Peter L. Benson

Spiritual identity: Contextual perspectives

Examining how spirit develops as part of identity development can deepen our understanding of how meaning, purpose, connectedness, and authentic living contribute to human thriving – and what happens when they go awry. However, research in this field has been limited by a conflation of “religion” and “spirituality” both theoretically and empirically, limited data on spirituality outside of Western contexts or Judeo-Christian religious traditions, and an emphasis on individual development with little regard to interaction with developmental systems, ecologies, or contexts. By examining the intersection of spiritual development, identity development, and ecological approaches to human development, this chapter proposes integrating more robust understandings of spiritual development into current approaches to adolescent identity formation while also deepening theoretical approaches to spiritual development by grounding them in ecological contexts, including family; peers and mentors; school; youth organizations; religious communities; and the natural world. It draws on preliminary findings from a study of 7,200 youth aged 12–25 in eight countries that suggest that this integration may be fruitful for future research.

Childhood and adolescence: Developmental assets

Developmental assets represent a theoretical construct that weaves together a set of developmental experiences, resources, and opportunities that enhance health outcomes for children and adolescents. The intent of the framework is to encourage the mobilization of asset-building efforts within many settings of a childs life and to increase those efforts for all children and adolescents within a community. This article examines the social and conceptual context of this framework, including its connection to other areas of scientific inquiry, the development of the framework, and the measurement, descriptive data, and summary of the predictive power of the 40 developmental assets in relation to reductions in high-risk behaviors and increases in thriving indicators. It concludes by examining the application of the framework as a tool for community mobilization and its spread across the United States in the 1990s.