International Positive Youth Development: Challenges and Opportunities in Policy and Practice

Abstract

This special issue of the Journal of Youth Development on international positive youth development brings together diverse perspectives of research, practice, and policy regarding the challenges and opportunities facing international efforts to promote the positive development of youth. To represent a plurality of perspectives on international PYD, the authors sought to represent a variety of continents, countries, genders, races, ethnicities, sectors, and levels of experience with publishing. There is also variety in the types of articles such as case studies, presentations of frameworks and curricula, letter-style commentary by youth, and cutting-edge research methodologies and studies. A few key themes frame the volume, including (a) diversity in definitions of youth and operationalizations of PYD; (b) the multifaceted and multidimensional ways in which PYD is integrated into different sectors, domains, and types of programmatic and organizational contexts; and (c) the importance of and need for an accessible evidence base of PYD informed by rigorous science. Thought leader commentaries are interspersed in the beginning, middle, and end of the issue. The articles represent the current state of the field of PYD internationally with an outlook toward the future and how the integration of PYD research and practice can enhance contributions of youth to equity, social justice, and democracy.

Integrating global and local best practices for youth development afterschool: Constructing the Kilimanjaro extracurriculars self-assessment

“…In this case, the research team included one U.S.based scholar along with two Tanzanian scholars. As positive youth development research becomes a more international endeavor, however, the constitution of research collaborations may not by themselves need to be international (see, for example, Lauxman et al, 2021;Leman et al, 2017).…”

“…Most of the existing research, theory, and methodology for PYD programs, however, derives from the U.S. and the global North (Koller & Verma, 2017). While there is a growing interest in PYD research from diverse international settings (see, for example, Lauxman et al, 2021;Leman et al, 2017), facilitating international PYD requires considering how local practices and global standards can inform each other in ways that best serve youth.…”

Dynamics and trends in the implementation of regional youth policy in Kazakhstan (on the example of the Karaganda region)

“…The literature review reveals different perspectives of research, practice and policy regarding the challenges and opportunities facing states to promote the positive development of youth (Lauxman, 2021). All this reflects an active scientific interest in the analysis and development of new mechanisms for youth policy.…”

Measuring Youth Perceptions of Being Known and Loved and Positive Youth Development: Cross-National Findings from Rwanda and El Salvador

“…The Lerner and Lerner PYD model is, at this writing, increasingly used globally in research and practice and, in particular, in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs; e.g., Geldhof et al, 2021 ; Lansford et al, 2021 ; Petersen et al, 2017 ; Tirrell, Dowling, et al, 2019 ). In these settings, youth often face challenges to their health and general well-being or, even more, experience traumatic events because of poverty, racism, and associated inequities in education, food, housing, health resources, and employment opportunities (e.g., Lauxman et al, 2021 ). Both researchers and practitioners delivering youth programs would find it beneficial, for theoretical and applied reasons, respectively, to possess a measure of youth perceptions of having the developmentally-nurturant relationships emphasized in the developmental science literature and, particularly, in contemporary RDS-based PYD models, such as the Lerner and Lerner model.…”