International Series in Outreach Scholarship – serie

vii PREFACE It was 13 years ago that we met for the ?rst time at a German developmental psychology conference. One of us, Wolfgang Friedlmeier (WF), was interested in ontogenetic development from a cross-cultural perspective. He presented a study on the development of empathy and distress in preschool age, dealing with how far children from different cultures respond to comparable demands with different emotions and regulation strategies. The other, Manfred Holodynski (MH), was - terested in ontogenetic development from the perspective of internalization: how processes that are originally socially distributed between persons are transformed into mental processes within the individual. He presented a study on the devel- ment of the emotions pride and shame in preschool age. This led the two of us to discover our common interest in central issues of emotional development: What role do the emotions play in an individual’s activity regulation? What is it exactly that is “developing” when we talk about emotional development? Do emotional processes have a social genesis? And what is the role of the early social interactions between children and their caregivers, along with the obvious fact that individuals grow up and live in completely different cultures? Even at this time, we both already suspected that the social and cultural embedment of the individual would prove to be a key to understanding how the diversity of human emotions and their regulation develop.

The problem of criminal behaviour among youth is one faced by every society. This book presents a discussion of advances in our understanding of the juvenile offender. These derive from psychological and criminological theory and research and from efforts on the part of social science researchers and practitioners to develop and evaluate new approaches to the prevention and treatment of the serious problem of youth crime.

This work presents contributions from leading researchers in the field of youth development. These papers address issues around what happens to American youth as they emerge from their pre-teen years. Under the editorship of Peter Benson of Search Institute - a non-profit organization dedicated to the notion that our youth should be seen as assets, rather than liabilities - this book stands as a summary of the best ways to aid youth in their social, educational, and career development.

Service learning, as defined by the editors of this book, is the generation of knowledge that is of benefit to the community as a whole. This seventh volume in the Outreach Scholarship book series contributes to the discussion of how service learning functions as a critical cornerstone of outreach scholarship. The sections and chapters of this book marshal evidence in support of the idea that undergraduate service learning, infused throughout the curriculum and coupled with outreach scholarship, is an integral means through which higher education can engage the people and institutions of communities in a manner that perpetuate civil society.

This study advances both the theory and practice of a new paradigm of social inquiry and social action that no longer dichotomizes "pure research" at "ivory tower" universities from "messy" political action in "real world" communities. Emanating from conversations and projects associated with the Boston College Center for Child, Family, and Community Partnerships, the book provides new models of interdisciplinary collaboration across the theory-practice divide. It is designed to be an invaluable resource for foundation and government officials as well as college and university administrators interested in exploring new approaches to teaching and research that take students and faculty into communities and into the various forms of action learning and ethical reflection.

A consistently identified criticism about contemporary higher education is that academia is not playing a visible role in contributing to the improvement of the lives of people in the community, as the lives are lived on a day-to-day basis. However, there has been a long tradition of such "Outreach Scholarship" in America, and this focus is gaining renewed attention, at least in part, because policy makers and philanthropic organizations are pressing universities and colleges to use their learning resources in ways that more directly benefit society. Universites have listened to, and continue to heed, such appeals. This book illustrates such work by presenting several dozen exemplary "success stories" of community-university partnerships that serve to enhance the lives of children, youth, and families. These illustrations are drawn from collaborations across the breadth of the nation and reflect the work of many diverse colleges and universities.The book should be useful to two broad audiences: individuals, in and out of academia, in decision-making roles that directly impact what gets done or does not get done in colleges and universities; and persons outside academia who are concerned with creating positive change across a wide-range of issues pertinent to the lives of youth, families, and communities. It should guide universities and communities to work together to promote positive development in the diverse children, families, and communities of our nation.

This text describes the dimensions of diversity which characterize the contemporary American family and discusses the implications for public policy and associated intervention programs linked to this diversity. The authors contend that if the programs and policies available to support families are to be most useful, they need to reflect the diversity of the families they intend to help. Beginning with a discussion of the historical and contemporary context of the American family, the text focuses on child poverty and argues that this topic may be studied within the context of developmental systems theory. This theory systematically links the development of individuals to variations in their physical and social ecology, and is used as a framework for discussing: contemporary challenges faced by parents charged with rearing adolescents, and the familial and societal issues that arise when the adolescents being reared are parents themselves; current policy issues that arise from welfare debates in the USA and from recently-enacted welfare reform legislation; and the importance for our nation of developing a comprehensive national youth policy.The authors draw implications for the design, delivery and evaluation of diversity-sensitive policies and programs for families and youth, and offer a vision of how to link scholars, policy makers, and community members in multi-professional and multi-institutional collaborations promoting the positive development of American families and youth. This text is relevant to scholars and policy makers interested in human development, particularly of children and adolescents. In addition, it should be essential reading for practitioners and policy makers in government, private industry, and public and private social service organizations.

The editors present scholarship aimed at changing the character of graduate and undergraduate education in human development-related disciplines. The essays offer a new vision for reforming the nature of higher education by promoting co-learning and collaboration between universities and the communities they serve. The volume is derived from the papers and discussions from the Third National Conference on Applied Developmental Science.

