The Handbook of positive youth development: Advancing research, policy, and practice in global contexts has advanced the field of child and adolescent psychology, youth and family studies, through a multidisciplinary focus including human development, positive psychology, cross-cultural mental health, behavior, and training, in diverse and underrepresented communities; bridging the gap between theory and practice, through global research in 38 countries, including regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, New Zealand, North and Latin America. The editors of the book, Radosveta Dimitrova and Nora Wiium, are prominent professionals from the field of developmental psychology with collective expertise in areas of human development, emerging adulthood, child and family studies, health behaviors and youth development, in addition to acculturation, cross-cultural and international psychology, and intervention and implementation science. The book is made up of two main sections spread across 37 chapters, with the underlying theme and model of positive youth development (PYD). PYD is a model aimed at promoting aspects such as resilience, bonding; social, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and moral competence; self-determination, self-efficacy, and positive identity development among children, adolescents and young adults (1).
Part I PYD in global contexts comprises 18 chapters, beginning with an introductory chapter by the editors, and remainder chapters highlighting empirical research on variations of the 7Cs model (competence, confidence, character, caring, connection and contribution, creativity) of PYD, collectively representing responses from 22,083 youth and emerging adults, across the globe, including India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, China, Ghana, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Belize, Brazil, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Iceland, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Bulgaria and Romania. The studies presented also touch upon diverse themes while retaining the PYD approach, highlighting an intentionality towards ensuring cultural relevance, such as reduction of risky behaviors in Colombia and Peru, mindfulness in Malaysia, environmental concerns in Ghana, PATHS® project in China, healthy lifestyle behaviors in Mexico; developmental assets, academic achievement and risky behaviors among Albanians; and gender differences in developmental assets in Ghana and Norway, among others. In addition, the empirical basis of these projects has been supported through the employment of a range of statistical approaches like structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analyses which are important analytical tools in evaluating cross-cultural relevance models in social sciences.
Part II PYD applications and interventions contains 19 chapters, similarly beginning with the importance of international collaborations in the study of PYD and the utility of both emic and etic perspectives on PYD. Subsequent chapters describe the diverse ways in which PYD based intervention programs have been applied in various countries, building the foundation and utility of this model for future applications. Significant contributions in this include leadership development of Zulu male youth, social emotional learning program in Slovenia, community and intervention settings in Lithuania, Dream School Program in Norway, preschool edition of PATHS® in Sweden, and study of violent radicalization in Québec, Canada, among others.
The strength of this book lies in its application of positive psychology model of prevention and intervention in cultures where a deficit-based model has dominated the field of mental health. It is noteworthy, that in addition to varied cultural contexts and developmental stages, the studies have captured the role of systemic factors. For example, the contributions of classroom climate, family process and competence, parent knowledge and practices, parental support, peer support and school connectedness; and social support are evident. These align well with the widely applicable ecological systems theory (2) which highlights the importance of various proximal systems (family members, peers, teachers, neighbors, and educational environment) in the learning and psychological growth of children.
A greater focus on these proximal as well as distal factors (broader culture, government, mass media, judiciary, generational influence) in relation to PYD from a life span perspective, including pre-adolescent stages, could be a beneficial extension of the aspects already covered. Another limitation worth noting is that the volume is dominated by cross-sectional study designs and correlational data potentially restricting the interpretation of the presented findings. Further expansions are needed to add longitudinal and experimental designs to study developmental processes from childhood to adolescence and emerging adulthood. Moreover, given the rich historical contexts unique to each culture, a greater use of qualitative research designs may offer a holistic view of PYD by utilizing a more in-depth emic approach. Despite that some chapters combine emic and etic approaches to the study of PYD, furthering such approaches can also account for PYD models and differences based on identity statuses, gender, caste (relevant in some societies), religion, sexual orientation, among others. Finally, the neglected regions, for e.g., Arab countries, Oceania and Africa, is worth mentioning as a shortcoming of the volume.
In summary, this Handbook can serve as a good resource for a variety of stakeholders including students, professionals, policy makers, and practitioners from disciplines of positive psychology, community mental health, child and adolescent psychiatry, developmental psychology, cross-cultural and international psychology, psychotherapy and family studies. Professionals interested in furthering the field of PYD may also benefit from this book, while making note of some methodological and contextual limitations mentioned.
