Page 241 - Ana Kozina and Nora Wiium, eds. ▪︎ Positive Youth Development in Contexts. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2021. Digital Library, Dissertationes (Scientific Monographs), 42.
P. 241
commentary: individual and contextual thriving
differences and a need for testing the character and intensity of how PYD
presents itself one relative to another setting for youth development (e.g.,
see Chapter 4). Some of the chapters in this book directly address what
thriving can be like for youth who are living in different parts of Europe
(e.g., see Chapters 1, 2, 3). In these cases, thriving is conceptualized in ways
that are consistent with main theoretical views of PYD such as those put
forward by Benson and Scales (2009), namely thriving indicators such as
school success, maintenance of physical health. Other works in this book
focus on the feeling/subjective experience part of thriving, such as youths’
view of their own well-being and life satisfaction.
Yet, thriving does not happen in a vacuum. Thriving involves a dy-
namic and reciprocal interplay between individuals and their contexts, as
people move towards desired goals (Lerner et al., 2013). Thriving is well ex-
plained from the vantagepoint of several different developmental systems
perspectives (e.g., Magnusson & Mahoney, 2003; Overton, 2015), in which
individuals (including youth) are active agents in the world, with in some
cases altruistic and prosocial capacities, and have the possibility to move
their own life trajectory in beneficial directions, while also interacting in
a bidirectional manner with the contexts that provide opportunities for
personal growth (Scales, Benson, Leffert, & Blyth, 2000; Scales, Benson, &
Roehlkepartain, 2011; Lerner, 1984).
Given the dynamic nature of development in context, youth who have
abundant opportunities to thrive within their contexts are likely to be com-
mitted and involved civically which contributes to the social good (Lerner
et al., 2013). There is thus a striking interplay between adolescents and their
contexts which makes both individual and contextual thriving possible. By
reading about the numerous examples in the various chapters in this book,
the reader learns vital information about the conditions that make it more
or less likely that young people will thrive, and how the socio-cultural and
other developmental contexts come into play as young people develop. In
sum, the focus of this book overall is rightly on documenting thriving as
well as individual and contextual assets that make thriving more likely.
This book also provides ample examples of the complexity of what is
meant, when we talk about the context of youth development. Consistent
with Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris,
2006) where proximal processes, the individual in all of its complexity, as
well as micro and macro contexts in the wider current of time/history (i.e.,
the PPCT-model) simultaneously influence human development, youth
241
differences and a need for testing the character and intensity of how PYD
presents itself one relative to another setting for youth development (e.g.,
see Chapter 4). Some of the chapters in this book directly address what
thriving can be like for youth who are living in different parts of Europe
(e.g., see Chapters 1, 2, 3). In these cases, thriving is conceptualized in ways
that are consistent with main theoretical views of PYD such as those put
forward by Benson and Scales (2009), namely thriving indicators such as
school success, maintenance of physical health. Other works in this book
focus on the feeling/subjective experience part of thriving, such as youths’
view of their own well-being and life satisfaction.
Yet, thriving does not happen in a vacuum. Thriving involves a dy-
namic and reciprocal interplay between individuals and their contexts, as
people move towards desired goals (Lerner et al., 2013). Thriving is well ex-
plained from the vantagepoint of several different developmental systems
perspectives (e.g., Magnusson & Mahoney, 2003; Overton, 2015), in which
individuals (including youth) are active agents in the world, with in some
cases altruistic and prosocial capacities, and have the possibility to move
their own life trajectory in beneficial directions, while also interacting in
a bidirectional manner with the contexts that provide opportunities for
personal growth (Scales, Benson, Leffert, & Blyth, 2000; Scales, Benson, &
Roehlkepartain, 2011; Lerner, 1984).
Given the dynamic nature of development in context, youth who have
abundant opportunities to thrive within their contexts are likely to be com-
mitted and involved civically which contributes to the social good (Lerner
et al., 2013). There is thus a striking interplay between adolescents and their
contexts which makes both individual and contextual thriving possible. By
reading about the numerous examples in the various chapters in this book,
the reader learns vital information about the conditions that make it more
or less likely that young people will thrive, and how the socio-cultural and
other developmental contexts come into play as young people develop. In
sum, the focus of this book overall is rightly on documenting thriving as
well as individual and contextual assets that make thriving more likely.
This book also provides ample examples of the complexity of what is
meant, when we talk about the context of youth development. Consistent
with Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris,
2006) where proximal processes, the individual in all of its complexity, as
well as micro and macro contexts in the wider current of time/history (i.e.,
the PPCT-model) simultaneously influence human development, youth
241
