A Developmental Intervention Science (DIS) outreach research approach to promoting youth development: Theoretical, methodological, and meta-theoretical challenges.

This paper describes work directed toward creating community-supported positive youth development interventions that draw on a developmental intervention science outreach research approach. With respect to developmental interventions, this approach focuses on creating evidence-based longitudinal change intervention strategies for promoting long-term developmental change. The paper describes three broad challenges (theoretical, methodological, and meta-theoretical) that the authors faced in their efforts to develop and implement community-supported intervention programs built on this approach. The authors describe first the theoretical challenges they addressed in developing the conceptual framework for their community-supported intervention; second, the challenge of developing and refining a methodological framework for evaluating positive youth development interventions in “real-world” settings; and third, the meta-theoretical challenges that arose in the context of implementing community-supported positive development programs

A Developmental Intervention Approach to Promoting Positive Development: Pathways of Intervention Change

This paper describes work directed toward creating community-supported positive youth development interventions that draw on a developmental intervention science outreach research approach. With respect to developmental interventions, this approach focuses on creating evidence-based longitudinal change intervention strategies for promoting long-term developmental change. The paper describes three broad challenges (theoretical, methodological, and meta-theoretical) that the authors faced in their efforts to develop and implement community-supported intervention programs built on this approach. The authors describe first the theoretical challenges they addressed in developing the conceptual framework for their community-supported intervention; second, the challenge of developing and refining a methodological framework for evaluating positive youth development interventions in “real-world” settings; and third, the meta-theoretical challenges that arose in the context of implementing community-supported positive development programs

Promoting Positive Youth Development The Miami Youth Development Project (YDP)

The Miami Youth Development Project (YDP) had its beginnings in the early 1990s as a grassroots response to the needs of troubled (multiproblem) young people in the community (Arnett, Kurtines, & Montgomery, 2008, this issue). YDP is an important outcome of efforts to create positive youth development interventions that draw on the strengths of developmental intervention science outreach research in the development of community-supported positive development programs (i.e., an approach that focuses on meeting community needs as well as youth needs by generating innovative knowledge of evidence-based change intervention strategies that are feasible, affordable, and sustainable in “real world” settings, (Kurtines, Ferrer-Wreder, Cass Lorente, Silverman, Montgomery, 2008, this issue). Now completing its second decade, YDP represents an effort to bring together a more empowering model of knowledge development for research involvement in the community, a nuanced and contextualized notion of youth and their development, and methodologies that richly reflect rather than reduce the experiences of the young people whose development the authors seek to promote

Building better relationships workshop: An intervention fostering identity formation and interpersonal development in middle adolescents

The aim of this study was to further knowledge development concerning the formation of a sense of identity and intimacy. This study drew on the growing recognition by many researchers in the psychosocial development field of the need to target interventions at the interface of the development of identity and intimacy. The specific aim of the study was to address the question of whether it would be possible to develop intervention procedures for fostering identity and intimacy exploration and development. Using both qualitative and quantitative measurements, the results appeared to clearly support an affirmative answer to this question. A total of sixty-three middle adolescent students from an urban, public high school participated in this study. Twenty-nine participants in the treatment group and 34 participants in the comparison group were pre- and post tested on measures of identity and intimacy. Participants in this study consisted of multiethnic, urban youth that presented themselves for relationship counseling. Repeated measures analysis of variance\u27s (RMANOVA\u27s), used to evaluate the impact of the intervention on the quantitative measures of identity and intimacy exploration, clearly supported the efficacy of the intervention. In addition, the findings also provided tentative support for the view that the increase in exploration that results from entering a period of active exploration is associated with a “loosening” of commitment. Finally, the findings of this study also contributed to the empirical knowledge-base about procedures for intervening with respect to the process of intimacy development. More specifically, both the qualitative and quantitative findings of this study began to shed some light on the potential impact of exploration for interpersonal insight as that as a process for fostering intimacy development

