Positive Teacher Development model understands the mechanisms of teachers' burnout and job satisfaction as a result of an interplay of multiple levels of individual ↔ context relationships, internal and external assets, being supported by teachers' relationships with students, colleagues, and school leaders. The model is grounded in the Socio-Ecological Model, Relational Developmental Systems Theory, and Self-Determination Theory. The fit of the model, a selection of direct and indirect paths, was tested on a sample of Slovene in-service teachers (n = 1191; 86.6% females; M age = 42.49; SD age = 9.42) with a measurement battery consisting of measures addressing internal assets (self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, emotion regulation), external assets (work stressors, school values, system support), teachers‘ relationships (with students, colleagues and school leaders), job satisfaction, and burnout. The findings showcase the interconnectedness of internal and external assets with diverse direct paths leading from both internal assets and external assets to job satisfaction and burnout. • Interplay of multiple levels of individual ↔ context characteristics is essential. • External assets had stronger, more direct links to job satisfaction and burnout. • Relations with students and leaders strongly shape teachers' job satisfaction.

Recent work incorporating gender into sex differences research has complicated the interpretation of both physiological and behavioral differences between women and men, which are traditionally interpreted as driven by "biological" sex-related variables. Alternative conceptualizations have been proposed to capture the complex relationship between sex and gender, such as sex/gender entanglement. Blurring the boundaries between gender and sex, the organism and its environments, this perspective has created a need for theoretical and methodological approaches that can be used to investigate the emergence of structures and behaviors in complex systems. Here, we review the foundational concepts of developmental and dynamic systems theories, which can serve as frameworks within which to investigate the emergence of complex phenomena. We then provide examples of empirical research programs that demonstrate the benefit of these frameworks in the context of sex/gender research.

This article describes the evolutionary theory of behavior dynamics, which is a complex systems theory. The relatively simple rules of the theory generate detailed emergent outcomes that can be compared to data from live organisms. Extensive qualitative and quantitative empirical evidence has been found to support the theory in every detail. We may therefore conclude that the behavior of organisms can be generated by evolutionary dynamics.

Nepal's growing youth population, which constitutes 40.3% of the nation, presents both significant opportunities and challenges, including widespread unemployment, social exclusion, and limited access to quality education or leadership roles. This study aimed to understand how Developmental Systems Theory (DST) and Ecosystem Theory can inform effective and equitable youth development programs within Nepal's specific socio-cultural context. A scoping review of research articles, peer-reviewed articles, government reports, and program evaluations published between 2000 and 2025 was conducted as the methodology. The review revealed incoherent policy, poor coordination, and deep-seated caste, gender, and spatial inequalities that significantly impede youth development. It was found that DST explains youth development through adaptive, two-way transactions with the environment, recognizing youth as co-creators of their contexts. Ecosystem Theory, developed by Bronfenbrenner, examines the various levels of influence on an adolescent's life, ranging from immediate settings such as family and school (microsystem) to broader cultural policies (macrosystem). The synergistic integration of DST and Ecosystem Theory offers a robust, science-based foundation for understanding youth development in complex societies like Nepal. This combined framework supports the development of inclusive, resilient, and context-specific interventions that are both individually empowering and structurally transformative, leveraging new opportunities presented by federal restructuring and digital innovation to scale youth voice and civic action. The research ultimately validates a two-edged approach combining DST and Ecosystem Theory to foster a more inclusive, equitable, and resilient state for Nepal's youth.

In recent years, global disasters have occurred frequently, and the continuous occurrence of urban rain and flood disasters has attracted the attention of the government and people from all walks of life. Therefore, it is necessary to study the evolution mechanism of urban flood control and disaster relief based on edge computing and the resilience concept. Meanwhile, it should establish an effective prevention and control system and governance mechanism. This work first constructs an urban flood disaster system based on the evolutionary resilience concept, systems theory, and synergetic theory, and explores the system structure and dynamic process. Then, the edge computing-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipment is adopted to simulate UAV clusters' three-dimensional deployment and resource scheduling. The Frames Per Second value of accurate monitoring in flood disasters is directly related to its algorithm, camera parameters, and hardware computing power. Finally, the edge computing function of intelligent devices combined with the UAV's operation is employed to analyze some network performance tuning methods and the impact of deployment accuracy and speed during urban flood deployment. The experiment proves that the disaster prevention system based on the resilience concept can quickly improve the urban flood warning, dispatching, and emergency platform, and respond to the increasingly serious flood situation with intelligent technical means. Intelligent edge devices, such as UAVs, can flexibly provide more flood information and sufficient computing resources for ground rescue equipment to form a parallel computing system. Moreover, they can realize the statistics of the number of people on the mobile terminal and give the operation processes and precautions during system building, model conversion, file compilation, and model tuning.

