The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), a longitudinal investigation of a diverse sample of 1,700 fifth graders and 1,117 of their parents, tests developmental contextual ideas linking PYD, youth contributions, and participation in community youth development (YD) programs, representing a key ecological asset. Using data from Wave 1 of the study, structural equation modeling procedures provided evidence for five first-order latent factors representing the "Five Cs" of PYD (competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring), and for their convergence on a second-order, PYD latent construct. A theoretical construct, youth "contribution," was also created and examined. Both PYD and YD program participation independently related to contribution. The importance of longitudinal analyses for extending the present results is discussed. 2The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD) is a longitudinal investigation that seeks to identify the individual and ecological bases of healthy, positive development among diverse adolescents. Framed by an instance of developmental systems theory, developmental contextualism (Lerner, 2002(Lerner, , 2004, the 4-H Study is designed to follow youth across the second decade of life and to examine their developmental trajectories. This article describes the theoretical and methodological components of the study, and reports some key findings derived from the first wave of data collection (which occurred in 2002-2003).While we present the theoretical and empirical literature that legitimates the structural model and the design of the study, and in turn provide details about all features of the measurement model, we do not present analyses pertinent to all research questions, particularly since key facets of this model are optimally tested with change-sensitive data that will be available only through subsequent, longitudinal waves of the study. Instead, we present findings pertinent to the presence and structure of the several characteristics presently focused on in the literature as composing PYD (i.e., the Five "C"s of competence, confidence, character, connection, and caring) (e.g., Eccles & Gootman, 2002). We also propose a theoretical measure of youth contribution appropriate for early adolescents and examine unitemporal patterns of covariation with the 5Cs.Simply, before we could test with longitudinal data our developmental contextual conception of the process through which PYD occurs, we needed to establish that the concept of PYD as it had been discussed in the literature had empirical reality, both in its purposed structure and its covariation with other key individual and ecological variables 2 . Accordingly, we address the question of whether in the present data set there is evidence for the theoretical expectations that PYD is positively related to contribution and negatively related to adolescent risk and 3 problem behaviors and, as well, whether there is an association between PYD and youth participation in community-based, youth development (Y...

Theories of positive youth development (PYD) regard such development as bases of both community contributions and lessened likelihood of risk/problem behaviors. Using data from the 4-H Study of PYD, we tested these expectations by examining if PYD in Grade 5 predicted both youth contributions and risk behaviors and depression in Grade 6. Results of random effects regression and SEM models indicated that, as expected, PYD in Grade 5 predicted higher youth contributions and lower risk behaviors and depression at Grade 6. There were significant sex differences for contribution (girls had higher scores) and for risk behaviors (boys had higher scores), but not for depression. In turn, the structural model fit was equivalent for boys and girls. Results are discussed in regard to promoting PYD to enhance successful development, or thriving, and to reduce problem behaviors.

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This study assesses if correspondence existed between concepts scholars use to discuss positive youth development (PYD) and terms used by practitioners, parents, and youth to discuss exemplary PYD, or thriving. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of 173 interviews about the meaning of thriving found no significant commonality between the terms used in the scholarly literature and the specific words or phrases used by the adult and youth participants. However, the terms generated by the adults and youthwere able to be grouped into categories that reflect the general concepts used in the PYD literature (e.g., the five Cs ofcompetence, confidence, connection, character, caring, and the sixth C, contribution). Applications to public education youth programs are discussed.

The Search Institute framework for conceptualizing developmental assets was used in a longitudinal study of African American male youth involved in gangs or in community-based organizations (CBOs) serving youth. Analyses of intraindividual change indicated that individual and ecological assets are linked to positive developmental trajectories among these youth.