Youth

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A Thrive Scholars Fellow shares transcendent experiences along with caring adults can stimulate spirituality and virtue development in youth.

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Citation Vaughn, J. M., & King, P. E. (2024). Religious involvement. In Encyclopedia of Adolescence (pp. 411–421). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-96023-6.00002-6 Abstract Religion and spirituality are well-established contributors to adolescent well-being and development. Though efforts to identify the specific manners through which they may influence adolescents are ongoing, involvement in a religious congregation or community appears particularly beneficial. Religious involvement, which can take many forms, offers adolescents increased access to an abundance of resources – social, ideological, and transcendent. Accordingly, after describing trends in adolescent religiosity and religious involvement, we unpack what it means for an adolescent to be involved in their...

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Research with Compassion International yielded results explaining the assets that come from spirituality across countries and challenges.

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Citation King, P. E., & Mangan, S. (2023). Hindsight in the 2020s: Looking back and forward to positive youth development and thriving. In L. J. Crockett, G. Carlo, & J. E. Schulenberg (Eds.), APA handbook of adolescent and young adult development (pp. 609–627). American Psychological Association. 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...

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Citation Tirrell, J. M., Dowling, E. M., Kibbedi, P., Namurinda, E., Iraheta, G., Dennis, J., Malvese, K., Abbasi-Asl, R., Williams, K., Lerner, J. V., King, P. E., Sim, A. T. R., & Lerner, R. M. (2023). Measuring Youth Perceptions of Being Known and Loved and Positive Youth Development: Cross-National Findings from Rwanda and El Salvador. Child & Youth Care Forum, 52(5), 1093–1119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-022-09725-6 Abstract Background Dynamic, relational developmental systems-based models of development emphasize that developmentally-nurturant youth-adult relationships elicit in youth perceptions of being known and loved. Although such perceptions are foundations of positive youth development (PYD), such measures do not...

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Citation Vaughn, J. M., King, P. E., Mangan, S., Noe, S., Hay, S., O’neil, B., … & Sim, A. T. R. (2022). Agentic and receptive hope: Understanding hope in the context of religiousness and spirituality through the narratives of Salvadoran youth. Religions, 13(4), 376. 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...

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Citation Ebstyne King, P., & Tiret, F. (2022). La spiritualité comme boussole: Accompagner les jeunes vers l’épanouissement: In Les spiritualités dans le travail socio-éducatif (pp. 91–116). Érès. https://doi.org/10.3917/eres.verba.2022.01.0091 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,...

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Citation Lerner, R. M., Tirrell, J. M., Gansert, P. K., Lerner, J. V., King, P. E., Geldhof, G. J., … & Sim, A. T. (2021). Longitudinal research about, and program evaluations of, positive youth development in low-and middle-income countries: Methodological issues and options. Journal of Youth Development, 16(2-3), 100-123. 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 to address these methodological foci in their respective attempts to describe, explain, and optimize the course of...

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Citation Tirrell, J. M., Hay, S. W., Gansert, P. K., Le, T. U., O’Neil, B. C., Vaughn, J. M., Bishara, L., Tan, E., Lerner, J. V., King, P. E., Dowling, E. M., Williams, K., Iraheta, G., Sim, A. T. R., & Lerner, R. M. (2021). Fostering youth strengths and positive development: Exploring the role of the “Big Three” features of effective youth development programs in El Salvador. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 45(6), 524-532. Abstract Programs effective in promoting positive youth development (PYD) involve curricular features termed the Big Three: Positive and sustained adult–youth relationships; life-skill-building activities; and youth contribution...

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Citation King, P. E., Hardy, S. A., & Noe, S. (2021). Developmental perspectives on adolescent religious and spiritual development. Adolescent Research Review, 6(3), 253-264. Abstract Despite the prevalence of religiousness and spirituality among adolescents, little is known about the psychology of adolescent religious and spiritual development. The purpose of this article is to explain how scholars within the discipline of developmental psychology have begun to approach the topic. Specifically, the article details how developmental theory advances understanding of religious and spiritual development and overviews developmental methods that enable rigorous examination of the structure and function of adolescent religious and spiritual...

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Rodrigo Riveros discusses the importance of life stories in promoting brain development and meaning-making in adolescents.

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A college student reflects on the importance of finding a sense of purpose as the key to thriving in college.