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Longitudinal Analysis of a Very Short Measure of Positive Youth Development

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Abstract

As developmental scientists cease to perceive adolescence as a period of inevitable turmoil and adopt the Positive Youth Development (PYD) perspective, psychometrically sound measurement tools will be needed to assess adolescents’ positive attributes. In this article we examine the longitudinal stability of the very short version of the PYD scale developed as part of the 4-H Study of PYD. Using a sample of 7,071 adolescents (60 % female) followed between Grades 5 and 12, our results suggest general stability of PYD across adolescence, both in terms of mean levels and rank-order stability. We also show that both a global measure of PYD and the individual Five Cs of PYD consistently correlate with important criterion measures (i.e., contribution, depressive symptoms, and problem behaviors) in expected ways. Although our results suggest weak relationships among our three criteria, we especially note that across adolescence PYD becomes more strongly correlated with contribution but less strongly correlated with depressive symptoms, and that confidence becomes more strongly related to depressive symptoms. We discuss implications for use of the present PYD measure in youth development programs.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by grants from the National 4-H Council, the Altria Corporation, the Thrive Foundation for Youth, and the John Templeton Foundation.

Author contributions

GJG helped conceive this article, draft the manuscript, and led all data analyses; EPB helped conceive this article and draft the manuscript; MKM assisted with data analysis and helped draft the manuscript; CMN assisted with data analysis and helped draft the manuscript; KSC assisted with data analysis and helped draft the manuscript; RML was PI of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, helped conceive this article, and assisted in drafting the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Public Health and Human Sciences, 410 Waldo Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    G. John Geldhof

  2. Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA

    Edmond P. Bowers, Kristina Schmid Callina & Richard M. Lerner

  3. Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, Grafton, MA, USA

    Megan Kiely Mueller

  4. University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Christopher M. Napolitano

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  1. G. John Geldhof
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  2. Edmond P. Bowers
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  4. Christopher M. Napolitano
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  6. Richard M. Lerner
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Correspondence to G. John Geldhof.

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Geldhof, G.J., Bowers, E.P., Mueller, M.K. et al. Longitudinal Analysis of a Very Short Measure of Positive Youth Development. J Youth Adolescence 43, 933–949 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-014-0093-z

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