Positive Youth Development & Spirituality: From Theory to Research - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1599471434 ISBN 13: 9781599471433

Verlag: TEMPLETON FOUNDATION PR, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

Bringing together a never-before-assembled network of biologists, psychologists, and sociologists, Positive Youth Development and Spirituality scientifically examines how spirituality and its cultivation may affect the positive development of adolescents.

Chapters provide groundbreaking new discussions of conceptual, theoretical, definitional, and methodological issues that need to be addressed when exploring the relationships between spirituality and development. Throughout the book, contributors recommend ways in which the research on the spirituality/positive youth development connection may be integral in building the larger field of spiritual development as a legitimate and active domain of developmental science. This volume, which is sure to be seen as a seminal contribution to a field in need of theoretical underpinnings, will be of interest to scholars and scientists in the fields of biology and the social and behavioral sciences.

Contributors include: Mona Abo-Zena, Jeffrey Jensen Arnnett, Peter L. Benson, Marina Umaschi Bers, Aerika Brittian, William Damon, Angela M. DeSilva, Jacquelynne S. Eccles, David Henry Feldman, Simon Gächter, Elena L. Grigorenko, Sonia S. Isaac, Lene Arnett Jensen, Carl N. Johnson, Linda Juang, Pamela Ebstyne King, Richard M. Lerner, Jennifer Menon, Na'ilah Sued Nasir, Guerda Nicolas, Toma´š Paus, Stephen C. Peck, Erin Phelps, Alan P. Poey, Robert W. Roeser, W. George Scarlett, Lonnie R. Sherrod, Gabriel S. Spiewak, Chris Starmer, Moin Syed, Janice L. Templeton, Heather L. Urry, and Richard Wilkinson.

 

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Richard M. Lerner is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and the director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University.

Erin Phelps is research professor and deputy director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University.

Robert W. Roeser is an associate professor of psychology in the Department of Applied Psychology at Portland State University and the senior program coordinator for the Mind and Life Institute. He received his PhD from the Combined Program in Education and Psychology at the University of Michigan (1996) and holds master’s degrees in religion and psychology, developmental psychology and clinical social work. In 2005 he was a United States Fulbright Scholar in India, and from 1999 to 2004 he was a William T. Grant Faculty Scholar.

Dr. Roeser‘s research focuses primarily on how schools, as central cultural contexts of human development, affect both academic and nonacademic aspects of “whole persons” across childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood.

He studies how variations in various features of middle and high school environments are associated not only with variations in patterns of achievement and educational attainments among U.S. adolescent students over time, but also in their motivation to learn and student identity commitments; their feelings of emotional well-being, stress and distress; and their behavioral conduct while in school. More recently, he has studied cultural identity development among urban adolescents during a period of rapid globalization in India; the emergence of a national identity among ethnically diverse youth in South Africa during the post-apartheid era; and the role of religion and spirituality in the positive development of immigrant youth in the United States. Although the primary focus of his research is on education and adolescent development in various nations, Dr. Roeser is also interested in teachers and how secondary school environments, as well as teacher education programs, can shape aspects of teachers’ professional identity development in ways that affect their success as teachers of adolescents.

Currently, Dr. Roeser has established the Culture and Contemplation in Education Laboratory (CaCiEL) at Portland State University to study how the introduction of developmentally and cultural appropriate contemplative practices (i.e., mindfulness meditation) into mainstream schools may prove to be a novel way of reducing stress, enhancing well-being, strengthening motivation and self-regulatory capacity, and cultivating clear and compassionate forms of awareness among educators, staff, and students alike.

The aim of all of this work is to advocate for and assist in the development of more culturally—and developmentally—informed, and more mindful, youth programs, teacher programs, school reforms, and governmental policies for children, youth, and their families.

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Positive Youth Development & Spirituality

From Theory to Research

By Richard M. Lerner, Robert W. Roeser, Erin Phelps

Templeton Foundation Press

Copyright © 2008 Templeton Foundation Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-59947-143-3

