Welcome back to the Human Development in Context Blog! After the midterm, we're giving you a little time to play as we discuss childhood and before you face adolescence! Most likely an interesting time for all of us. Here are your blog topics for this week.
1) According to Damon (2004) What is so positive about positive youth development? Please comment on the 3 things that Damon suggests are the hallmarks of PYD.
2) The authors of Reciprocating Self contend that big things happen in terms of the development of the self in the "reciprocating self." Of what the authors mention, which do you think is the most salient issue for the development of the self for adolescents today? And what is the biggest challenge to that aspect of development in our culture?
3)Buechner offers a powerful description of the role of pain during adolescence--or perhaps during all of life--what in your life has been an issue you have learned to be a steward of? BTW-If this feels too personal for a blog, you may turn a brief comment into Dr. King.
4) Optional: If you are inspired, email Dr. King, pamking@fuller.edu, a photo of you during adolescence--please send before Wednesday midnight if possible.
(Grant Goodman)
ReplyDelete1. The first hallmark of positive youth development mentioned by Damon is the nature of the child. This involves seeing a child as “naturally competent and inclined toward prosocial engagements.” (pg. 18) Working with this assumption allows the psychologist and researcher to study the positive things that adolescents can accomplish and promote these actions. This is different from the more common approach of attempting to prevent harmful or risky behaviors.
The second hallmark Damon mentions is the adolescent’s interaction with their community. For Damon this means that adolescents develop in a culture and a community that impacts their development in countless different ways. This community should be seen as a way to help adolescents positively develop and as a way to treat adolescents with developmental issues. Damon also emphasizes the expectations of a community for an adolescent. He argues that adolescents need to be informed of the expectations and goals that the community has for them in order for them to develop optimally.
The third hallmark mentioned by Damon is moral identity. By fostering a strong moral identity in adolescents, social responsibility is also fostered because the adolescent will see themselves as implicated in any violation by society of their moral identity.
2. The most salient issue for adolescents today, in my opinion, is the full development of their relationality. The ability to relate to others and have reciprocating relationships with others is essential for an adolescent to thrive. Without this ability, the adolescent will be isolated and will have difficulty having intimacy with anyone in their lives. The biggest challenge to this aspect of development is the individualistic and video game culture that exists today. Not only is the U.S. known for its value of the individual and achievement for the individual rather than for the larger community, but now that nearly everything can be done from behind a computer screen, adolescents can start to believe that relationality is unnecessary. Rather than risk face to face interaction, kids are enabled more than ever to play it safe socially and make friends online. These relationships have an intimacy that in some ways can be beneficial, but in other ways is artificial because there is a sense of anonymity through online interaction.
3. An issue of pain in my life that I have tried to be a steward of is the pain of moving away from friends and starting over again socially and geographically. My family has moved four times in my life and each time it was hundreds of miles away from the previous place. When we moved when I was fifteen years old, this was particularly hard. As a freshman in high school I became very bitter about having to start over and go to a new school in an unfamiliar place. I was not a good steward at first, and anger controlled my life trapping me in my pain as Buechner described in his article. Eventually, though, my heart was softened by God and my community and my church and I have been able to “trade” with my pain more effectively. I faced similar changes when I began college three years later and I am in the midst of such a change again now in graduate school. I have found that it is never an easy transition, but that it does get easier. I have seen growth in myself through each successive change and I hope this is a result of good stewardship.
