You Can Quit Me But I’m Not Going to Quit You:” A Focus Group Study of Leaders’ Perceptions of Their Positive Influences on Youth in Boy Scouts of America

As part of a longitudinal, mixed-method study with Boy Scouts of America, we conducted five focus groups with a diverse group of 46 program leaders in order to better understand their perceptions of how they influence youth. Drawing from grounded theory analysis methods, we found that leaders believed they promoted positive youth outcomes, including character and self-confidence, through caring youth-leader relationships and facilitating opportunities for youth to participate in and lead skill-building activities and apply skills in different contexts. Leaders differed in the particular outcomes that they emphasized. Implications of these findings for future research and practice are discussed

The Arthur Interactive Media Study: Initial Findings From a Cross-Age Peer Mentoring and Digital Media-Based Character Development Program

In the midst of increasing emphasis on the inclusion of character education in both school and out-of-school time programs, digital technologies have become ubiquitous in these settings. Based on the potential of these technologies to enhance children’s character development, the Arthur Interactive Media (AIM) study investigated if one specific unit or set of digital media-based activities engaged youth in discussions about character. First and second grade students were paired with 4th and 5th grade students, respectively, while engaging with an online interactive graphic novel (IGN) about a character-relevant story based on the Arthur cartoon series. Teachers (n = 8) completed surveys about the AIM Unit, and conversations between cross-age peer dyads (n = 27 dyads) during their engagement with the IGN were analyzed. Results indicated that teachers were very satisfied with the materials and reported that children were very engaged throughout. Analyses of children’s conversations indicated that children participated in character-relevant conversations involving humility, forgiveness, and future-mindedness while engaging with the IGN

The Arthur Interactive Media Study: Initial Findings From a Cross-Age Peer Mentoring and Digital Media-Based Character Development Program

In the midst of increasing emphasis on the inclusion of character education in both school and out-of-school time programs, digital technologies have become ubiquitous in these settings. Based on the potential of these technologies to enhance children’s character development, the Arthur Interactive Media (AIM) study investigated if one specific unit or set of digital media-based activities engaged youth in discussions about character. First and second grade students were paired with 4th and 5th grade students, respectively, while engaging with an online interactive graphic novel (IGN) about a character-relevant story based on the Arthur cartoon series. Teachers (n = 8) completed surveys about the AIM Unit, and conversations between cross-age peer dyads (n = 27 dyads) during their engagement with the IGN were analyzed. Results indicated that teachers were very satisfied with the materials and reported that children were very engaged throughout. Analyses of children’s conversations indicated that children participated in character-relevant conversations involving humility, forgiveness, and future-mindedness while engaging with the IGN

Program Innovations and Character in Cub Scouts: Findings from Year 1 of a Mixed-Methods, Longitudinal Study

Youth development programs seek to promote positive development through mentoring and engaging youth in opportunities for individual growth and community connectedness. We present findings from the initial phase of a mixed-methods, longitudinal study aimed at assessing the impact of one such program, Cub Scouts, on character development. We assessed if Scouting, and a recent innovation in Scouting focused on program quality, are associated with the development of character and other positive youth outcomes. Participants were 1,083 Scouts and non-Scouts, aged 5-12 years. At the start of the study, there was no difference in indicators of character between Scouts and non-Scouts, once matched through propensity score analyses. Through content analyses of interviews and short- answer questionnaires administered to leaders, we found that leaders’ views of character and of their roles corresponded to those envisioned by Cub Scouts. Implications for character development, and for the role of program components in character development, are discussed

“Lovesick”: Mental Health and Romantic Relationships among College Students

This research investigated the interpersonal impact of self-reported mental health diagnoses and/or perceptions on undergraduate students’ current or most recent romantic relationship. Analysis of data from a 43-item online questionnaire completed by 267 undergraduates revealed that 68.3% of women and 52.5% of men reported having either been professionally diagnosed with a mental illness or perceive themselves to be mentally ill based on DSM criteria, with women and white students reporting significantly higher levels. Sociologically speaking, mental illness was found to influence relationship initiation, maintenance, and dissolution in this study. The mental health of the respondents’ potential partners was an important consideration in deciding to form a relationship, particularly for male, white, heterosexuals. When the respondents reported relationship problems, men were more likely to blame such problems on mental health issues than women. Finally, though more respondents reported having broken up with a romantic partner who had mental health issues than had romantic partners break up with them, there were no significant gender, race, or sexual orientation differences in the termination of these romantic relationships. Study findings emphasize the importance of acknowledging and providing mental health resources—particularly interpersonal options—for emerging adults in the college setting

Relational Developmental Dystems Theories of Positive Youth Development: Methodological Issues and Implications

Developmental systems theory provides powerful tools for predicting complex, dynamic interactions among biological and environmental processes in human behavior and health. This groundbreaking handbook provides a roadmap for integrating key concepts of developmental systems theory (such as self-organization, reciprocal dynamic interaction, and probabilistic epigenesis) and simulation models (connectionist and agent-based models) with advanced dynamic modeling approaches for testing these theories and models. Internationally renowned developmental science scholars present innovations in research design, measurement, and analysis that offer new means of generating evidence-based decisions to optimize the course of health and positive functioning across the life span. Topics include epigenetic development and evolution; the relationship between neural systems growth and psychological development; the role of family environments in shaping children\u27s cognitive skills and associated adult outcomes, and more

Beyond the deficit model: bullying and trajectories of character virtues in adolescence

Previous work on peer victimization has focused primarily on academic outcomes and negative indicators of youth involved in bullying. Few studies have taken a strength-based approach to examine attributes associated with bullies and victims of bullying. As such, we examined developmental trajectories of moral, performance, and civic character components, and their links to bully status using data from 713 youth (63% female) who participated in Wave 3 (approximately Grade 7) through Wave 6 (approximately Grade 10) of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that moral character was stable across waves, whereas civic character increased slightly by Wave 6. Trajectories for performance character varied; some youth alternatively displayed positive versus negative growth. Youth who reported bullying behavior reported lower initial levels of moral, performance, and civic character as compared to youth not involved in bullying. Bully-victims reported lower initial levels of moral and civic character as compared to youth not involved in bullying. Implications for future work examining character-related components in the context of peer victimization are discussed

Character in childhood and early adolescence: models and measurement

In recent years, the construct of character has received substantial attention among developmental scientists, but no consensus exists about the content and structure of character, especially among children and early adolescents. In a study of positive development among racially diverse Cub Scouts in the greater Philadelphia area, we assessed the construct and concurrent validity of a new measure of character, the Assessment of Character in Children and Early Adolescents (ACCEA), among 906 Scouts (mean age = 8.84 years, SD = 1.39 years) and 775 non-Scout boys and girls (mean age = 8.92, SD = 1.64). We identified an eight-correlated-factor model as providing the best fit with our data. We further established measurement invariance and explored latent mean differences for ACCEA scores across two Scout groups (with or without a higher-level program leader), non-Scout boys and non-Scout girls. Girls were generally superior than boys on all character attributes. We further examined concurrent validity of ACCEA by correlating the character attributes with youth sense of school competence, intentional self-regulation and parental perception of youth school performance. We discuss implications for future character research and point to the value of the ACCEA measure being used by practitioners in character development programs