TY - JOUR PY - 2008// TI - Positive and Negative Developmental Trajectories in U.S. Adolescents: Where the Positive Youth Development Perspective Meets the Deficit Model JO - Research in human development A1 - Zimmerman, Stacy M. A1 - Phelps, Erin A1 - Lerner, Richard M. SP - 153 EP - 165 VL - 5 IS - 3 N2 - Using data from Grades 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), the patterns of change associated with indicators of PYD, contribution, and risk/problem behaviors were assessed among 1,909 youth. In addition, the role of intentional self-regulation—as indexed by a measure of the Freund and Baltes (2002) model of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC)—in determining which developmental paths youth follow was examined. Results indicated that five PYD trajectories represent change across grades, four trajectories were associated with indicators of youth contribution, four trajectories were associated also with indicators of depressive symptoms, and three trajectories were associated with indicators of risk/problem behaviors. Binomial logistic regression results indicated that youth with higher SOC scores were significantly more likely to be in the most favorable trajectory than any of the other possible trajectories for each of the outcome variables. Significant sex differences were also found for all four constructs. Implications are discussed for developmental theory and applications aimed at enhancing resilience and positive development among adolescents.
LA - SN - 1542-7609 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15427600802274001 ID - ref1 ER -