1.According to Damon (2004) what is so positive about PYD is the focuses on the potentials of children and adolescents, rather than the deficits. PYD is less concerned with what keeps children out of trouble than they are with what makes them grow fully. As stated in the article, PYD “focuses on each and every child’s unique talents, strengths, interests, and future potential” (pg. 13). In the history of psychology, this is a very different way of viewing child development. Another hallmark of PYD is children’s developmental assets, such as “caring/compassion, competence, character, connection and confidence” (pg. 17). This is children’s natural tendencies that help them grow in positive ways. There are traits that will assist them in becoming successful. A third hallmark of PYD is the connection that the child has with the community. PYD is holistic in the sense that it acknowledges the importance of innate characteristics of a child, but also emphasizes the importance of environmental, community and relational factors. PYD stresses the significance of encouragement from parents, mentors, teachers, etc. When children are expected to do great things, the chance that they will actually do great things is greatly increased. A last hallmark of PYD is identity and morality. When children not only demonstrate the importance of moral behavior for others but also for themselves, they are more likely to act in accordingly. Therefore the need to foster moral identity in young people is clearly an important goal.
ReplyDelete2. I think the most salient issue for the development of the self for adolescents today is finding a balance between interdependence and independence. The Reciprocating self mentioned a lot about adolescents gradually growing more attached to peer-relationships and less focused on familial relationships. It talked about how although adolescents crave independence; they also desire love and guidance. I think it is tempting though for adolescents to error to heavily on one extreme or the other. Sometimes adolescents will reject the authority of their parents so much because they want the feeling of autonomy, at least from their parents. This can lead to unhealthy lifestyle decisions if they are not guided in a way that will promote some positive growth. However, I also think some adolescents might error on the side of not getting enough autonomy, either a result of their choice or their parents. There are definitely some adolescents though that are so restricted by their parents that they never get to fully experience who they really are. They live in the shadow of their parents for most of their adolescent life which subsequently stunts their growth just as much or more compared to the child who has no direction from authority figures. Overall, if adolescents are able to find a balance of getting independence from their family while at the same time being guided and directed in certain ways by authority figures in their lives, I think they will be able to develop most fully.
-Jon Weber
3. Something in my life that I have learned to be a steward of is the death of my dog in high school. He was our first pet and the first “thing” in my life to die that was extremely close to me. I remember such a peculiar feeling at the time I was informed of his passing. I knew that he went in for surgery that morning (which wasn’t uncommon for our dog at all considering he ate rocks and sticks and I think had more desert than our family combined in his lifetime) and was told that he got through the surgery just fine and was going to stay at the vet’s for a couple of nights while he recovers. It was only a few hours later that I was called by my sister to tell me that he died unexpectedly. She was at college at Purdue University at the time and asked me if I could let dad know when he got home from work. I remember when my dad got home I went to go tell him, but I couldn’t. Tears filled my eyes and I literally couldn’t say anything. It was the first time in my life where I realized that death was close and uncertain. It was then that I realized the importance of relationships and not taking them for granted. When I think about my dog, I am reminded to love and to cherish. There is no guarantee for tomorrow. To deal with my dog’s death means to change the way I relate to others. My dog’s death has helped me grow and for that I am thankful.
ReplyDelete-Jon Weber
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ReplyDelete1. Damon suggests three hallmarks of positive youth development: the nature of the child, the manner in which young people interact with communities, and the way they work out their moral identities and perspectives on society.
ReplyDeleteThe nature of the child refers to the debate whether children are hardy or delicate. Positive Youth Development (PYD) has concentrated on research concerning invulnerability and resiliency. Opposed to the problem-youth perspective, PYD envisions children as competent and inclined toward prosocial engagements (18).
PYD has also brought about a changing in thinking about the child-community interaction. For example, Peter Benson has written about developmental assets of youth, which include responsibility, service, and expectations (23). It is beneficial for youth to be given useful roles in the community and to do service to others. Psychologists have embraced the idea of community in working with youth because without addressing the child's larger context, the results of the work will not stick.
Finally, PYD has taken the moral and religious beliefs of children seriously, such as religious community. Research has shown that fostering a strong sense of moral identity in youth children is an essential intervention (23).
