Abstract
The present study adopts The Developmental Assets and Positive Youth Development (PYD) perspectives which (in contrast to the deficit-based approaches which highlight risks and deficit in youth development) claim that young people have potencies to achieve optimal development if supported by their social environment. Extant research indicates that developmental assets are linked with a variety of thriving indicators. The present research aimed to contribute to the PYD research by examining the external developmental assets (support, empowerment, and boundaries and expectations) emerging adults (N = 2055; age range = 18–28) perceived in their social environment and the level of their positive identity in four countries (Norway, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey), which have different rankings in economic, human, and youth development indices. The present study also tested a path model, which examines the links between external development assets and positive identity. Findings indicated that although there are differences in the reports of external developmental assets and positive identity, external assets and positive identity are similarly and positively linked across the four countries. The findings build on the existing literature by showing that developmental assets are conducive to positive outcomes cross-nationally despite country-level differences in the experience of external assets. Policy implications of the findings were discussed from the perspective of ecological theory as well as Developmental Assets and Positive Youth Development Frameworks.
Highlights
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (World Health Organization (WHO), 1946, p. 1)
In a series of Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analyses (MGCFA) conducted for the asset variables and positive identity to assess measurement invariance, full configural and metric invariance were established for all variables, and full scalar invariance was reached for positive identity
Partial scalar invariance across countries was established for support, empowerment and boundaries and expectations, where equality across countries had to be relaxed for the intercept of several items measuring these asset variables (Table 2)
Summary
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (World Health Organization (WHO), 1946, p. 1). The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (World Health Organization (WHO), 1946, p. The emphasis that the absence of disease is not a sufficient condition for being considered healthy and that health requires physical, mental and Developmental Assets and Positive Identity social well-being, invites more preventive approaches and promotion of well-being from an asset-based perspective, where resources and opportunities are offered. In the field of youth development, Developmental Assets Framework and Positive Youth Development (PYD) perspectives have been prominent in shifting the theoretical paradigm from deficit-based approaches to asset-based approaches. In line with the strength-based approaches to youth development, healthy adolescence has been defined in terms of positive developmental tasks or goals that adolescents are expected to achieve (e.g., Scales et al, 2000)
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