Positive Youth Development

Research Projects

Investigators: Drs. Linda Wagener, James Furrow

Summary
This multi-year theme aims to assess positive youth development and to determine ways to best implement adherence and development of positive youth development practices. Current research focuses on the positive development of attributes of character including moral and religious identity, and restraint from risk, violence and aggression. Future research is directed to the identification of value-oriented resources, psychological mediating constructs and positive developmental outcomes.

The Thriving Conversation Project/Children of the Night

Investigator: Dr. Jim Furrow

Research Team: Emily Andrews and Courtney Folz

The primary goal of the Thriving Conversation Project is to assess the potential use of thriving principles in a therapeutic setting with at-risk youth. The project is based on the Thriving Conversation(TM) tool that was adapted into a 9-session therapeutic intervention program. A multi-level evaluation procedure will provide a preliminary assessment of the program's effectiveness with youth formally involved in street prostitution. Findings from this evaluation will be used to inform similar programs using Thriving principles in interventions with at-risk youth.

Thriving and resilience in emerging adults of the Asia Silk road

Working as a “thrive fellow” with Dr. Wagener and Dr. Furrow in the TRI Center for Research in Child and Adolescent Development gave me various opportunities. One of these opportunities was to attend the Thrive Foundation forum and be able to interact with leading scholars and practitioners. The forum helped me clarify my thinking on how youth services, public policy, and research interact synergistically and apply cross-culturally. The fellowship has allowed me to visit children’s homes in either Guatemala or Ukraine for one month each year while in graduate school. On my last trip to Ukraine I conducted interviews and led a focus group that will provide data for my Master’s thesis. Finally the additional finances provided by the fellowship allow me to live a balanced life that is conducive to productivity and creative scholarship.

Andrew Geddert, 4th year student

Investigator: Dr. Linda Wagener

This is one of the most recent projects lead by Dr. Wagener and funded by the Thrive Foundation for Youth. The aim is to examine thriving under diverse cultural conditions in order to contribute to the development of assessment tools that are culture fair and sensitive to cultural differences. Very little is known about conditions of thriving in youth outside of the North American context (Lerner & Galambos, 1998). This project will have significant implications for the development of thriving assessment tools that are globally useful.

Fuller Youth Initiative for Positive Youth Development and Violence Prevention

Investigators (in alphabetical order): Drs. Linda Wagener, Jim Furrow, Lisseth Rojas-Flores, David Foy, Sofia Herrera, & Warren Brown

This multi-year project, funded by award #2002-JN-FX-K002 from the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), was completed in the summer of 2007. The data is currently being used for mutiple student master's projects and dissertations.

The FYI project was a three-community project exploring a positive youth development (PYD) approach to violence prevention among adolescents. The program followed three strategies to study PYD assumptions and youth violence: (a) a randomized phone survey of adolescents from each community, (b) an in depth interview with a smaller group of youth, nominated based on being known for their exceptional prosocial behavior and caring for others, and (c) a survey of youth programs in each community.

The FYI program surveyed over 1400 youth. Over 70 youth have participated in the in depth interview. Fourteen programs received program evaluation including specific feedback on their adherence to best practice standards and implementation of positive youth development practices. Ten were in high-resource geographical areas and four were in low resource areas.

Dissertations or Master's projects in process/completed using FYI data:

Mentoring At-Risk Urban Youth: A Best Practices and Positive Youth Development Evaluation of a Youth Violence Prevention Program (Vanessa Enoch).
A Community-based Peer Mentoring Program for At-Risk Urban Youth: A Best Practices and PYD Evaluation of a Youth Violence Prevention Program (Lauren Mueller).
Parental Self-Enhancing Values and Adolescents’ Association with Deviant Friends (Elaine Hess).
Barriers to the Implementation of Best Practices in Youth Violence Prevention: A Mixed Methods Approach (Hana Carmona).
Adult Support as a Mediator between Exposure to Violence and Academic Functioning among Adolescents (Kayla Davidson).
Self-Transcendent Values, Civic Engagement, and Moral Identity in Adolescence (Lara Sando)
Religious Influences on Adolescent Aggressive Beliefs (Emily Andrews).

Click here to view the final FYI report (PDF) »
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