Introduction: In 2021, leaders in Birmingham, Alabama established one of the first LGBTQ-affirming charter schools in the United States to serve students who have dropped out, are not thriving in traditional schools, or are enrolled in home-school programs. Methods: Using deductive analysis, our research team filtered data through the five…

Youth development professionals (YDPs) working at community-based organizations are in a unique position to interact with the adolescents because they are neither parents/guardians nor teachers. The objectives of this study were to explore qualitatively what sexual health issues adolescents discuss with YDPs and to describe those issues using the…

Purpose: Evaluation of the Teens & Toddlers (T&T) positive youth development (PYD) and teenage pregnancy prevention programme suggested that the intervention had minimal effectiveness partly due to its unclear theory of change. The purpose of this paper is to examine the lived experiences of young women participating in the programme to…

Modern learning psychology places an emphasis on the ability of teachers to promote their students' social and emotional learning (SEL) and living a good life. Research on precisely how teachers promote SEL and well-being among their students, however, remains scarce. This study focused on evaluating the Lions Quest teaching workshop (LQ), which…

In the United States, there is a growing sense of urgency and attention to the issues of equity and youth well-being. As a nation, we devote significant expertise and resources to addressing disparities and closing gaps among groups of young people, yet our progress has been slow, in no small part because our best efforts remain deeply fragmented.…

From 2006 to 2010, Sierra Health Foundation's REACH program committed $8 million to support the healthy development of youth in the Greater Sacramento, California, region. As a centerpiece of the larger grantmaking strategy, seven grantees in the region were selected to create community coalitions that involved both youth and adults in their…

For policymakers, adolescence presents an invaluable opportunity to ensure that all young people can access the high-quality services and supports they need to improve their odds of becoming successful, healthy, productive adults. At an historic moment when the provisions and breadth of health care reform are under vigorous debate, it is important…

Introduces a special issue on youth, discussing current youth-focused therapeutic recreation research and practice, comparing this issue with another theme journal on youth (emphasizing the roles of professional preparation and professional organizations), examining the role of therapeutic recreation and adventure therapy, and noting theoretical…

The third in a series of reports from P/PV's three-year study of the role Boys & Girls Clubs play in the lives of the youth they serve, "Making Every Day Count" examines how Club participation is related to youth's positive and healthy development in three outcome areas identified by Boys & Girls Clubs of America as central to its mission: good…

The authors introduce the RALLY (Responsive Advocacy for Life and Learning in Youth) approach. RALLY is a school- and afterschool-based approach addressing academic success, youth development, and mental health for youth. Based on developmental and relational principles, RALLY's main goals are to promote students' resiliency, development, and…

Describes the integration of research-based practices into youth problem behavior prevention, examining the developing integration of science and prevention practice regarding: increasing use of epidemiological evidence about youth problem behaviors to guide prevention; a system for monitoring the incidence, prevalence, and context of youth…

Introduces a collection of articles that proposes standards for empirically supported prevention programming for children and youth and steps to integrate prevention science with practice. Articles highlight key research findings and common principles for effective programming across family, school, community, health care, and policy interventions…

The mentoring of youth by adults has been identified as one of the more promising program approaches to promoting positive youth outcomes. This synthesis examines the role that mentoring plays in helping youth develop a broad array of strengths and capacities related to: (1) education and cognitive attainment; (2) health and safety; (3) social and…

Various traditions within developmental science and psychology have concentrated on either personal or collective correlates as manifestations of well-being. The authors' claim is that the well-being of any one person is highly dependent on the well-being of her relationships and on the community in which she resides. Well-being may be defined as…

Adolescents face a number of obstacles on the way to adulthood, from time-crunched parents, dangerous substances and behaviors, overburdened schools and a more demanding job market. Consequently, many believe that adolescents should no longer fend for themselves during the non-school hours. Growing public support for more structured activities…