ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT Studying and Promoting Positive Youth Development

Developmental systems models emphasize that plastic-

ity derives from variations within and across people in
Adolescence may be defined as the period in life when most
individual ↔ context relations across life. Adolescence is a
of a person’s biological, cognitive, psychological, and social
transitory period, during which an individual is experienc-
characteristics are changing in an interrelated manner
ing a considerable amount of change in regard to his or her
from what is considered childlike to what is considered
individual and contextual domains. These multiple transi-
adultlike. When most of one’s characteristics are in this
tions include changes in the self (e.g., pubertal, cognitive,
state of change, one is an adolescent.
and emotional changes), family, peer groups, and insti-
tutions (e.g., in many societies, youth make transitions
Three Phases of the Scientific Study of Adolescence from elementary schools to middle schools). Although all
adolescents experience these shifts, there are individual
Historically, the scientific study of adolescent development differences in the timing, speed, and outcomes of these
can be described as occurring in three overlapping phases transitions. As such, diversity becomes a core, substantive
(Lerner & Steinberg, 2004). The first phase was initiated focus of developmental analysis and, because of plastic-
by the work of G. Stanley Hall (1904), who conceptualized ity, researchers and practitioners can be optimistic that
adolescent development from a deficit perspective. Ado- combinations of individuals and contexts can be found to
lescence was portrayed as a period marked by what Hall optimize development among diverse people.
regarded as evolutionary-based and therefore inevitable Within the adolescent period, the ideas of plasticity
‘‘storm and stress.’’ Although other major theorists dur- and diversity have been used to understand how the
ing this phase in the study of adolescence (e.g., Erikson, well-being of adolescents can be fostered by maximizing
1959; Anna Freud, 1969) described adolescence in differ- the alignment of their strengths (e.g., their potential for
ent terms, they accepted Hall’s biologically based, deficit change) with the developmental assets within their eco-
conception of this period. logical context (e.g., home, school, and community). Such
A characteristic of the second phase in the develop- assets, conceived of as resources needed for the growth
ment of this field was a focus on research about adolescent of a healthy, thriving, young person, may involve support
transitions. This work provided evidence that there are from adults (e.g., parents, teachers, or mentors), effec-
multiple pathways through this period of life—only a tive out-of-school time activities (e.g., 4-H, Boys & Girls
minority of which can be characterized as reflecting deficits Clubs, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, YMCA, or Scouting), and
or ‘‘storm and stress.’’ These findings elicited an interest opportunities for young people and adults to work together
in diversity within adolescence, as well as a concern with on valued community activities (e.g., food drives, school
developmental plasticity (the potential for systematic vari- boards, or community service projects).
ation in the structure and function of behavior) across this Positive Youth Development (PYD) is believed to occur
and other periods of life. as a consequence of this alignment between individual
These interests ushered in the third and current phase strengths and ecological assets, and has been concep-
in the study of adolescence, which is framed by a focus tualized as involving several latent variables referred
on developmental systems models. These conceptions to as the Five Cs (Competence, Confidence, Connection,
involve the study across development of bidirectional, Character, and Caring). If an adolescent acquires these
individual-context relations (represented as individual ↔ qualities across time, then he/she is ‘‘thriving’’ and on a
context relations) (Lerner, 2002). Moreover, the individual path toward positive adulthood, where a sixth ‘‘C’’ arises,
is seen as constituted by multiple levels of structural Contribution—defined by contributions to self, family,
organization (e.g., genes, tissues, organ systems) and of community, and institutions of civil society. The 4-H Study
multiple functional systems (e.g., physiology, cognition, of Positive Youth Development has found that higher lev-
emotion, motivation, and behavior), that are all recipro- els of the Five Cs are associated within and across the early
cally linked to multiple levels of the ecology of human adolescent years (e.g., grades 5 through 8) with higher
development (e.g., families, communities, culture, the scores for Contribution and lower scores for externalizing
physical setting, and history). and internalizing problems (e.g., Lerner et al., 2005).
In this third phase, these systems models guide As evidenced by the research on PYD that has bur-
research and application, and involve collaborative efforts geoned across the third and current phase in the study of
among researchers and practitioners. As a key sample adolescence, current models of this developmental period
case of the scholarship involved within this third phase stand in marked contrast with earlier descriptions of this
of the development of the field, we may point to research period as one of ‘‘storm and stress.’’ Adolescence is not
and applications associated with the Positive Youth a period of biologically inevitable problems or distress.
Development (PYD) perspective. Instead, it is a time of life involving enormous changes in

The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, edited by Irving B. Weiner and W. Edward Craighead.
Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2 ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT

the young person and opportunities to enhance the course Simpson, I., Christiansen, E. D., & von Eye, A. (2005). Positive
of development among all youth. Simply, the potential for youth development, participation in community youth devel-
change in the course of development across an individual’s opment programs, and community contributions of fifth grade
life is a fundamental strength of human development, and adolescents: Findings from the first wave of the 4-H Study of
Positive Youth Development. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(1),
certainly of adolescent development.
17–71.
Accordingly, the current status of the field of adoles-
cence provides an opportunity for researchers, practition- Lerner, R. M., & Steinberg, L. (Eds.). (2004). Handbook of adolescent
psychology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
ers, and policy makers to capitalize on the strengths of
young people and the resources of their contexts to promote
SUGGESTED READINGS
more positive development among the diverse youth of the
world. As such, the cutting edge of current scholarship in King, P. E., Dowling, E. M., Mueller, R. A., White, K., Schultz, W.,
the study of adolescence is to understand how research Osborn, P., Dickerson, E., Bobek, D. L., Lerner, R. M., Benson,
and applications (i.e., programs and policies) can mutu- P. L., & Scales, P. C. (2005). Thriving in Adolescence: The
ally inform each other and serve both the advancement of voices of youth-serving practitioners, parents, and early and
science and the enhancement of the lives of youth. late adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(1), 94–112.
Lerner, R. M., & Spanier, G. B. (1980). A dynamic interactional
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Issues, 1, 50–100.
Lerner, R. M. (2004). Diversity in individual ← → context rela-
Freud, A. (1969). Adolescence as a developmental disturbance. In tions as the basis for positive development across the life span:
G. Caplan & S. Lebovier (Eds.), Adolescence (pp. 5–10). New A developmental systems perspective for theory, research, and
York: Basic Books. application. Research in Human Development, 1(4), 327–346.
Hall, G. S. (1904). Adolescence: Its psychology and its relations to
physiology, anthropology, sociology, sex, crime, religion, and education RICHARD M. LERNER
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Lerner, R. M. (2002). Concepts and theories of human development DAN DU
(3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Tufts University

Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., Almerigi, J., Theokas, C., Phelps,

E., Gestsdottir, S., Naudeau, S., Jelicic, H., Alberts, A. E., See also: Cognitive Development; Emotional Development;
Ma, L., Smith, L. M., Bobek, D. L., Richman-Raphael, D., Personality Development