Page 70 - Ana Kozina and Nora Wiium, eds. ▪︎ Positive Youth Development in Contexts. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2021. Digital Library, Dissertationes (Scientific Monographs), 42.
P. 70
positive youth development in contexts
time, a positive identity, positive values, and empowerment. Positive values
were also positively associated with the daily consumption of fruit and veg-
etables. The daily consumption of vegetables was also related to more con-
structive use of time and more social skills. In addition, having been drunk
or having smoked in the last month was associated with less commitment
to learning, fewer positive values and fewer social skills. Use of marijua-
na over the last year was associated with less support and fewer boundaries
and expectations. Finally, betting in the last year was related to lower scores
for commitment to learning, social skills, positive values, boundaries and
expectations, and social support. These results are in harmony with pre-
vious studies, such as those by Leffert et al. (1998) and Atkins et al. (2002)
in the USA and Sahar et al. (2020) in Norway. Thus, as indicated by Oliva
(2015), developmental assets constitute the basis for young people’s healthy
development. The current findings provide evidence of the association be-
tween developmental assets and a healthy lifestyle (health protective be-
haviours and no risk behaviours) and point to assets as resources that may
promote health in individuals’ transition to adulthood. More research is
needed to better understand the mechanisms that explain these interrela-
tions between developmental assets and the development of a healthy life-
style, composed by particular health protective behaviours and the absence
of risky behaviours. More internal and external assets may respectively fa-
cilitate the choice of protective behaviours and their availability in develop-
mental contexts, thereby leading to greater attention to one’s own and oth-
ers’ health and well-being as individuals develop.
Some limitations of these results must be noted. Like with any cross-sec-
tional study, the conclusions are only based on associations between the
variables, and no causal inference may be drawn, nor as concerns the direc-
tion of the relationship. Future research is needed to explore the prospec-
tive links between developmental assets, lifestyle and health. Moreover,
greater research is called for to explore the mechanisms at work in these re-
lationships as well as the different developmental profiles by demographics,
for example, different patterns by gender. Other limitations may arise from
the use of self-report measures, which present subjective and perceived in-
formation and should be complemented with objective measures of assets
in the community. The subscale of constructive use of time showed low
internal consistency, which may influence the results, and needs further
psychometric research to develop a more solid measure for Spanish sam-
ples. Regarding the data analysis strategy, although the analyses conducted
70
time, a positive identity, positive values, and empowerment. Positive values
were also positively associated with the daily consumption of fruit and veg-
etables. The daily consumption of vegetables was also related to more con-
structive use of time and more social skills. In addition, having been drunk
or having smoked in the last month was associated with less commitment
to learning, fewer positive values and fewer social skills. Use of marijua-
na over the last year was associated with less support and fewer boundaries
and expectations. Finally, betting in the last year was related to lower scores
for commitment to learning, social skills, positive values, boundaries and
expectations, and social support. These results are in harmony with pre-
vious studies, such as those by Leffert et al. (1998) and Atkins et al. (2002)
in the USA and Sahar et al. (2020) in Norway. Thus, as indicated by Oliva
(2015), developmental assets constitute the basis for young people’s healthy
development. The current findings provide evidence of the association be-
tween developmental assets and a healthy lifestyle (health protective be-
haviours and no risk behaviours) and point to assets as resources that may
promote health in individuals’ transition to adulthood. More research is
needed to better understand the mechanisms that explain these interrela-
tions between developmental assets and the development of a healthy life-
style, composed by particular health protective behaviours and the absence
of risky behaviours. More internal and external assets may respectively fa-
cilitate the choice of protective behaviours and their availability in develop-
mental contexts, thereby leading to greater attention to one’s own and oth-
ers’ health and well-being as individuals develop.
Some limitations of these results must be noted. Like with any cross-sec-
tional study, the conclusions are only based on associations between the
variables, and no causal inference may be drawn, nor as concerns the direc-
tion of the relationship. Future research is needed to explore the prospec-
tive links between developmental assets, lifestyle and health. Moreover,
greater research is called for to explore the mechanisms at work in these re-
lationships as well as the different developmental profiles by demographics,
for example, different patterns by gender. Other limitations may arise from
the use of self-report measures, which present subjective and perceived in-
formation and should be complemented with objective measures of assets
in the community. The subscale of constructive use of time showed low
internal consistency, which may influence the results, and needs further
psychometric research to develop a more solid measure for Spanish sam-
ples. Regarding the data analysis strategy, although the analyses conducted
70
