Opportunities For Positive Development Research Articles

Mental health in challenging times: Psychological perspectives for practitioners and society

AbstractIn general, resilience is a process in which the interplay of risk and protective factors of the system itself and its environment is balanced in such a way that positive development opportunities open up. The resilience of a person, a system and a profession is therefore reflected in the ability to shape conditions in such a way that positive coping with challenges and crises is possible as a basis for positive further development. The time of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine has led to a large number of adjustments to psychology as a science, as a profession and as a perspective on life. This is associated with opportunities for positive further development of the discipline. European psychology has so far mastered the challenge of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine very well. The task now is to harness its successes as a multifunctional hub for other sciences, professions and society as a whole. The aim is to develop an identity that strengthens the unity of psychology in its diversity. With wisdom and resilience, psychology is also increasingly facing up to the challenges expressed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). In the discussion of social and professional change, the possibilities for a joint positive development of all professions in these stressful times become clear.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Internationalisation of Higher Education Curriculum as a Strategy for Preparing Future Youth Workers

Abstract Educating future youth workers is a particular challenge for higher education. It results not only in the acquisition of basic knowledge and skills, but also in the implementation of the glocal perspective. In this aspect, the process of internationalization of higher education is a key element enabling optimal shaping of future youth workers’ vocational identity. The article presents an international strategic partnership project enabling such activities in the area of bachelor’s studies. Its theoretical layer (Positive Youth Development) and intellectual outputs were presented. Moreover, learning, teaching and training activities, which are the result of the testing of the educational module, were introduced. The opportunity to participate in such international activities enables future social professionals to creatively approach youth problems at the local level using a broader perspective and mechanisms based not only on identifying risk and problems but also on resources and opportunities for positive development. The results worked out in the project can form the basis to develop learning, teaching and training activities for future youth workers outside partner universities.

Barriers and facilitators in the delivery of a proportionate universal parenting program model (E-SEE Steps) in community family services.

BackgroundA proportionate universal (PU) approach to early years’ service provision has been advocated to improve children’s health and development and to reduce health inequality, by ensuring that services provide timely and high-quality parenting support commensurate with need. Process-oriented research is critical to examine the factors that contribute to, or hinder, the effective delivery/implementation of such a model in community-based family services. This study aimed to assess the delivery, acceptability and feasibility of a new PU parenting intervention model (called E-SEE Steps), using the Incredible Years® (IY) parent program, when delivered by trained health/family service staff in three “steps”—one universal step (the IY Babies Book), and two targeted steps (group-based IY Infant and Toddler programs).MethodsAn embedded mixed-methods process evaluation within a pragmatic parallel two-arm, assessor blinded, randomized controlled trial was conducted in community services in four local authorities in England. The process evaluation used qualitative data gathered via interviews and focus groups with intervention arm parents who were offered the targeted steps (n = 29), practitioners (n = 50), service managers (n = 7) and IY program mentors (n = 3). This was supplemented by quantitative data collected using group leader pre-training (n = 50) and post-delivery (n = 39) questionnaires, and research notes of service design decisions.ResultsThe E-SEE Steps model was acceptable to most parents, particularly when it was accompanied by engagement strategies that supported attendance, such as providing childcare. Practitioners also highlighted the positive development opportunities provided by the IY training and supervision. However, participant views did not support the provision of the IY Babies book as a standalone universal component, and there were barriers to eligible parents—particularly those with low mood—taking up the targeted programs. Service providers struggled to align the PU model with their commissioned service contracts and with their staff capacity to engage appropriate parents, including tackling common barriers to attendance.ConclusionsDespite general enthusiasm and support for delivering high-quality parenting programs in community services in the England, several barriers exist to successfully delivering IY in a proportionate universal model within current services/systems.