ABSTRACT Accumulating evidence suggests that positive childhood experiences (PCEs) contribute to positive individual-oriented outcomes in adulthood (e.g. better physical and mental health), yet less is known about how PCEs benefit society. Building on developmental systems theory and attachment theory, the present study investigated the relation between PCEs and prosocial behavior in early adulthood. Study 1 collected 14-day diary data from 147 emerging adults (M age = 19.27, SD age = 2.18). Multilevel regression analyses indicated that PCEs positively predicted daily prosocial behavior after controlling for age, sex and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Importantly, Study 2 replicated findings in Study 1 with another sample (N = 243, M age = 19.46, SD age = 2.18) and further uncovered the mediating role of daily gratitude underlying this relation. Collectively, these findings highlight the prosocial benefits of cultivating positive environments for children and propose gratitude as a viable intervention target.

Inclusion in play, physical education, outdoor life, organized sports, and other movement-based activities can promote resilience and support physical, emotional, and social well-being. These arenas are particularly important for reducing health disparities and preventing social marginalization across the lifespan. Yet, children and adolescents from vulnerable or disadvantaged backgrounds encounter persistent barriers to participation, rooted in broader inequalities related to their socioeconomic position, disability, gender, ethnicity, and access to supportive environments. This perspective outlines how inclusive movement contexts, when informed by developmental systems theory and resilience frameworks, can interrupt trajectories of marginalization and promote long-term equity in health, education, and work inclusion. We emphasize the need for interdisciplinary approaches, combining longitudinal and qualitative methods, to uncover how vulnerability and participation interact dynamically over time. By integrating insights from developmental science, education, public health, and spatial ecology, we identify strategic pathways for research and action. Addressing these challenges requires coordinated efforts across sectors and stakeholders to co-create inclusive, context-sensitive interventions.

The Adhyatma Ramayana, attributed to sage Vyasa and considered a significant component of the Brahmanda Purana, represents a sophisticated framework for human development that merges spiritual wisdom with psychological transformation. This research synthesizes textual analysis, comparative religious studies, and psychological theory to establish how this classical Sanskrit text functions as a comprehensive system for personality development. Through rigorous hermeneutical analysis of its seven kandas (sections) and preliminary studies, we demonstrate how engagement with the text's principles correlates with improvements in psychological well-being, emotional regulation, and moral reasoning capability. Our interdisciplinary framework reveals how the Adhyatma Ramayana integrates constructivist learning, archetypal psychology, contemplative neuroscience, and developmental systems theory to create a coherent development model applicable across cultural contexts. This research contributes to the growing field of contemplative science by exploring traditional wisdom practices and their potential applications for contemporary education, psychotherapy, leadership development, and personal growth.

The aim of this paper is to constructively critique the degrowth approach, which is often referred to as a disliked theory by mainstream economics, and to promote the professional dialogue on this research avenue directing towards qualitative growth. It first shows that the current socio-economic configuration does not allow sustainable development to be achieved, hence the need for a more radical shift towards qualitative growth is in order. It then provides a critical presentation of the concept of degrowth-transition as a way forward qualitative growth by also highlighting the system-theoretical shortcomings of the concept, the ambiguity of its nexus with capitalism and democracy, and the neglect of the relevant role of modern industrial policy. In addition to a narrow interpretation of the concept, the transdisciplinary nature of the degrowth transition will be explored by incorporating relevant aspects of evolutionary science, systems theory and neuroscience. The paper then concludes by deciphering five key insights going way beyond what we so far know about the concept of degrowth.

This paper expands on the anthropocentric focus of the Self-Directed Flourishing (SDF) framework by introducing the Eco-Systemic Flourishing (ESF) framework. The primary contribution of the ESF is the integration of ecological systems thinking, place-based education, and regenerative learning into existing flourishing frameworks. Methodologically, the paper synthesizes interdisciplinary perspectives from developmental psychology, systems theory and sustainability education and to propose a transformative educational approach. The results outline how the ESF framework positions education as a crucial driver for fostering relational awareness and ecological literacy, thus promoting both human and planetary flourishing. The framework’s implications are significant, offering a scalable model for sustainability integration in educational systems, curriculum design, and policy development. Future empirical validation, through longitudinal studies, is recommended to evaluate ESF’s effectiveness in enhancing educational outcomes and ecological stewardship.

