POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT: RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS FOR PROMOTING THRIVING IN ADOLESCENCE

Interests in the strengths of youth, the plasticity of human development, and the concept of resilience coalesced in the 1990s to foster the development of the concept of positive youth development (PYD). This chapter presents the features of the relational developmental systems theoretical model of the PYD developmental process, and then uses this model to describe the scholarship in the present volume. These contributions suggest that all young people have strengths that may be capitalized on to promote thriving across the adolescent years. We conclude that the findings reported in this volume provide a basis for optimism that evidence-based actions can be taken to enhance the chances for thriving among all young people.