Susceptibility to peer influence on prosocial behavior in adolescents with Mild Intellectual Disability or Borderline Intellectual Functioning

BackgroundAdolescents with Mild Intellectual Disability (MID) or Borderline Intellectual Functioning (BIF) are highly susceptible to negative peer influence. However, research in typically developing adolescents shows that peers can also promote prosocial behavior, which is an opportunity for positive development. AimsThe current study aimed to investigate the effect of peer influence on prosocial behavior in adolescents with MID or BIF. Methods and proceduresIn an experimental donation task, 40 adolescents with MID or BIF (Mage = 14.0, 40 % boys) were repeatedly asked how many of five coins they would like to donate to the group. The task had four consecutive within-subject conditions: alone, with virtual peers present, with virtual peer feedback, and alone again. Outcomes and resultsResults showed that adolescents made larger donations with virtual peers present, and even larger with peer feedback. This increase in donations sustained for subsequent decisions made alone. Finally, adolescents with BIF made larger donations with peer feedback compared to adolescents with MID. Conclusions and implicationsAdolescents with MID or BIF are susceptible to peer influence on prosocial behavior, demonstrating the potential effect social context can have on promoting positive development.

Africa’s Development and Post Covid-19 Emerging Opportunities: Towards a Political Economic Model for Strengthening Intra Africa Trade and National/Regional Competitiveness in Response to Global Supply Chain Disruption

In view of the general observation that emerging opportunities exist for developing economies in the aftermath of the COVID-19 global pandemic, despite its many health, safety, economic, social and environmental realities, this paper examines how Africa could translate the challenges of the crisis into positive development opportunities from three interrelated salient angles: first is how to consolidate on innovation for local production and reinforce intra-African trade; the second is strengthening innovation for more resilient policies that address youth employment and skills development for regional and global competitiveness; and third, refocusing the digital and green economies, including the strengths of artificial intelligence, big data, e-commerce and the continuity of related environmental objectives. Using the “systems approach”, it proposes three quaternal models, advocating for policy coherence as optimal for development deliverables. This is not only beneficial for helping Africa out of the crisis, but could also meet some novel and future-oriented objectives of capacity building for managing complexities as purported in current global and regional development Agendas 2030 and 2063, as well as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) proposals.

The role of adult facilitators in arts-based extracurricular settings: Perceived factors for success of adult-youth relationships.

Extracurricular arts programmes and supportive adult relationships provide youth with opportunities for positive development, however, more research about how relationships within these programmes develop and what factors and practices adults use to guide their work would help to improve youth programmes' outcomes. Eight Film Club facilitators at an after-school film-making club for students in grades 5 through 8 were interviewed about their perceived their role and what practices they successfully utilised. The semistructured interviews were then thematically analysed. Facilitators perceived the development of authentic and supportive relationships provided a foundation for meaningful learning. Rather than being directive, the facilitators had a collaborative approach to engagement, which allowed for social and emotional learning opportunities and established youth agency. Relationships within creative extracurricular spaces, which are youth-led and include supportive adult facilitators may provide young people with valuable opportunities for social, emotional and identity development.

Screen Time, Social Media Use, and Adolescent Development

Adolescents spend much of their daily lives online, and fears abound that digital technology use, and social media in particular, is harming their social and emotional development. Findings to date do not support causal or robust associations between social media use and adolescents’ development. Instead, prior studies have produced a mix of small positive, negative, and often null associations. The narrative around social media and adolescent development has been negative, but empirical support for the story of increasing deficits, disease, and disconnection is limited. This article reviews what is known about the association between social media use and adolescent social and emotional well-being, identifies key limitations in current research, and recommends ways to improve science while also minimizing risk and creating opportunities for positive development in an increasingly digital and uncertain age.

Shaping Positive Summertime Experiences for All Youth to Promote Healthy Development

Shaping Summertime Experiences: Opportunities to Promote Healthy Development and Well-Being for Children and Youth was released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in September 2019. This multidisciplinary committee authored report examines evidence on outcomes of summertime experiences for children and youth in 4 areas of well-being: (a) academic learning and enrichment, (b) social and emotional development, (c) physical and mental health, and (d) safety, risk-taking, and pro- and anti-social behaviors. Using a systems perspective, the committee looked at how social, physical, and economic environments interact to promote or limit access for children and youth to opportunities for positive development, healthy behaviors, safety, and well-being during the summer. The committee’s recommendations are intended to improve planning, administration, and coordination of summertime programs and services, improving availability, access, and equity of summertime programs; and advancing data collection efforts.