The concept of degrowth, which advocates for quantitatively more restrained economic growth, is much maligned in mainstream economics. The aim of this paper is to provide constructive critique for this theory promoting qualitative growth and to encourage in-depth professional dialogue. It points out that the current socio-economic configuration does not allow for the achievement of sustainable development, therefore a more radical shift towards quality growth is in order. It then critically reviews the concept of degrowth representing a shift towards qualitative growth. In doing so it highlights the concept’s shortcomings, the ambiguity of its nexus with capitalism and democracy, and the neglect of the relevant role of modern industrial policy. In addition to a narrow interpretation of the concept, the transdisciplinary nature of the degrowth transition is also explored, incorporating relevant aspects of evolutionary science, systems theory and neuroscience. Finally, five insights are elaborated that may catalyse a degrowth research agenda and a meaningful professional dialogue.

Preparing for equitable family and community engagement through home visiting: linking culturally responsive/sustaining pedagogy and developmental frameworks.

Relational developmental systems theory integrates a positive youth development (PYD) perspective on the transition to adulthood. Meanwhile, the developmental assets (DAs) model describes the personal and contextual resources that nurture PYD. This study examined the fulfillment of DAs and experience of social contribution in a sample of 23 Spanish undergraduates from seven universities (age range 18–25, Mage = 20.57, SD = 2.06). Data were collected from seven focus groups, each comprising undergraduate students from different academic years, universities, and degree programs. All interviews were conducted in Spanish for 50–65 min and comprised eight questions divided into three sections (internal assets, external assets, and social contribution and barriers). The results indicated that among internal assets, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity were important for adolescents. Additionally, the external asset of social support was a highly relevant resource. Regarding social contribution, the participants showed empathy towards the needs of the community and reported that helping others was rewarding. Clearly, the youth’s perspectives on their development should be considered while creating prevention and promotion programs that foster internal and external assets.

The Damasian concept of emotion and the self fits within the emotivist tradition, viewing mind and reason as embodied realities linked to the body and its social and natural interactions. Emotion, for Damásio, creates the context for reason to operate effectively, aligning with anti-Cartesian ideas. Due to the role of emotions, this may be used to suggest that living beings are not just skin-bound entities but processes integrating body and environment. Therefore, we examine both his relevance to contemporary philosophy of mind and self, and his possible contribution to naturalized metaphysics, particularly within Developmental Systems Theory.

Professional identity formation (PIF) is a multi-dimensional and dynamic process central to health professions education. It involves integrating personal values with societal expectations and professional responsibilities. This article introduces a novel multi-layered conceptual framework—drawing on evolutionary economics, systems theory, and information architecture—to address a gap in current competency-based education models. Unlike prior frameworks, this approach provides a dynamic, interdisciplinary, and adaptable pathway for fostering reflective and ethically grounded healthcare professionals. By incorporating these elements, the framework uniquely supports educators in developing healthcare professionals who can navigate the evolving complexities of modern healthcare systems.

This paper first explores the risk factors associated with adolescents’ suicidal thoughts, attempts, and behaviors within different developmental domains and in the environment, using the developmental systems theory (DST). The most frequently identified risk factor for suicide, psychological pain, is examined in terms of its nature, expression, and possible cause. This paper criticizes the current empirical research of suicidal adolescents’ interventions on two issues: (1) lack of concern for fundamental issues in lifespan development and (2) inadequate treatment of the emotional needs resulting from the psychological pain in adolescents. Finally, this paper proposes forgiveness education intervention as targeting the emotional needs, particularly psychological pain, for suicidal adolescents.

Different conceptualizations of brain function have different implications for understanding the relation of neuroscience to the study of human development. In one view, the brain is an isolated computational device that passively processes stimuli delivered from an external world and then mediates a response. An alternative view, which is more consistent with the evolutionary history of brains, moves away from simple causal linkages between stimulus and response and instead emphasizes the inherent, ongoing activity of the individual. Here the individual is not directly instructed by information from its environment but instead shapes its own sensory inputs through its goal-directed activity. Related conceptual confusions around instructions and information can be found in accounts of brain development that either fall back on a genetic blueprint or that elevate the role of extrinsic experience. A more coherent approach brings together aspects of developmental and evolutionary biology while drawing on developmental systems theory and particular themes in embodied cognitive science. Such an approach spans qualitatively different frames of explanation across a range of spatiotemporal scales, necessitating a reconsideration of disciplinary boundaries. Fully engaging in this effort can yield a more integrative science of brain, mind, and behavior and an enriched understanding of human development.

