diverse youth in diverse contexts, and provide suggestions for future research and programs seeking to optimize youth outcomes through the promotion of ISR skills. Primarily drawing from data from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, we discuss research using the Selection, Optimization, and Compensation model of Baltes, Freund and colleagues, measures of which have been linked to a variety of positive developmental outcomes in adolescence. In addition to providing a review of the literature and relevant recent research, an applied program designed to promote ISR--termed Project GPS--is also discussed.

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.

Character in childhood and early adolescence: models and measurement

In recent years, the construct of character has received substantial attention among developmental scientists, but no consensus exists about the content and structure of character, especially among children and early adolescents. In a study of positive development among racially diverse Cub Scouts in the greater Philadelphia area, we assessed the construct and concurrent validity of a new measure of character, the Assessment of Character in Children and Early Adolescents (ACCEA), among 906 Scouts (mean age = 8.84 years, SD = 1.39 years) and 775 non-Scout boys and girls (mean age = 8.92, SD = 1.64). We identified an eight-correlated-factor model as providing the best fit with our data. We further established measurement invariance and explored latent mean differences for ACCEA scores across two Scout groups (with or without a higher-level program leader), non-Scout boys and non-Scout girls. Girls were generally superior than boys on all character attributes. We further examined concurrent validity of ACCEA by correlating the character attributes with youth sense of school competence, intentional self-regulation and parental perception of youth school performance. We discuss implications for future character research and point to the value of the ACCEA measure being used by practitioners in character development programs.

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.

School Engagement, Academic Achievement, and Positive Youth Development

School engagement is integral to the promotion of academic success. To explore the relations between school engagement and school success, we review findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development and other related research in order to describe how cognitive, emotional, and behavioral school engagement relate to academic success and thriving among youth. Based on the research we review, we make recommendations for in-school and out-of-school programs and for policies supporting such programs, which involve assessing school engagement across all school years, supporting peer mentoring and modeling programs, enhancing the integration of in-school school-engagement promotion with out-of-school-time youth development programs, and rigorously evaluating school-engagement enhancement initiatives. If proven effective through such evaluations, the programs and policies we recommend can lead to more actively engaged students. The actions can result, then, in the development of youth who invest their time and energy to achieve positive and valued academic and life goals.