КОМУНІКАТИВНА МОБІЛЬНІСТЬ МАЙБУТНЬОГО ПЕДАГОГА-ВИХОВАТЕЛЯ: ТЕОРЕТИЧНИЙ АСПЕКТ

The article is devoted to the analysis of the content of professional activity of the future educator, the disclosure of the modern idea of ​​communicative mobility of this category of pedagogical workers of preschool education. The article substantiates the importance of communicative mobility in terms of professional orientation in higher education. The proposed approach to the definition of communicative mobility allows to go beyond its narrowly utilitarian understanding. The considered definition is reduced to the level of the principle of the subject of activity. It is substantiated that such interpretation allows to reveal in communicative mobility opportunities for positive development of the future educator. Emphasis is placed on the formation of the worldview of the future teacher-educator, who demonstrates its important qualities as a high level of adaptability to familiar and new situations, allows you to form a mechanism for rapid response to events in various fields, and provides a chance to experience communication in real life. which are the basis for the formation of ideas about human life and for the realization of the needs and interests of the individual in the political, legal, economic, social and cultural life of the state. Particular attention is paid to the issue of substantiation of the mechanism of mobility, both pedagogical and communicative. The universal character of communicative mobility of the future educator is revealed: multifaceted, multifaceted and multi-textured. It was found that the structure of communicative training of this category of teachers of preschool education is the dialectical unity of all its components, which are the most important factor in self-realization of the individual, along with knowledge, skills and abilities. Emphasis is placed on the fact that pedagogical communication in the educational environment of the preschool institution coordinates purposeful, practical actions of its participants, the peculiarity of these interactions between the subjects of the communication process is that this interaction is carried out indirectly through communication. It is noted that the communicative mobility of future educators is an activity and is the ability to adapt to the implementation of communicative activities.

MEMBANGUN SIKAP SOSIALANAK MELALUI PERMAINAN TRADISIONAL

<p><em>T</em><em>raditional games, especially traditional Balinese games have been abandoned, one reason is the rapid development of technology in various aspects of life, one of them is digital games. Traditional games actually have many benefits for children, indirectly children will be stimulated to be creative and very good for the physical and psychological training of children. It is part of the character education process, so the traditional games can be started early. In the traditional games, students are able to build social attitude, such as social ability to work together, compact, have democratic attitude and love attitude environment. social attitude is expected to facilitate or provide opportunities for positive development of children, then they will be able to achieve social development in a mature. On the contrary, if the social environment is less conducive, the social attitude of the children tend to display deviant behavior. For that, the development of a social attitude of children through traditional games is needed.</em></p>

How do communities intervene with adolescents at psychosocial risk? A systematic review of positive development programs

The community is an important context for adolescents at psychosocial risk due to its great potential to offer opportunities for positive development. The objective of this study is to review illustrative community group-based intervention programs that promote competences in this population following the positive development framework. A systematic literature search was carried out following the PRISMA guidelines to identify the characteristics of group-based programs (location, participants, aims, referral, enrollment, facilitator, method, and duration) and the quality level of their evaluation (emerging, promising, and best practice). The search included intervention programs published in peer-reviewed scientific journals in English and Spanish, from 1980 to 2017. Eight electronic databases and reference lists of relevant studies were consulted, and 25 programs targeting early, mid, and late adolescents were found to meet the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Results reveal acceptable practices related to participant referral, facilitator training, and great variability in the types of activities offered, with overall positive findings in increasing adolescent personal and social competences and reducing problematic behaviors. However, information was lacking or was poorly reported on enrollment strategies, group composition, attrition rates, implementation measures, effect sizes and moderators of change, and therefore the quality of the evaluation designs could be improved in line with evidence-based standards. Recommendations are offered for researchers in the community program evaluation field, and policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders can be made aware of the characteristics and effectiveness of these programs so that they can be offered to adolescents in need.