2. Adolescence have emerging particularity and relationality, which cultivates their development of the reciprocating self. Both particularity and relationality are salient for teenage development. In fact, scholars are now saying that identity and intimacy evolve together (180). Here I'll focus on the development of emerging relationality. Teenagers' identity is greatly influenced by their relationships with others (180). Interpersonal relationships are crucial for teenage development, as is moral, spiritual, and civic development. Teenagers form strong bonds with others, and unlike the egocentric relationships of childhood, these bonds are reciprocal. Having (hopefully) reached Piaget's formal operational stage, teens have a great capacity to care for family, friends, and communities (181). Adolescence can be a time of transcendence and contribution.
This emerging relationality is important for teenagers today because without healthy interpersonal relationships and development of spiritual and moral convictions, adolescents aren't able to cultivate the trait of fidelity or find a healthy sense of belonging and commitment to others and society. I stress healthy in this last sentence because adolescents are inundated by aspects of relationality that aren't good. Teens are desperate to be accepted, and sometimes that means doing uncomfortable things. There is so much pressure for today's adolescents to conform. Society, family, and friends place standards onto them, and teens need to learn what it means to have both boundaries and intimacy. Teenagers can find an abundance unhealthy ways to belong. In developing a moral and spiritual identity, however, adolescence feel grounded and purposeful in who they are and what they are about.
1. Damon states that Positive Youth Development focuses on developmental potentials rather than their deficits (13). The three hallmarks are the nature of the child, the interaction between child and community, and moral growth (13). Damon understands the child as resilient in nature, rather than fragile and vulnerable (15-16). Positive Youth Development stresses the whole community and its interaction with the whole child, rather than simply considering parts of each (19). Lastly, Damon has found that youth with a moral, rather than physical acknowledgment of “who am I” and “who do I want to be” is a prime factor in their development (21-22).
ReplyDelete2. I think the most salient issue for the development of self for adolescents today is that of emerging particularity (178). There is so much pressure on adolescents to figure out who they are and where they belong that they often end up becoming deeply involved with people that they don’t really want to remain connected to. Both identity and differentiation, the main aspects of emerging particularity stress the importance of feeling accepted and appreciated. The biggest challenge that I see in our culture is the willingness of adolescents to become someone they aren’t simply in order to be accepted somewhere.
3.I am a pastor’s kid, and have learned over the years to come to terms with many things that happened to my family by people of the church. There were many times that it would have been way easier to give up on Christianity and the church, since I saw them as the root of the problem. As a steward of this pain, I decided that instead of leaving it, I would remain in the church and work on learning how to love the imperfect people within it in spite of the pain. I have grown through this, and have embraced my unique position now in my own church community as one who can encourage both the pastor and his family, as well as those in the church to mutually support one another.
-Jennifer Irish
1)Broadly speaking, the Positive Youth Development approach promotes a more proactive, positively focused understanding of adolescence. Moving away from the traditional, problem-focused model, which concentrates on the putting-out of the many fires that inevitably rise in adolescence, PYD aims to tap into the many positive resources the adolescent harbors naturally. For instance, the empathy that is typically developed in younger years can be utilized, not ignored, as a resource for the interpersonal and pro-social engagement that can initiate moral development through the teenage years. In this way, the positive potentialities are emphasized more than incapacities (p. 17). This emphasis brings greater society to invite, even expect, intentional community involvement (as far too often adolescents are ignored or cast-out) (p. 20). Finally, this community involvement, particularly in religious communities, further fosters the development of moral identities, which prepares the developing adolescent even further for positive community involvement.
ReplyDelete2)"The Reciprocating Self" makes a number of interesting observations regarding the developmental processes within the adolescent, and how these processes affect the emerging particularity and relationality of an individual. As the adolescent enters a period of moratorium, in which identify and social role is more established through experimentation, a sense of personhood within context begins to emerge (p. 179). Particularly in an age in which contribution to the ideology and activity of greater society is more accessible than ever before, the development of societal relationality seems utterly important. Taking into the account the ideas expressed by Damon, it seems that our methods of communication and information exchange today make it logistically easier for the adolescent to contribute to the flow of society. However, perhaps our traditional conceptions of adolescence, a period fraught with risks and confusions that distract from any social productivity, prevents greater society from expecting any positive contribution from the emerging relationality of the developing teenager.
