Thriving

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Summary Founding member of Hope Sports, Benjamin Houltberg offers psychological insights on what it means for young athletes to have a purpose-based identity, and how to help them move from a performance-based identity to purpose in sports.   Author’s Note This presentation was originally published by Hope Sports. About the Author Benjamin Houltberg Benjamin Houltberg was the former associate professor of human development at the Thrive Center. As a developmental scientist, his research centers on relational factors that impact emotional health within high-stress environments. Much of his work is on the role of identity development and character virtues in sport as...

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Citation King, P.E. & Whitney, W. (2015). “What’s the ‘positive’ in positive psychology: Teleological considerations based on creation and imago doctrines,” Journal of Psychology and Theology 43(1), 47-59. Abstract While positive psychology has considered a social science perspective of optimal development and living, a pressing question for the integration of psychology and theology is to consider what Christian theology suggests is essential for humans to thrive. Recognizing that God’s purposeful action in creation has a telos, that is, a goal or purpose for humankind, propels Christian psychologists to investigate a theology of thriving in order to more fully grasp what...

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Ben Houltberg and scholars examine the role of self-narrative profiles in elite athletes' wellbeing.

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Citation Carr, D. R. & King, P. E., Meier, A. M. (2014). Purpose and spirituality: Exploring the role of fidelity in diverse adolescents. Journal of Youth Development, 9(2), 5-15. Abstract Purpose is understood to reflect young people’s stable and generalized commitments to accomplish meaningful activity and contribute productively to society. Religion has been linked with purpose; however, the nature of this relationship is not well understood. Given that purpose and religion involve beliefs and devotion, the current study examined fidelity as a means of understanding this relationship in a group of religiously and culturally diverse youth from around the world....

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Citation King, P. E., & Clardy, C. E. (2014). Prevention and the promotion of thriving in children and adolescents. In K. S. Flanagan & S. E. Hall (Eds.), Christianity and developmental psychopathology: Theory and application for working with youth (p. 179-202). Naperville, IL; InterVarsity Press. Abstract Since its origin in the early 1980s, the field of developmental psychopathology has become a highly influential framework for approaching the clinical treatment of children. Until now there has been no effort to integrate this framework with a Christian understanding of psychopathology. The essays in this volume break new ground by providing Christian mental...

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Thrive faculty and students engage scholars on evolutionary psychology, spirituality, and thriving.

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Citation King, P. E. (2011). Afterword: Where do we go from here? In A. Warren, R. M. Lerner, and E. Phelps (Eds.), Thriving and spirituality among youth: Research perspectives and future possibilities. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Copyright Year: 2011 Holder: Wiley & Sons, Inc DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118092699.after…

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Citation King, P.E., Carr, A. & Boitor, C. (2011). Religion, Spirituality, Positive Youth Development, and Thriving. In R. M. Lerner, J. V. Lerner, and J. B. Benson (Eds.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior: Vol. 41. Positive youth development: Research and applications for promoting thriving in adolescence. Amsterdam: Elsevier Press. Abstract Issues of spirituality and thriving are pertinent to the period of adolescence given the marked changes in body, mind, and relationships. In order to provide an overview of the relationship between religion, spirituality, and positive youth development, this chapter offers a developmental systems perspective and proposes a relational spirituality...

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Citation Bundick, M. J., Yeager, D. S., King, P. E., & Damon, W. (2010). Thriving across the life span. In W. F. Overton, & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), The Handbook of Life-Span Development, Vol. 1. Cognition, biology, and methods (pp. 882-923). Hoboken, NJ, US: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Abstract This chapter reviews and synthesizes various models of positive human development and thriving from multiple domains in the psychological and medical literatures, across all stages of the life span from infancy through later life. Particular attention is paid to conceptualizations of thriving from the positive youth development tradition, and their...

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Explore how youth programs can help teens strengthen the developmental assets that contribute to their thriving.

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Pamela King explores a developmental systems approach to understanding how ministries can better serve at-risk youth.

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Citation King, P. E., Dowling, E. M., Mueller, R. A., White, K., Schultz, W., Osborn, P., Dickerson, E., Bobek, D. L., Lerner, R. M., Benson, P. L., & Scales, P. C. (2005). Thriving in adolescence: The voices of youth-serving practitioners, parents, and early and late adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(1), 94-112. Abstract This study assesses if correspondence existed between concepts scholars use to discuss positive youth development (PYD) and terms used by practitioners, parents, and youth to discuss exemplary PYD, or thriving. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of 173 interviews about the meaning of thriving found no significant commonality between...