‘How can you enjoy sports if you are under control by others?’ Self-organized lifestyle sports and youth development

While research shows a positive association between participation in organized sports and youth development, research on alternative and unorganized sport settings is lacking. This paper analyzes developmental processes in a sample of unorganized lifestyle sport contexts, drawing on a Relational Developmental Systems approach to human development. Based on observation and interviews with young practitioners in four lifestyle sport contexts, we found many similarities in these contexts and the possibilities they offered for youth development. Results suggest the contexts studied should not be considered unorganized but self-organized. These contexts may support positive development, not in spite of, but because of the lack of strict rules, formal leaders or a priori performance goals. The studied contexts are understood as embracing and tolerant, yet not accessible for all. Self-organized lifestyle sport contexts need more detailed research to understand how they can provide opportunities for positive development among some hard to reach groups.

The School-Based Family: Teachers as Parental Figures for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Ugandan Schools

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to examine the possible formation of surrogate families within Ugandan schools, especially among orphans who lack positive development opportunities typically provided by parents. This qualitative study sample of 66 Ugandan secondary school students were selected from eight schools in the Mukono district of Uganda. Findings suggest a potentially widespread family formation pattern between students and their teachers. More than 75% of students interviewed self-identified their teacher as family. Some teachers were able to offer orphans and vulnerable children positive developmental assets and were, therefore, identified as family.

On private equity exits of family firms in the German Mittelstand

There is limited existing research on factors influencing the preferences of family firms’ owner-managers for specific modes of external transitions of ownership such as private equity. In a multi-method approach, this study qualitatively gathers the attitudinal beliefs of family firms’ owner-managers about pursuing the private equity succession route. Four classes of beliefs are identified: perceptions of (1) firm continuance; (2) opportunities for firm development; (3) loss of firm ethos; and (4) commercial firm risks. These classes are then tested quantitatively with a sample of 195 family firm owner-managers among the German Mittelstand. Our results partially confirm the qualitative findings: the perception of positive development opportunities and the perception of commercial firm risks explain owner-managers’ intention to pursue a private equity succession, mediated through attitude. Overall, attitude emerges as the cornerstone in this context-specific intention model.

Applying a health literacy lens to youth sport: a focus on doping prevention in Germany.

There are two camps when it comes to youth in high-performance sports and whether competition is good or destructive. Despite opportunities for positive development, the demands of increasing competitive levels and related situational stressors among young athletes can be a double-edged sword. Doping is becoming increasingly popular and more readily available to the youth sports population. Improving the health of youth in competitive sport requires us to think about health and its determinants in a more sophisticated manner. We share a current initiative in Germany that reflects this broader thinking by integrating 'education for health literacy' as one strategy in youth sport settings with regard to doping prevention. Implications and emerging opportunities to take further action for doping prevention and health improvement applicable for German and global contexts are offered.

Influence of positive development opportunities on student well-being, depression and suicide risk: the New Zealand Youth Health and Well-being Survey 2012

ABSTRACTThis study explores the association between neighbourhood opportunities for Positive Youth Development (PYD) and adolescent depressive symptoms, well-being and suicide risk. A 2-stage random sample of 8500 students(years 9–13) from 91 high schools from throughout New Zealand was collected in 2012. Analyses were restricted to neighbourhoods with more than 10 students resulting in a final sample of 5191 adolescents within 266 neighbourhoods. Multilevel models linked data from neighbourhoods to individual student data to explore the association between neighbourhood opportunities for PYD and student depressive symptoms, well-being and suicide risk. Neighbourhoods with a high proportion of students involved in activities that help others, attend church groups, or participate in sports teams were associated with significantly increased well-being among students living in these neighbourhoods. No neighbourhood-level measures were found to significantly alter rates of depressive symptoms or suicide risk. Findings suggest that providing neighbourhood opportunities for PYD may enhance adolescent well-being.