Positive Youth Development (PYD) is a strength-based perspective that focuses on the resources to promote a successful transition to adulthood, derived from the Relational Developmental Systems theory. In this line, the Developmental Assets (DA) model focuses on describing the personal resources (Internal Assets) and contextual resources (External Assets) that help to reach PYD. Most research from this approach has been carried out in United States and, to a lesser extent, in the European continent. The aim of this scoping review was to examine the evidence collected for the DA model in Europe. Web of Science database was used to search for articles published between 2013 and February 2024. Initially, there were 55 possible articles to be included, but after applying the exclusion criteria, this number was reduced to 11. The findings suggested that the evidence for DA in Europe was in line with North American research, so that a higher presence of DA was related to higher well-being, better psychological adjustment, and lower risk behaviors. Internal Assets were the most influential assets, with the Positive Identity category being especially remarkable. Commitment to Learning and Social Competencies were also highlighted in the studies included in the review. Concerning External Assets, Positive Boundaries-expectations and Empowerment were emphasized as protective factors in youth development. These assets were found to present a protective effect against risk behaviors and were positively associated with PYD and socioemotional skills. Thus, these findings support the applicability of the DA framework in promoting PYD in European context, and some intervention strategies are discussed considering cultural diversity.

Based on developmental systems and dynamic systems theories, we propose the lifeworld approach—a conceptual framework for research and a hypothesis concerning early social-cognitive development. As a framework, the lifeworld approach recognizes the social embeddedness of development and shifts the focus away from individual developmental outcomes toward the reciprocal interplay of processes within and between individuals that co-constitutes early social-cognitive development. As a hypothesis, the lifeworld approach proposes that the changing developmental system—spanning the different individuals as their subsystems—strives toward attractor states through regulation at the behavioral level, which results in both the emergence and further differentiation of developmental attainments. The lifeworld approach—as a framework and a hypothesis, including key methodological approaches to test it—is exemplified by research on infants' self-awareness, prosocial behavior and social learning. Equipped with, first, a conceptual framework grounded in a modern view on development and, second, a growing suite of methodological approaches, developmental science can advance by analyzing the mutually influential relations between intra-individual and interactional processes in order to identify key mechanisms underlying early social-cognitive development.

Religion has been shown to have a positive impact for developing adolescents; however, the processes underlying this relation are not well known. In his almighty prosocial theory, Anazonwu (Conceptualizing and testing almighty prosociality theory for a more peaceful world, SCOA Heritage Nigeria, 2017) proposed that the activation of learnt prosocial moral reasoning through religion enabled performance of prosocial peace behavior that will benefit society. Thus, religion coping enhances the development of prosocial reasoning which in turn propagate prosocial acts while reducing delinquent behaviors. Similarly, developmental system theory (Lerner, Developmental science, developmental systems, and contemporary theories of human development, John Wiley & Sons, 2006) assumed that in every individual three mechanisms: plasticity (potential to change), context (environment), and developmental regulation (learnable principles) interact to describe the direction of the transactions between individuals and their various embedded sociocultural context of development which will also determine other developmental outcomes. Based on these two theoretical assumptions, the present study examined whether prosocial moral reasoning (developmental regulation) was the mechanism in the negative correlation between religious coping (plasticity) and delinquent behaviors (outcome), and if religious affiliation(context) (Christianity and Islam) moderated these paths. We hypothesized that the link from prosocial moral reasoning to lower delinquent behaviors would be stronger for Muslim compared with Christian youth. These questions were tested among Nigerian adolescence, an important sample because of high interreligious and interethnic tension among youth in the country. 298 adolescents (Mean age = 15.03 years, SD = 1.76; male = 176, female = 122; 46.3% Muslim, 53.7% Christian) were sampled using questionnaires in senior secondary schools in Nigeria. Moderated mediation result shows that greater religious coping was linked with higher prosocial moral reasoning, which in turn predicted fewer delinquent behaviors. Religious coping interacted with religion affiliation to influence delinquent behavior; there was a stronger link between these two constructs for Muslim compared to Christian youth. Thus, interventions aiming to reduce youth delinquent behaviors should consider promoting prosocial moral reasoning, particularly among the various religions (i.e., Christian/Muslim) communities.