Topic Archive
Youth
Thriving
Episode
How to Navigate Life: Psychological Tools to Find Your Purpose with Dr. Belle Liang
Are you looking for a sense of purpose? Does it feel like you’ve lost your way? Purpose is a vital part of our spiritual health. We know we need it, but for some of us, it can be so hard to find. Psychologist Belle Liang helps us navigate and thrive holistically through an understanding of our own journey and the stories that shape us. She names four essential elements of purpose: (1) character strengths, (2) skills and expertise, (3) deeply held values, and (4) a sense of contribution to the world. Includes a real-time practical exercise for aligning with our...
Youth
Post
Kids and Community (Part 3): How Can We Keep Kids in Church?
How do we keep young people engaged in church? This is part 3 of a 3-part series.
Youth
Post
Kids and Community (Part 2): Adolescents and the Value of Loving Relationships that Display a Loving God
Why do kids need a community that models love, and what does emotional safety have to do with it. Part 2 of a 3-part series.
Youth
Post
Kids and Community (Part 1): How to Find the Right One for Your Kids to Thrive
How do you find a community to support your family? What kinds of support help families grow spiritually healthy and thrive.
Youth
Post
Adolescents and Spirituality: Do Mountaintop Spiritual Experiences Really Make a Difference?
A Thrive Scholars Fellow shares transcendent experiences along with caring adults can stimulate spirituality and virtue development in youth.
Youth
Research Link
Interrogating Ergodicity & Specificity in Youth Development Programs
The CI research team look at instances of commonality and specificity in Salvadoran youth enrolled in CI programs.
Spirituality
Post
Adolescents and Spirituality: How Transcendent Experiences can Create Resilient Teens
Research with Compassion International yielded results explaining the assets that come from spirituality across countries and challenges.
Thriving
Research Link
Hindsight in the 2020’s: Looking back and forward to positive youth development and thriving
Author: King, P. E., & Mangan, S. Abstract: Positive youth development (PYD) started as a field of practice before it became a field of study. With a heightened awareness of the necessity of a framework for the thriving of all youth and all societies, the chapter considers the purpose of PYD and consequently revisits the concept of teleology, offering a revised understanding of telos, or the ultimate goal of a given construct—in this case, of PYD. It refines and updates the current notion of thriving to not only emphasize adaptivity and relationality as central to thriving but also…
Youth
Research Link
Measuring Youth Perceptions of Being Known and Loved and Positive Youth Development: Cross-National Findings from Rwanda and El Salvador
The results provide evidence for a theory-predicated measure of youth perceptions of being known and loved and that scores for this construct covary within a nomological net specified in the Lerner and Lerner model of PYD. These findings serve international development organizations seeking theory-predicated measures for use in evaluating PYD programs in low- and middle-income countries.
Hope
Research Link
Agentic and Receptive Hope: Understanding Hope in the Context of Religiousness and Spirituality through the Narratives of Salvadoran Youth
Author: Jennifer Medina Vaughn, Pamela Ebstyne King, Susan Mangan, Seaon Noe, Samuel Hay, Bridget O’Neil, Jonathan M. Tirrell, Elizabeth M. Dowling, Guillermo Alfredo, Iraheta Majano, Alistair Thomas Rigg Sim Abstract Hope contributes to positive development in adolescents, and religious and spiritual contexts may be particularly important for developing and supporting hope. However, extant literature on hope, religion, and spirituality neglects their synergistic relation, leaving questions about how they work together to support development. In this study, we explore how religiousness and spirituality (R/S) inform hope by identifying unique synergies that might be particularly useful in difficult contexts. Multilevel qualitative...
Spirituality
Research Link
La spiritualité comme boussole : accompagner les jeunes vers l’épanouissement
Author: Pamela Ebstyne King, Translated by Franck Tiret Abstract: As our world and cultures change radically, many conventional civil, social and religious institutions that served to forge social bonds in the Western world are eroding. Digital platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram are poised to represent the authority figure, a role previously reserved for embodied organizations. Due to this development, young people grow up with networks where honesty, convictions, respect for privacy, responsibility and support are often lacking. Consequently, many young people build themselves through contradictory narratives, without a clear vision of the world or a secure sense of...
Youth
Research Link
Longitudinal Research About, and Program Evaluations of, Positive Youth Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Methodological Issues and Options
Authors Richard M. Lerner / Tufts University Jonathan M. Tirrell / Tufts University Patricia K. Gansert / Boston College Jacqueline V. Lerner / Boston College Pamela Ebstyne King / Fuller Theological Seminary G. John Geldhof / Oregon State University Elizabeth M. Dowling / Tufts University Alistair T. R. Sim / Compassion International Abstract The study of positive youth development (PYD) requires theory-based methodological considerations pertinent to measurement, research and program design, and data analysis. We outline the appropriate steps that researchers and program evaluators must enact...
...
...