1.1 Positive Youth Development

  The emergence of what has come to be generally termed as PYD has many roots: the documented potential for systematic change, for plasticity, in the course of development shown by research in comparative psychology and evolutionary biology (e.g., Gottlieb, 1997);  the possibility of optimizing individual and group change by altering bidirectional relations between individuals and their ecologies to capitalize on this plasticity from research in life-span developmental psychology (Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 1998), bioecological developmental psychology (Bronfenbrenner, 2005), and life course sociology (Elder, 1998);  the focus on  primary prevention (i.e., developing strengths and building competencies) rather than treating later stages of pathology suggested by community psychology (Trickett, Barone, & Buchanan, 1996).

The foundations of the approach rely on three basic changes: the nature of the child; the interaction between the child and the community, and the moral growth (Damon, 2004).

 

     

Every child has talents, strengths, and interests that offer the child potentials for a bright future.  

A positive perspective of development recognizes that all children have strengths and that they will develop in positive ways when these strengths are aligned with resources for healthy development. It emphasizes the manifest potentialities rather than the supposed incapacities of young people including those with vulnerability, the most disadvantaged backgrounds, and troubled histories. It aims at understanding, educating, and engaging children in productive activities rather than at correcting, curing, or treating them for maladaptive tendencies or so-called disabilities. {mlang}

 

 the child is a full partner in the community-child relation, bearing a full share of rights and responsibilities. 

This perspective is consciously holistic, considering the whole community in relation to the whole child rather than privileging any interaction or capacity. 

For all children to bring themselves to the academic task of acquiring intellectual competencies, children need encouragement from parents, from other adults, from peers, indeed from all the important people in their lives. Multiple positive social influences are required for an optimal learning environment.

 

The PYD perspective sees the child as a full partner in the community-child relation, bearing a full share of rights and responsibilities. 

The vision portrayed is that of a child able to explore the world, gain competence, and acquire the capacity to contribute importantly to the world. Acquiring a positive, responsible identity is seen as an essential part of their positive development as future citizens.