Editorial: Positive youth development, mental health, and psychological well-being in diverse youth

This is an editorial commentary on the Research Topic entitled: Editorial: Positive youth development, mental health, and psychological well-being in diverse youth. One impetus behind this Research Topic was to examine the ways in which positive development intersects with problematic aspects of development and behavior, with an emphasis on connections to indicators of mental health problems. The second impetus was to take an international approach, including youth from diverse countries and settings who were studied using a variety of etic and emic methods that correspondingly consider cross-culturally common features and features that vary across cultures

Socialization and Risk Behavior in Two Countries:: Denmark and the United States

Rates of risk behavior are discussed in terms of the differences and similarities in the socialization environments of Denmark and the United States. Adolescents aged 17-18 in middle-class communities in the two countries were compared on various aspects of socialization and risk behavior. Overall, socialization was narrower among the Danish adolescents, in the sense that they had more household obligations, greater community stability, and more adults beyond their immediate families who were involved in their socialization. Rates of risk behavior were higher for American adolescents in the areas of automobile driving (high-speed and drunk driving) and minor criminal behavior (shoplifting and vandalism), whereas Danish adolescents were higher in their rates of driving a bicycle or moped while intoxicated. Danish adolescents had higher rates of sexual intercourse than American adolescents, but American adolescents were less likely to use contraception, so the overall rates of sex without contraception were almost identical in the two countries. © 1994, SAGE Periodicals Press. All rights reserved

A congregation of one: Individualized religious beliefs among emerging adults

Religious beliefs and practices were examined among 140 emerging adults aged 21 to 28, using quantitative and qualitative methods. There was great diversity in the importance they ascribed to religion, in their attendance at religious services, and in the content of their religious beliefs. Overall, their beliefs fell into four roughly even categories - agnostic/atheist, deist, liberal Christian, and conservative Christian - but there was also considerable diversity within each category. In combination, the quantitative and qualitative results showed that the participants\u27 beliefs were highly individualized, that there was little relationship between childhood religious socialization and current religious attendance or beliefs, and that the participants were often skeptical of religious institutions. The results reflect the individualism of American society as well as the focus in emerging adulthood on forming one\u27s own beliefs

“There’s more between heaven and earth”: Danish emerging adults’ religious beliefs and values

In a qualitative interview study, 18 Danish emerging adults (ages 18-27) were asked about their religious beliefs and moral views. Most had received little or no formal religious training within their families, but they nevertheless participated in the “confirmation” process in the Danish state Lutheran church at age 14. Regarding their current beliefs, the majority were nonbelievers (agnostic, atheist, or no beliefs), and none expressed a traditional Christian faith. Nevertheless, they held a variety of beliefs in some kind of life after death; relatively few participants believed that death is simply the end of existence. In the two questions assessing moral views, participants drew from the Ethic of Autonomy and the Ethic of Community, but not the Ethic of Divinity. This finding also indicated the absence of religious considerations in the lives of Danish emerging adults. Overall, the results provide further information on the religious and moral beliefs of emerging adults, and on views of religious questions in an exceptionally nonreligious country

Moral development in a global world: Research from a cultural-developmental perspective

Questions addressing people\u27s moral lives, similarities and differences in the moral concepts of cultural groups, and how these concepts emerge in the course of development are of perennial interest. In a globalizing world, addressing what is universal and what is culturally distinctive about moral development is pressing. More than ever, well-substantiated knowledge of diverse peoples\u27 moral compasses is needed. This book presents the cultural-developmental theory of moral psychology, findings from numerous countries, and four instruments for conducting cultural-developmental research. The central thesis is that humans are born with a shared moral heritage and that, as we develop from childhood into adulthood, we branch off in diverse directions shaped by culture - resulting in novelty and contention. An international group of eminent and cutting-edge scholars from anthropology, psychology, and linguistics addresses this timely topic and explores how gender, social class, and \u27culture wars\u27 between liberals and conservatives play into moral development across cultures

The Cultural Development Of Three Fundamental Moral Ethics: Autonomy, Community, And Divinity

In this essay, I describe my Cultural-Developmental Template Approach to moral psychology. This theory draws on my research with the Three Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity, and the work of many other scholars. The cultural-developmental synthesis suggests that the Ethic of Autonomy emerges early in people\u27s psychological lives, and continues to hold some importance across the lifespan. But Autonomy is not alone. The Ethic of Community too emerges early and appears to increase in importance across the life course. Then, it also seems that in most places and at most times, the Ethic of Divinity has found a voice-and in some traditions this ethic may become audible in adolescence. Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity, then, may have universal roots in the human condition. However, they are also clearly culturally and historically situated. Cultural communities-whether defined by religious, national, or other boundaries-vary in how they prioritize the three ethics and the extent to which they reinforce their development. © 2011 by the Joint Publication Board of Zygon

Immigrant Youth in the United States: Coming of Age among Diverse Civic Cultures

This chapter contains sections titled: Rates of Participation Motives for Participating Discrimination and Social Exclusion Developmental Contexts Conclusion: Implications for Policy and Polit

Research: Liberal and conservative conceptions of family: A cultural—developmental study

This is a cultural—developmental study of conceptions of family. It compared religiously liberal and conservative lay believers in young, midlife, and older adulthood on their conceptions of diverse aspects of family life, including spousal roles, the balance between family and work, and child—rearing approaches (N = 120). Results showed a marked division between liberal and conservative believers, whichwas particularly strong in midlife. Also, young and older adults within each religious group differed. In light of comparable historic survey results, this age group difference is likely to be partly generational. The study found few gender differences. © 2006, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

The Cultural-Developmental Theory of Moral Psychology: A New Synthesis

On the basis of both developmental and cultural findings from diverse research traditions, this chapter proposes a cultural-developmental approach to moral psychology. It introduces a concept termed a cultural-developmental template, which charts developmental patterns across the life course for moral reasoning in terms of the three ethics: Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity. The template, however, is not onesize-fits-all. Its general developmental patterns accommodate the different constellations of ethics held by culturally diverse peoples. From this theoretical proposal follows a set of specific research expectations as well as a set of broader research implications for how to conduct research on morality from the vantage points of both culture and development.These expectations and implications include consideration of moral emotions, definitions of morality, and cultural variation in the life course itself. From the model follows suggestions for policy

Bridging Cultural and Developmental Approaches to Psychology: New Syntheses in Theory, Research, and Policy

This book contains chapters which propose ways to bridge cultural and developmental approaches to human psychology. The chapters heed the call of cultural psychology to study different peoples around the world and to recognize that culture profoundly impacts how we think, feel, and act. At the same time, they also take seriously the developmental science perspective that humans everywhere share common life stage tasks and ways of learning. Doing what has not previously been done, the chapters integrate key insights and findings from cultural and developmental research. This book is in step with a world where culturally diverse peoples interact with one another more than ever due to migration, worldwide media, and international trade and travel. With these interactions come changes to cultures and the psychological development of their members, and the implications for scholarship and policy are thoughtfully examined here. The book covers a wide range of related topics. It addresses the intersection of development and culture for psychological processes such as learning and memory, for key contexts of development such as family and civil society, for conceptions of self and identity, and for how the life course is partitioned including a focus on childhood and emerging adulthood