Nathaniel Strenger
1.3 major hallmarks of positive youth development are: Nature of the Child, Interaction between child and community, and moral growth. Research in PYD has challenged the notion that children are "fragile" and easily hurt by their caregiver's behavior and their environment in general.In fact, some studies showed that children were able to thrive despite having experienced significant stressors. It was noted that children possessed the ability to learn how to be resilient in the face of adversity. Still other researchers focused on the positive qualities many children possess (e.g., "talents, energies, strengths and constructive interests") as a means of maximizing their resiliency potential.
ReplyDeletePYD also focuses on the child's relationship to the community and views community as an integral part of a child's positive resources. Under this perspective, a child is viewed as "a full partner in the community-child relation" The ideas is to "strengthen the context in which young people's competence can be fostered." The community may help to encourage the child's positive qualities (via teachers, parents, church leaders etc), and the child is invited to become involved in contributing back to the community (e.g., volunteering, service to others). Finally, positive youth development has also shown that a strong sense of morality also contributes to the thriving of a child even under less than optimal conditions. Hart et al (1995) reported that among disadvantaged adolescents, those with a strong sense of morality displayed prosocial behaviors as opposed to those without a strong sense of morality. Other studies have found that individuals with strong moral identities more often possess happy and healthy qualities/characteristics. Thus, PYD also focuses on helping children develop a moral identity from an early age.
2. The Reciprocating Self talks about the large influence of peers on adolescents, and in my opinion, this is (maybe not the MOST but) a very salient issue in adolescent development. I cannot cite a specific study, but I once read that adolescents spend a lot more time with their peers than they do with members of their family. When looked at with that perspective, it makes sense that peers and peer relationships are an enormous part of human growth. This fact can be scary in the sense that (at least from my own experience) a teenager’s peer group is not any more knowledgeable about life than is the teenager yet most information about life comes from that peer group during these years. In terms of addressing this, I think it’s not enough to try and control or intervene in the process once it has begun. Rather, I think it is one more reason to invest in appropriate parenting and nurturing of young children. I think that if a child’s community makes a proper attempt to encourage good qualities and foster the ability to think critically and make good choices, when the child reaches adolescence, they will be equipped to deal with the challenges of being in peer relationships.
3. Growing up, my only brother (older) and I had a very close relationship. This relationship was born out of many factors. We naturally bonded because we were all the other had in terms of playmates, and we also bonded out of sharing very difficult situations in our early childhood. It was such a strong bond that when we were in our early stages of adolescence, we regarded each other as confidants and often stayed up until really late just talking about teenage stuff. Given the previously mentioned “difficult situations” we dealt with as small children, both he and I have carried and continue to carry a significant amount of pain within us. I guess this pain became overwhelming during his later teenage years, and something in him…broke. He became easily angered, highly irritable, isolated and just mean. We couldn’t talk anymore, and when we did he made it clear that he would rather not. This caused me a wealth of pain because it was as if I lost my best friend- actually, that’s exactly what it was. Although our relationship today is a good one, it’s not nearly what it was when we were young. If I think about it, it still hurts. It has always hurt. But for some strange reason, this break in our bond only increased my love for him. Maybe it’s because a part of me understands that his pain became too much and I want to drive it away with as much love as I can offer. Even today, if he goes through any difficulty, I feel the need to protect him and ease whatever negative emotion he may feel. For whatever reason, I did not let the pain of being rejected make me bitter at him. Rather, I used my pain to understand his and be able to love him more than ever. Perhaps that’s part of what it means to be a good steward of pain.