The first book to examine emotional development from birth to adulthood, Development of Emotions and Their Regulation fills in significant gaps in the literature by integrating major developmental theories of emotion with robust research on emotion regulation in adults. Noted German psychologists Holodynski and Friedlmeier have written a work that takes on dominant theories such as the desomatization of emotion as people attain maturity, as well as more recent contextual models of emotional growth. The authors define emotion in terms of attendant expression, feeling, and physical reaction, and describe its development in terms of both universal and culture-specific contexts.This trajectory is characterized first by the origination of emotions and later the move from interpersonal to intrapersonal emotion regulation, including: - Processes that occur during emotional development, starting with infancy - Links between children's emotions and communication strategies - The key role of caregivers' communication in the child's emotional development - How emotions become nuanced and individualized during the school years - The intricate relationship between emotional development and emotion regulation as the person reaches adulthood. Surprising and often startling in its conclusions, Development of Emotions and Their Regulation is sure to spark controversy among students, researchers, and practitioners in the developmental field. It may also signal a paradigm shift in the making.

Family Diversity and Family Policy describes the dimensions of diversity which characterize the contemporary American family and discusses the implications for public policy and associated intervention programs linked to this diversity. The authors contend that if the programs and policies available to support families are to be most useful, they need to reflect the diversity of the families they intend to help. Beginning with a discussion of the historical and contemporary context of the American family, Family Diversity and Family Policy focuses on child poverty and argues that this topic may be usefully studied within the context of developmental systems theory. This theory systematically links the development of individuals to variations in their physical and social ecology, and is used as a framework for discussing: Contemporary challenges faced by parents charged with rearing adolescents, and the familial and societal issues that arise when the adolescents being reared are parents themselves. Current policy issues that arise from welfare debates in the United States and from recently-enacted welfare reform legislation.The importance for our nation of developing a comprehensive national youth policy. The authors draw implications for the design, delivery, and evaluation of diversity-sensitive policies and programs for families and youth, and offer a vision of how to link scholars, policy makers, and community members in multi-professional and multi-institutional collaborations promoting the positive development of American families and youth. Family Diversity and Family Policy is relevant to scholars and policy makers interested in human development, particularly of children and adolescents. In addition, it should be essential reading for practitioners and policy makers in government, private industry, and public and private social service organizations.

Service learning, as defined by the editors, is the generation of knowledge that is of benefit to the community as a whole. This seventh volume in the Outreach Scholarship book series contributes a unique discussion of how service learning functions as a critical cornerstone of outreach scholarship. The sections and chapters of this book marshal evidence in support of the idea that undergraduate service learning, infused throughout the curriculum and coupled with outreach scholarship, is an integral means through which higher education can engage people and institutions of the communities of this nation in a manner that perpetuate civil society. The editors, through this series of models of service learning, make a powerful argument for the necessity of "engaged institutions".

MOVING THE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT MESSAGE: TURNING A VAGUE IDEA INTO A MORAL IMPERATIVE Peter L. Benson and Karen Pittman THE CONTAGION OF AN IDEA In the past fifteen years, countless programs, agencies, funding initiatives, profes­ sionals, and volunteers have embraced the term "youth development. " Linked more by shared passion than by formal membership or credentials, these people and places have contributed to a wave of energy and activity not unlike that of a social movement, with a multitude of people "on the ground" connecting to a set of ideas that give sustenance, support, and value to increasingly innovative efforts to build competent, successful, and healthy youth. There are several particularly interesting dimensions to this movement. First, the youth development idea has the potential to draw people and organizations to­ gether across many sectors. Conferences and initiatives using youth development language attract increasingly eclectic audiences, bringing together national youth organizations, schools, city, county, and state agencies, police and juvenile jus­ tice workers, clergy, and committed citizens. Perhaps embedded in the youth de­ velopment idea is a philosophy or a "way" that has created an intellectual and/or spiritual home for actors across many settings. However this happens, it is clear that one of the powerful social consequences of the youth development idea is a connecting of the dots-the weaving within and across city, county, state, and of a tapestry of new relationships.

This book provides a discussion ofadvances in our understanding of the juvenile offender. These derive from psychological and criminological theoryand researchonthe phenomenonofyouth crime and from efforts on the part of social science researchers and practitioners to develop and evaluate new approaches to prevention and treatment. The theoretical and empirical advances relate, first, to analyses of the nature and extent ofyouth crime. This is reflected, for example, in various descriptive and classification systems developed for characterizingjuvenile offenders. Significant advances are also being made in understanding the risk factors associated with youthful criminal activity, as well as the processes linking the risk factors with antisocial behaviors. This understanding is based on theory and research relatingto the correlates andcauses ofdelinquency. The advances in our understanding of the nature, correlates, and causes of juvenile crime are accompanied by progress in analyzing the treatment ofyouth in juvenile justice systems and in developing and evaluating alternative approaches to treatment. These efforts include research on decision-making within juvenile justice systems and the development of screening and assessment tools. This also includes efforts to develop and evaluate effective prevention and treatment programs for use with youths involved in criminal activity and those at risk for this activity.

We know that when children achieve in school they have a much greater chance of living healthy, productive adult lives that will benefit themselves and society, and we know that increasing the base of stakeholders in children's education yields those positive results.