Thriving and Spirituality Among Youth

AMY EVA ALBERTS WARREN, PhD, is a Research Scientist at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University.RICHARD M. LERNER, PhD, is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and the Director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University. He has edited or coedited many publications, including The Handbook of Life-Span Development (Wiley), and was the founding editor of both the Journal of Research on Adolescence and Applied Developmental Science.ERIN PHELPS, EdD, is a Research Scientist at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University.

"Thriving and Spirituality Among Youth is an important book. The research described in the current book combines qualitative and quantitative multimethod approached applies toward understanding of positive youth development that features spirituality in relation to a number of diverse types of variables. This is a timely yet sparsely explored subject in studies of youth development. Apart from the importance of the topic of positive human development in youths in contrast to the huge number of studies on negative development leading to violence and risk behavior, this book documents the first stages of scholarly exploration based on the roles of spirituality and religion in youths’ lives that are potentially promising for the prevention of risk behavior." (PsycCRITIQUES, November 2012)

• Foreword viiPreface xiContributors xv1 Research Perspectives and Future Possibilities in the Study of Thriving and Spirituality: A View of the Issues 1Amy Eva Alberts Warren, Richard M. Lerner, and Erin PhelpsPart I: Biological Contexts of Positive Youth Development and Spirituality2 Prefrontal Cortical Activation during Emotion Regulation: Linking Religious/Spiritual Practices with Well-Being 19Heather L. Urry, Robert W. Roeser, Sara W. Lazar, and Alan P. Poey3 Closeness of All Kinds: The Role of Oxytocin and Vasopressin in the Physiology of Spiritual and Religious Behavior 33Elena L. Grigorenko4 Positive Youth Development and Age-Related Changes in Cortical Thickness during Adolescence 61Tomàš Paus, Gabriel Leonard, Jacqueline V. Lerner, Richard M. Lerner, Michel Perron, G. Bruce Pike, Louis Richer,Roberto Toro, Suzanne Veillette, and Zdenka Pausova5 Neural Correlates of Positive Youth Development 77Sara W. LazarPart II: Individual and Psychological Contexts of Positive Youth Development and Spirituality6 Strengthening Human Potential for Great Love-Compassion through Elaborative Development 91Amy Eva Alberts Warren7 When Beliefs Fit and When They Don’t: Religious Conversion, Spirituality, and Positive Youth Development 129David Henry Feldman, Mona M. Abo-Zena, Robert W. Roeser and Amy Eva Alberts Warren8 The Shared Pathways of Religious/Spiritual Engagement and Positive Youth Development 167Gabriel S. Spiewak and Lonnie R. Sherrod9 Religious Adolescents’ Views of Success and Spirituality 183Jenni Menon Mariano, Robert W. Roeser, Paula Taylor Greathouse, and Sonia S. Issac Koshy10 Assessing the Relationship between Ethnic and Religious Identity Among and Between Diverse American Youth 205Aerika S. Brittian and Margaret Beale SpencerPart III: Social and Cultural Contexts of Positive Youth Development and Spirituality11 Contributions despite Challenges: Exploring Positive Youth Development Among Muslim American Youth 233Selcuk R. Sirin, Mona M. Abo-Zena, and Hala Shehadeh12 The Role of Religion and Worship Communities in the Positive Development of Immigrant Youth 255Carola Suárez-Orozco, Sukhmani Singh, Mona M. Abo-Zena, Dan Du, and Robert W. Roeser13 The Interplay of Self-Transcendence and Psychological Maturity among Israeli College Students 289Ofra Mayseless and Pninit Russo-Netzer14 Belief Systems and Positive Youth Development among Chinese and American Youth 309Wei Zhang, Dan Du, and Shuangju ZhenAfterword 333Author Index 343Subject Index 359