Contents

Foreword Peter L. Benson, 
Preface, 
1. Positive Development, Spirituality, and Generosity in Youth: An Introduction to the Issues Richard M. Lerner, Robert W. Roeser, & Erin Phelps, 
PART 1 Conceptual Issues in Operationalizing Spirituality in Positive Youth Development, 
2. The Spirit of Spiritual Development Carl N. Johnson, 
3. Spirituality and Positive Youth Development: The Problem of Transcendence W. George Scarlett, 
4. Spirituality as Fertile Ground for Positive Youth Development Pamela Ebstyne King, 
5. Self and Identity Processes in Spirituality and Positive Youth Development Robert W. Roeser, Sonia S. Issac, Mona Abo-Zena, Aerika Brittian, & Stephen C. Peck, 
PART 2 Biological Contributions to the Spirituality– PYD Relation, 
6. Genetics of Faith: An Oxymoron Worth Examining Elena L. Grigorenko, 
7. Cooperative Behavior in Adolescence: Economic Antecedents and Neural Underpinnings Tomáš Paus, Simon Gächter, Chris Starmer, & Richard Wilkinson, 
8. How Religious/Spiritual Practices Contribute to Well-Being: The Role of Emotion Regulation Heather L. Urry & Alan P. Poey, 
PART 3: Individual Contributions to the Spirituality– PYD Relation, 
9. The Role of Developmental Change in Spiritual Development David Henry Feldman, 
10. Spirituality, "Expanding Circle Morality," and Positive Youth Development Janice L. Templeton & Jacquelynne S. Eccles, 
11. The Role of Spirituality and Religious Faith in Supporting Purpose in Adolescence Jennifer Menon Mariano and William Damon, 
12. From "Worm Food" to "Infinite Bliss": Emerging Adults' Views of Life after Death Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, 
PART 4: Social and Cultural Contexts of the Spirituality– PYD Relation, 
13. Immigrant Civic Engagement and Religion: The Paradoxical Roles of Religious Motives and Organizations Lene Arnett Jensen, 
14. Ethnic Identity and Spirituality Linda Juang & Moin Syed, 
15. Considering Context, Culture, and Development in the Relationship between Spirituality and Positive Youth Development Na'ilah Suad Nasir, 
16. Application of the Ecological Model: Spirituality Research with Ethnically Diverse Youths Guerda Nicolas & Angela M. DeSilva, 
17. Possible Interrelationships between Civic Engagement, Positive Youth Development, and Spirituality/Religiosity Lonnie R. Sherrod & Gabriel S. Spiewak, 
18. A Palace in Time: Supporting Children's Spiritual Development through New Technologies Marina Umaschi Bers, 
List of Contributors, 

CHAPTER 1

Positive Development, Spirituality, and Generosity in Youth

An Introduction to the Issues

* * *

Richard M. Lerner, Robert W. Roeser, & Erin Phelps

The purpose of this book is to explore the study of spiritual development during the adolescent period (the second decade of life; Lerner and Steinberg 2004) and to ascertain the possible links among spirituality and the healthy, positive development of youth. Adolescence is a time of life when young people are prototypically engaged in finding a self-definition—an identity (e.g., Erikson 1959, 1968; Harter 2006)—that enables them to matter to self, family, and society, both in the teenage years and in their future adult life. The search for such an identity impels the young person to transcend a cognitive and emotional focus on the self (Elkind 1967) and to seek to contribute in important, valued, and even noble ways to his or her world. We believe that generosity that is derived from such transcendence and noble purpose is the essence of spirituality (see, too, Damon 2004; Damon, Menon, and Bronk 2003) and may provide a key foundation for positive youth development (Lerner 2008).

To frame our consideration of the links among positive development, spirituality, and generosity (or contribution) among youth, we use an approach to theory that, today, is at the cutting edge of developmental science, i.e., developmental systems theory (Damon and Lerner 2006; Lerner 2002, 2006). Developmental systems theory is an ideal model within which to explore the integration of self and context that we believe is involved in these links and, as well, to consider the potential impact on positive development and spirituality of the numerous biological, psychological, behavioral, and sociocultural changes converging within the adolescent period. In fact, in affording an integrative perspective to biological through sociocultural levels of organization, developmental systems theory allows science to consider within common research programs the emerging findings pertinent to neural, socioemotional, cultural, and historical influences on adaptive (healthy, positive) adolescent development that, today, are at the fore of the study of this pivotal period of life.

Accordingly, in this book we explore key conceptual and definitional issues useful in framing the understanding of the association between positive development in adolescents, spiritual development, and the attainment of a sense of self that moves the young person to make contributions to (or, in other words, be generous toward) self, family, community, and society. In addition, we discuss the biological covariates of these links among positive youth development (PYD), spirituality, and generosity and, as well, the individual-level, social-level, and cultural-level covariates of this linkage. All chapters in the book focus as well on the research that needs to be done to advance understanding of these linkages.

To prepare for these discussions, the present chapter presents a developmental systems model of the relations among the positive development of adolescents and the development of their spirituality and generosity. In the context of the model, we describe the extant, and admittedly limited, neuropsychological, behavioral, and social- relational data pertinent to the covariation among positive development, spirituality, and generosity. Because of the limits of existing data, we specify also some of the key features of to-be-conducted developmental research that is needed to elucidate these relations; for instance, we discuss the importance of longitudinal research with youth from diverse religious, racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds. The chapter ends with a brief overview of the plan of, and the chapters in, this book.

POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND SPIRITUALITY: A DEVELOPMENTAL SYSTEMS MODEL

How does human development, in general, and positive and healthy human development, in particular, happen? What are the processes that enable humans to adapt and thrive across their life spans? Are the bases of positive human development ones shared completely by other organisms, or are there features of development that are unique to humans? Are answers to these questions the same across the human life span, or are the explanations of positive development at least in part discontinuous across the course of ontogeny?

Answers to these questions address the foundations of developmental science. We believe that theoretically useful and empirically rich answers can best be derived from models derived from developmental systems theories of human development (Lerner 2002, 2006).

Within the frame of...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: TEMPLETON FOUNDATION PR
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2008
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1599471434
• ISBN 13: 9781599471433
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 378
• Herausgeber: Lerner Richard M., Roesner Robert W., Phelps Erin
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar