Associations between Developmental Assets and Adolescent Health Status: Findings from the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health.

Background: Developmental assets foster positive health outcomes among adolescents, but have not been studied in adolescents with chronic illness or depression, two conditions that impact behaviors in school. We examined parent-reported assets in a national sample of adolescents and compared the number and types of assets by health statuses.

Methods: Data were from the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health (N = 15,734 adolescents), which captured 15 of 40 assets in the Developmental Assets Framework.

Developmental Assets of Adolescents and Young Adults With Chronic Illness and Comorbid Depression: Qualitative Study Using YouTube.

Background: Developmental assets provide a framework for optimizing development among adolescents but have not been studied in adolescents with chronic illness and comorbid depression, which is a group at risk for poor health outcomes. YouTube postings provide valuable insights to understand this understudied population.

Objective: This study aims to explore asset development from the perspectives of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with chronic illness and comorbid depression.

Finding the fluoride: Examining how and why developmental relationships are the active ingredient in interventions that work.

Comments on an article by Megan M. Julian & Junlei Li (see record 2012-10324-001). Junlei Li and Megan Julian argued that a major and under appreciated factor in the success and failure of interventions intended to improve the lives of children and youth at risk is the degree to which those interventions promote what the authors called .

Brief report: Assessing youth well-being in global emergency settings: Early results from the Emergency Developmental Assets Profile.

The 13-item Emergency Developmental Assets Profile measures the well-being of children and youth in emergency settings such as refugee camps and armed conflict zones, assessing whether young people are experiencing adequate positive relationships and opportunities, and developing positive values, skills, and self-perceptions, despite being in crisis circumstances. The instrument was found to have acceptable and nearly identical internal consistency reliability in 22 administrations in non-emergency samples in 15 countries (.75), and in 4 samples of youth ages 10-18 (n = 1550) in the emergency settings (war refugees and typhoon victims, .

Adolescent thriving: the role of sparks, relationships, and empowerment.

Although most social science research on adolescence emphasizes risks and challenges, an emergent field of study focuses on adolescent thriving. The current study extends this line of inquiry by examining the additive power of identifying and nurturing young people's "sparks," giving them "voice," and providing the relationships and opportunities that reinforce and nourish thriving. A national sample of 1,817 adolescents, all age 15 (49% female), and including 56% white, 17% Hispanic/Latino, and 17% African-American adolescents, completed an online survey that investigated their deep passions or interests (their "sparks"), the opportunities and relationships they have to support pursuing those sparks, and how empowered they feel to make civic contributions (their "voice").

Spiritual development: a missing priority in youth development.

Addressing the spiritual development of young people has the potential to strengthen youth work and its outcomes. Spiritual development matters because it is an intrinsic part of being human and because young people themselves view it as important. This article reviews the research that points to positive impacts of spiritual development for youth and notes that in an increasingly pluralistic society, everyone needs to build skills for negotiating religious and spiritual diversity.

The role of developmental assets in predicting academic achievement: a longitudinal study.

A sample of 370 students in the 7th-9th grades in 1998 was followed for 3 years through the 10th-12th grades in order to investigate the relation of "developmental assets"--positive relationships, opportunities, skills, values, and self-perceptions--to academic achievement over time, using actual GPA as the key outcome variable. The greater the number of developmental assets students reported in the 7th-9th grades, the higher their GPA in the 10th-12th grades. Students who stayed stable or increased in their asset levels had significantly higher GPAs in 2001 than students whose asset levels decreased.

Unleashing the power of community to strengthen the well-being of children, youth, and families: an asset-building approach.

Search Institute's decade-plus emphasis on the elements of positive human development and community approaches to asset building can make a meaningful contribution to the field of child welfare. The institute's framework of developmental assets identifies a set of interrelated experiences, relationships, skills, and values that are associated with reduced high-risk behaviors and increased thriving behaviors. Its community-building work emphasizes the human relations and developmental infrastructure children, youth, and families require for their health and well-being.