Handbook of Positive Youth Development

Radosveta Dimitrova holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology (University of Trieste, Italy received the best dissertation award of the Italian Association of Psychology) and a PhD in Cross-Cultural Psychology (Tilburg University, the Netherlands received the best dissertation award of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). She is the recipient of the 2016 Scientist Award of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD) for distinguished theoretical contribution and programmatic research to the study of behavioral development and dissemination of developmental science. Her main research interests regard positive development, acculturation, migration, identity, indigenous and vulnerable ethnic minority communities, and adaptation of measures for use in different cultures. She has research and teaching experience in leading universities in the United States, the Netherlands, Japan, New Zealand, Italy, Norway, Sweden and international collaborations and projects in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, North and South America. She has widely published in developmental science, cross-cultural and international psychology, human development, emerging adulthood, child and family studies and assessment fields by also serving governing councils of major organizations and editorial boards of leading journals in these fields. Nora Wiium is an Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway where she obtained her PhD in Health Promotion. Her teaching and research activities regard developmental psychology, health behaviors and youth development. Since 2014 she leads an international project on Positive Youth Development (PYD) representing collaborations from over 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North and South America and expertise from diverse scientific fields including health psychology, developmental psychology, human development, intervention and implementation science. She has co-edited a special issue on PYD across cultures in Child & Youth Care Forum and has served as a reviewer or guest editor for several journals, including Frontiers in Psychology and International Journal of Public Health.

“The Handbook of Positive Youth Development represents a milestone in research on PYD. By combining theoretical advancements, empirical evidence … this Handbook constitutes a must-have for any scientist or practitioner in the field of youth development. Social scientists from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds such as positive psychology, well-being studies … will find this Handbook useful. The editors have made a tremendous job in providing a groundwork from which future work on minimizing the impact of adversity will be built.” (‪Stefanos Mastrotheodoros, Adolescent Research Review, Vol. 7 (4), 2022)“The Handbook of Positive Youth Development: Advancing Research, Policy and Practice in Global Contexts is a potentially ground-breaking work … . The text provides a truly international perspective on the latest research in the field of PYD, featuring new scholarship from underrepresented and understudied geographic locations. … The Handbook will undoubtedly serve as an important resource for a broad audience of youth researchers, practitioners and policy makers for many years to come.” (Steven Eric Krauss, Applied Research in Quality of Life, Vol. 16, 2021)“The book sets itself apart as pioneering in PYD research, nowadays … . Besides summarizing a number of unique features and relevant conceptual and methodological contributions of the book at hand, the foreword written by Shek stands itself as a testament to the book’s ethos of increasing visibility of non-WEIRD PYD research and scholars. The Handbook is a tremendous ambitious collective product that raises the voice and advances the research in PYD in both WEIRD and non-WEIRD societies.” (Delia Stefenel and  Mădălina Mirea, Research and Science Journal, Vol. 22 (2), 2021)

• Part I: Positive Youth Development in Global Contexts.- 1. Handbook of Positive Youth Development: Advancing the Next Generation of Research, Policy and Practice in Global Contexts.- 2. The 7Cs and Developmental Assets Models of Positive Youth Development in India, Indonesia and Pakistan.- 3. The 7Cs of Positive Youth Development in Colombia and Peru: A Promising Model for Reduction of Risky Behaviors among Youth and Emerging Adults.- 4. Promoting Mindfulness through the 7Cs of Positive Youth Development in Malaysia.- 5. The Five Cs Model of Positive Youth Development and the PATHS Project in Mainland China.- 6. Positive Youth Development and Environmental Concerns among Youth and Emerging Adults in Ghana.- 7. Positive Youth Development and the Big Five Personality Traits in Youth from Belize.- 8. Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors and the 5Cs of Positive Youth Development in Mexico.- 9. The Relationship between Emerging Adults and their Parents as PYD Promotive Factor in Brazil.- 10. Developmental Assets, Academic Achievement and Risky Behaviors among Albanians in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia.- 11. Developmental Assets and Identity among Emerging Adults in Turkey.- 12. Social Support among Slovene Minority and Italian Majority Youth in Italy: Links with Positive Identity, Social Competence and Academic Achievement.- 13. Positive Youth Development and Subjective Happiness: Examining the Mediating Role of Gratitude and Optimism in Spanish Emerging Adults.- 14. Positive Youth Development and Resilience among Youth in Iceland: The Importance of Social Context and Self-Esteem for Life Satisfaction.- 15. Parental Support, Peer Support and School Connectedness as Foundations for Student Engagement and Academic Achievement in Australian Youth.- 16. The 5Cs of Positive Youth Development in New Zealand: Relations with Hopeful Expectations for the Future and Life Satisfaction among Emerging Adults.- 17. Country and Gender Differences in Developmental Assets among Youth andEmerging Adults in Ghana and Norway.- 18. Positive Youth Development in Bulgaria, Italy, Norway and Romania: Testing the Factorial Structure and Measurement Invariance of the 5Cs.- Part II: Positive Youth Development Applications and Interventions.- 19. International Collaboration in the Study of Positive Youth Development.- 20. Positive Youth Development in Jamaica: Latent Growth of Self-Efficacy and Youth Assets.- 21. Leadership Development of Zulu Male Youth in a South African Township.- 22. Social Emotional Learning Program from a Positive Youth Development Perspective in Slovenia.- 23. The Trajectories of Positive Youth Development in Lithuania: Evidence from Community and Intervention Settings.- 24. Positive Youth Development through Student Engagement: Associations with Well-Being.- 25. Capitalizing on Classroom Climate to Promote Positive Development.- 26. Youth Participation in the Dream School Program in Norway: An Application of a Logic Model of the Six Cs of Positive YouthDevelopment.- 27. The Cultural Adaptation of Interventions to Promote Positive Development: The Preschool Edition of PATHS® in Sweden.- 28. Another Way Out: A Positive Youth Development Approach to the Study of Violent Radicalization in Québec, Canada.- 29. Engaging Marginalized Youth in Positive Development: The Changing Lives Program.- 30. Family Processes and Competence in a Positive Youth Development Context: Perspectives for African American Youth.- 31. Teaching Mothers and Fathers about How Children Develop: Parenting Knowledge and Practices.- 32. Promoting Positive Youth Development through Healthy Middle School Environments.- 33. Promoting Positive Youth Development through Scouting.- 34. Social Change and the Dynamic Family Transmission of Youth Vocational Competence.- 35. Positive Youth Development in the Digital Age: Expanding PYD to Include Digital Settings.- 36. From Prevention and Intervention Research to Promotion of Positive Youth Development: Implications for Global Research, Policy and Practice with Ethnically Diverse Youth.- 37. The Morning Sun Shines Brightly: Positive Youth Development in a Global Context.