Page 29 - Ana Kozina and Nora Wiium, eds. ▪︎ Positive Youth Development in Contexts. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2021. Digital Library, Dissertationes (Scientific Monographs), 42.
P. 29
positive youth development and thriving in norwegian youth
assets on positive youth outcomes, such as thriving, academic perfor-
mance, life satisfaction and mental well-being. The current findings con-
cerning Norwegian youth are supported by these earlier studies. Moreover,
our finding that constructive use of time significantly predicts thriving is
consistent with findings reported by Cooper and colleagues (1999), who
observed that after-school activities significantly predict adolescents’ ac-
ademic achievement, an important indicator of thriving. Our findings are
therefore in line with both the PYD theoretical assumption and empiri-
cal evidence on the role of these assets in promoting youth development.
While in Scales and colleagues’ (2000) study, the developmental assets ex-
plained between 10% and 43% of the variance in the thriving indicators,
in our study the developmental assets explained 19% of the variance in
thriving, which was assessed as a composite factor reflecting the number
of thriving indicators reported by Norwegian youth. While our explained
variance falls within the range of Scales and colleagues, it appears from this
previous study that some thriving indicators are better predicted by the as-
sets than others. Further, the current findings indicate that thriving among
young people in Norway is not only determined by developmental assets.
More importantly, despite Norway’s individualistic perspective, it appears
that for young people both personal and contextual resources are signifi-
cant facilitators of thriving.
That Norwegian youth reported over half the assets in all eight as-
set categories except for constructive use of time shows that Norway has
what Benson (2007) labelled an asset-building society and asset-building
community (i.e., the appropriate policies, programmes, norms, and prac-
tices). Thus, in line with the current findings, Norwegian youth contexts
appear to be able to nurture and offer developmental assets that represent
the resources/opportunities young people need to thrive. These are seen
in the country’s youth policy and initiatives on the local, national, and in-
ternational levels (Bergan, 2017; Youth Policy: Norway, 2014) along with
their strong focus on gender equality in rights and opportunities (Equality,
2014).
For the demographic factors, gender correlated with several of the as-
set categories, with girls reporting more assets than boys, except for pos-
itive identity where boys reported more assets. Still, gender and mother’s
education were not significant predictors of thriving in the multivariate
analysis, while the significance of age and father’s education was margin-
al. Although marginal, the significant role of fathers’ education compared
29
assets on positive youth outcomes, such as thriving, academic perfor-
mance, life satisfaction and mental well-being. The current findings con-
cerning Norwegian youth are supported by these earlier studies. Moreover,
our finding that constructive use of time significantly predicts thriving is
consistent with findings reported by Cooper and colleagues (1999), who
observed that after-school activities significantly predict adolescents’ ac-
ademic achievement, an important indicator of thriving. Our findings are
therefore in line with both the PYD theoretical assumption and empiri-
cal evidence on the role of these assets in promoting youth development.
While in Scales and colleagues’ (2000) study, the developmental assets ex-
plained between 10% and 43% of the variance in the thriving indicators,
in our study the developmental assets explained 19% of the variance in
thriving, which was assessed as a composite factor reflecting the number
of thriving indicators reported by Norwegian youth. While our explained
variance falls within the range of Scales and colleagues, it appears from this
previous study that some thriving indicators are better predicted by the as-
sets than others. Further, the current findings indicate that thriving among
young people in Norway is not only determined by developmental assets.
More importantly, despite Norway’s individualistic perspective, it appears
that for young people both personal and contextual resources are signifi-
cant facilitators of thriving.
That Norwegian youth reported over half the assets in all eight as-
set categories except for constructive use of time shows that Norway has
what Benson (2007) labelled an asset-building society and asset-building
community (i.e., the appropriate policies, programmes, norms, and prac-
tices). Thus, in line with the current findings, Norwegian youth contexts
appear to be able to nurture and offer developmental assets that represent
the resources/opportunities young people need to thrive. These are seen
in the country’s youth policy and initiatives on the local, national, and in-
ternational levels (Bergan, 2017; Youth Policy: Norway, 2014) along with
their strong focus on gender equality in rights and opportunities (Equality,
2014).
For the demographic factors, gender correlated with several of the as-
set categories, with girls reporting more assets than boys, except for pos-
itive identity where boys reported more assets. Still, gender and mother’s
education were not significant predictors of thriving in the multivariate
analysis, while the significance of age and father’s education was margin-
al. Although marginal, the significant role of fathers’ education compared
29
