Positive Psychology Important for Youth, Military Families
When thinking about the psychological issues facing adolescents and young teens, policy makers and even parents often tend to focus on preventing negative outcomes. In line with recent trends in positive psychology, however, a number of researchers are advocating a model called Positive Youth Development (PYD) to focus on promoting positive well-being during the crucial developmental period of adolescence.
The July 2010 issue of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence features multiple research articles on PYD, drawing data from a long-term study supported with funding from the national 4-H Council that began in 2002 and currently involves over 6,000 young people and 3,000 parents in 43 states. Participants include rural, suburban, and urban youth, and many of the subjects are being studied from 5th through 12th grade.
Among other findings, the studies reported in this special issue of the journal conclude that the five “Cs” that make up the core values of PYD (competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring) can be reliably measured and do predict adolescents’ overall sense of well-being.
In a commentary on the special issue, Rebecca Porter, a behavioral health officer and Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army, argues that PYD should guide the development of policies for the youth of military families. Porter notes that the research reported from the 4-H study to date helps policy makers understand how positive youth development can be reliably measured.
Frequent family moves and changes of school that children in military families experience result in special challenges. It’s not unreasonable, Porter says, that policies related to military families have focused on preventing undesirable outcomes for military children (dropping out of high school, for example).
Porter says that the military should do for the children of service people what it has recently done for service members themselves: adopt a positive psychology approach and, by learning what strengths allow service members to thrive under stressful conditions, learn how to improve the resilience of all service members. The Positive Youth Development perspective, she says, offers an opportunity to do just that for youth in military families.