Youth

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A student researcher shares the integral role his parents played in fostering positive youth development through sports.

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A Thrive Fellow reflects on her experience of building a home for a family in Mexico, and the power serving others can have on purpose.

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Citation King, P. E., Kim, S., Furrow, J. F., & Clardy, C. E. (2017). Preliminary exploration of the Measurement of Diverse Adolescent Spirituality (MDAS) among Mexican youth. Applied Developmental Science, 21(4), 235-250. Abstract In the current article we propose and offer a preliminary test of an ecologically sensitive theoretical and methodological framework for understanding diverse adolescent spiritual development. The study summarizes the initial stages of development of the Measurement of Diverse Adolescent Spirituality (MDAS) that assesses three dimensions of spirituality: transcendence, fidelity, and contribution. We report our procedures and findings from an initial effort to contextualize the…

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Citation Balswick, J. O., King, P. E., & Reimer, K. S. (2016). The reciprocating self: Human development in theological perspective. InterVarsity Press. Abstract On the basis of a theologically grounded understanding of the nature of persons and the self, Jack O. Balswick, Pamela Ebstyne King and Kevin S. Reimer present a model of human development that ranges across all of life’s stages: infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood and elder adulthood. They do this by drawing on a biblical model of relationality, where the created goal or purpose of human development is to become a reciprocating self―fully and securely related...

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Pamela King and partners study the impact of Compassion International's programs on youth.

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Learn about the 10 research-backed techniques coaches can adopt to positively influence a young athlete's development. 

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Citation King, P. E. & Boyatzis C. (2015). Religious and spiritual development. In M. E. Lamb & C. G. Coll (Eds.), Social and Emotional Issues (Vol. 3) of the Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science (7th ed.). Editor-in-chief: R. M. Lerner. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, p. 975-1021. Abstract Although religion and spirituality have long been an integral part of being human, this is the first empirical chapter to be included in the Handbook of Child Psychology. We examine major theoretical perspectives but emphasize the recent explosion of empirical findings on religion and spirituality in childhood and adolescence. Recognizing the centrality...

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Sarah Schnitker and Ben Houltberg examine the contexts in which teen athletes develop character strengths.

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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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Citation King, P. E., Mueller, R. O., & Furrow, J. F. (2013). Cultural and contextual considerations in exemplar research. In M. K. Matsuba, P. E. King, & K. C. Bronk, K. C. (Eds.), Exemplar methods and research: Quantitative and qualitative strategies for investigation [Special issue]. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 142, 41-58. Abstract This chapter specifically addresses how exemplar methods are especially relevant to examining cultural and contextual issues. Cross-cultural, cultural, and indigenous psychologies are discussed in order to highlight how studying actual exemplars in their unique and complex developmental contexts has the potential to identify themes that...

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Citation Bronk, K. C., King, P. E., & Matsuba, M. K. (2013). Introduction to exemplarity research. In M. K. Matsuba, P. E. King, & K. C. Bronk (Eds.), Exemplar methods and research: Quantitative and qualitative strategies for investigation [Special issue]. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 142, 1-12. Abstract The exemplar methodology represents a useful yet underutilized approach to studying developmental constructs. It features an approach to research whereby individuals, entities, or programs that exemplify the construct of interest in a particularly intense or highly developed manner compose the study sample. Accordingly, it reveals what the upper ends of...