Promoting Identity Development In Marginalized Youth

This study tested a school-based intervention developed for use with urban minority youth vulnerable to multiple negative developmental outcomes. A quasi-experimental design (pre- and post-follow-up with matched comparison condition) was used to evaluate the impact of the intervention on promoting positive change in four developmental domains (skills/knowledge, attitudes, orientations, exploration/commitment) related to identity development. The final set of participants comprised a matched sample of 92 youngsters, 46 in the intervention and 46 in the comparison condition. Quantitative results indicated that the intervention condition showed positive and significant gains from pre- to posttest on multiple indices, with a tendency toward the leveling off of intervention gains at follow-up. A qualitative assessment of the impact of the intervention illustrated positive effects of the intervention as well as the possible obstacles to intervention efficacy

Promoting Positive Youth Development: The Miami Youth Development Project (Ydp)

The Miami Youth Development Project (YDP) had its beginnings in the early 1990s as a grassroots response to the needs of troubled (multiproblem) young people in the community (Arnett, Kurtines, & Montgomery, 2008, this issue). YDP is an important outcome of efforts to create positive youth development interventions that draw on the strengths of developmental intervention science outreach research in the development of community-supported positive development programs (i.e., an approach that focuses on meeting community needs as well as youth needs by generating innovative knowledge of evidence-based change intervention strategies that are feasible, affordable, and sustainable in real world settings, (Kurtines, Ferrer-Wreder, Cass Lorente, Silverman, Montgomery, 2008, this issue). Now completing its second decade, YDP represents an effort to bring together a more empowering model of knowledge development for research involvement in the community, a nuanced and contextualized notion of youth and their development, and methodologies that richly reflect rather than reduce the experiences of the young people whose development the authors seek to promote. © 2008 Sage Publications

A Developmental Intervention Science (Dis) Outreach Research Approach To Promoting Youth Development: Theoretical, Methodological, And Meta-Theoretical Challenges

This paper describes work directed toward creating community-supported positive youth development interventions that draw on a developmental intervention science outreach research approach. With respect to developmental interventions, this approach focuses on creating evidence-based longitudinal change intervention strategies for promoting long-term developmental change. The paper describes three broad challenges (theoretical, methodological, and meta-theoretical) that the authors faced in their efforts to develop and implement community-supported intervention programs built on this approach. The authors describe first the theoretical challenges they addressed in developing the conceptual framework for their community-supported intervention; second, the challenge of developing and refining a methodological framework for evaluating positive youth development interventions in real-world settings; and third, the meta-theoretical challenges that arose in the context of implementing community-supported positive development programs. © 2008 Sage Publications

Promoting Positive Youth Development: Implications For Future Directions In Developmental Theory, Methods, And Research

The efforts of the Miami Youth Development Project reported in this special issue illustrate how Developmental Intervention Science (DIS; a fusion of the developmental and intervention science) extended to include outreach research contributes to the development of community-supported positive youth development programs. In the process, the articles further illustrate the general utility of Developmental Intervention Science outreach research in facilitating the use of descriptive and explanatory knowledge about changes within human systems that occur across the lifespan in the development of evidence-based individual and institutional change intervention strategies for promoting long-term developmental change. Additionally, the articles illustrate the considerable implications that the application of DIS outreach research has for future directions in knowledge of human development at all levels (practical as well as methodological, theoretical, and metatheoretical). © 2008 Sage Publications

Promoting Positive Youth Development: New Directions In Developmental Theory, Methods, And Research

The articles in this special issue report the efforts of the Miami Youth Development Project (YDP), a community-supported positive youth development program of outreach research that draws on a developmental intervention science (DIS) perspective (i.e., a fusion of the developmental and intervention science literatures). These reports illustrate how the application of DIS outreach research contributes to knowledge of human development at all levels (practical as well as methodological, theoretical, and metatheoretical). Consistent with a DIS outreach research approach, YDP is committed to the use of descriptive and explanatory knowledge about changes within human systems that occur across the life span in the development of evidence-based individual and institutional longitudinal change intervention strategies in promoting long-term developmental change. The evolution of the Miami YDP illustrates the value of DIS outreach research in action . © 2008 Sage Publications