Confidence Bands for the Survival Function Using a Weibull Regression Model in Presence of Arbitrary Censoring

Usually, the exact time at which an event occurs cannot be observed for several reasons; for instance, it is not possible to constantly monitor a characteristic of interest. This generates a phenomenon known as censoring that can be classified as having a left censor, right censor or interval censor. When one is working with survival data in the presence of arbitrary censoring, the survival time of interest is defined as the elapsed time between an initial event and the next event that is generally unknown. This problem has been widely studied in the statistic literature and some progress has been made, toward resolving and the formulation of a bivariate likelihood to estimate parameters in a parametric regression model offers positive development opportunities. In this paper, we construct a bivariate likelihood for the Weibull regression model in the presence of interval censoring. Finally, its performance is illustrated by means of a simulation study.

Identity, History and Compassion in Derek Walcott's in a Green Night

History and identity are recurrent issues in Caribbean literature. This paper examines Derek Walcott's vision of the Caribbean society and his effort to reconcile the contradictions and tensions of his dual heritage and the fractured history of the West Indies, especially that of St. Lucia, his homeland. This paper explores Walcott's movement from rejection to resolution of the tensions of his hybrid self, and a change towards the Caribbean landscape that he had earlier perceived as a prison. Walcott's change of attitude is predicated by his love for the Caribbean landscape, and his compassionate view of all the ravages that dislocation, forced on the region. Walcott sees this situation as an opportunity for positive development. The thrust of his art is to transcend the parody of the Caribbean society as static and void of achievements and heal the fragmented psyche of the Caribbean society.

Sink or Swim: Promoting Youth Development Through Aquatics Programs in Baltimore, Maryland

Youth participation in structured recreational activities promotes positive youth development. Engagement with others as part of a team or through group activities allows youth to develop skills in social interaction, goal setting, discipline, emotional maturity, physical activity competence, and many other abilities. As a recreational activity, group-oriented sport, and life skill, swimming has the potential to positively affect youth development in many different domains. Despite the promise of swimming for youth development, large disparities exist in access to and use of pools and swim programming. Swimming opportunities are much less available and less utilized by minority populations, especially in inner-city urban areas. In Baltimore City, Maryland, programs have attempted to improve youth swimming abilities and promote pool use for physical fitness, but participation has been low. The objective of this study is to understand the factors influencing use of swim programming offered in Baltimore, in order to identify suggestions for improving swim programs to more effectively engage inner city minority youth. Researchers conducted 13 in-depth-interviews, three focus group discussions, and six pool observations. Informants included Baltimore City parents, teachers, young adults (18-24 years old), aquatics staff, and city officials from both swimming and non-swimming backgrounds. Findings suggest that important barriers to youth participation in swimming include inconsistent availability of swim programs, limited knowledge of swimming opportunities, variant local definitions of swimming ability, and a lack of role models. Motivators to swimming participation include supportive role models and perceptions of swimming as a gateway to employment opportunities. To improve programs promoting youth development through swimming, the identified barriers and motivators should be addressed by developing messaging focused on: skills of competent swimmers, pool and class schedules, financial costs and support, pool safety, transportation options, benefits of indoor pools, the growing diversity of swimmers, family-oriented aquatic activities, the social and physical appeal of swimming, and employment opportunities swimming can provide. Community outreach and engagement with schools and parent organizations could help change social norms and increase youth participation in swimming. This would provide youth, both in Baltimore and other urban populations, with more opportunities for positive development. Subscribe to JPRA

An exploration of the participation of kindergarten-aged Hong Kong children in extra curricular activities

In this study, we used a mixed-methods research design to investigate the extra curricular participation of kindergarten-aged Hong Kong children, based on reports provided by 1260 parents, and parents’ perceptions of their children’s extra curricular participation, through nine individual interviews. The results of the survey indicated that kindergarten-aged Hong Kong children are regularly and extensively involved in extra curricular activities, and that children with more educated parents and children from families with higher incomes participate in more extra curricular activities. The interview responses revealed that, in general, the parents believe that extra curricular participation provides their children with opportunities for positive development that are beyond the scope of the training provided by kindergartens. We discuss the implications of these findings for parent education and Hong Kong’s policy of subsidizing kindergarten education.