ReplyDelete1. Damon focuses on 3 main levels for positive youth development:
ReplyDelete(1) the nature of the child.
a. Unique talents, strengths, potential, etc.
b. External and internal assets
(2) the interaction between the child and the community
a. youth as resources not problems
b. focus on potential
(3) moral growth.
a. Rejects development as being only negative (overcoming risks)
b. Gets youth involved in productive, positive action
Negative expectations can easily become self-fulfilling prophecies. By changing the focus to look for and preemptively suggest the good, Damon is helping change the meso systems of adolescents. This ties in to some key ideas from an article by Gergen (2001) an realizing the impact of the questions we ask in our research and the answers those questions bring about. PYD looks for the good and in so doing help to overturn some stereotypes of the bad.
2. I think the biggest challenge for adolescent development is emerging particularity, particularly identity. I think this is the biggest issue because it is one that begins in adolescence and continues throughout life. So many things fall under this category. I think of so many huge issues of the teen years like body image, self-esteem, confidence or lack there of, choice of friends, choice of recreational activities, family interaction. Who you view yourself to be is instrumental in how you will then relate to others. Do you see yourself as having value or as a screw up? Do you think you have something worth saying? What gives you meaning? Do you like who you are? Culture puts forth unrealistic expectations. TV shows portray gorgeous, thin, rich, popular girls and tall, muscular, athletic guys. Colleges look for excellent grades and lots of group involvement. Parents have one set of expectations; peers often have another. Without a sense of identity it is easy for an adolescent to just give in to the will of others rather than have healthy, reciprocal interaction.
3. One major recurring pain in my life has been the loss of family through divorce. I’ve been immediately involved in three divorces over the past fifteen years or so. That doesn’t count numerous additional divorces of aunts, uncles, and other relatives. A real struggle for me has been opening up and getting close to people. I have a hard time trusting people with access to my full self after seeing so many broken relationships. Even now, I don’t really feel like I have a sense of “home.” I feel like parts of me are fragmented. Parts of me are at home with one parent and other parts are at home with the other. Some people have been part of my life but now are not. Stepsiblings that were part of my life for years now are not. The hurt has undoubtedly shaped me. It is only recently that I have begun to learn how to be a steward of my pain. I’m learning how to face it, feel it, share it, and emerge as who I want to be making choices rather than having actions dictated by past pain.
1. Damon asserts that Positive Youth Development looks to the positive aspects of adolescent development rather than the deficits. The 3 hallmarks of PYD are how adolescents are transformed in the three areas of the nature of the child, how the adolescent interacts with the communities, and the way that they work out their moral identities.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, I believe that Damon’s conclusions about the nature of the child are true. Children are resilient, being much hardier than the culture allows. The difficulty is that when society underestimates the abilities of the youth, then many times those youth underestimate themselves. As far as adolescent interaction with various communities, I believe that these communities bear a great deal of responsibility for the social isolation that youth feel. When we evaluate the well-being of an adolescent it is usually in individual terms. Instead, we need to broaden our scope of developmental evaluation to the whole web of communities in which each adolescent functions. The third hallmark asserts that a youth’s religious or moral communities are instrumental in the positive development of youth. As a former pastor, I truly believe that this is true as I saw many youth be anchored in their faith, which allowed them to explore success in other areas.
2. I believe that the most salient point in the development of the self in adolescents is differentiation. In order for a person to arrive at interdependence they must have an understanding of himself or herself as set apart from the other. Its this uniqueness that they present to the world when it comes time to actively participate in society and contribute. I believe that the difficult part of this is that it is difficult to provide the space necessary for adolescents to try on different roles like different shirts. They must take risks and be allowed to change and reevaluate who they are and this is difficult because many of these roles aren’t convenient or allowed by certain communities.
3. I grew up with family members who suffered from mental illness. It was difficult to be an adolescent and a caregiver at the same time. It didn’t allow me to take risks and try on different roles in a place where I believed that it would be ok and not condemned. Because of this, I grew up believing that I would do everything in my power to help people find the safe space to be themselves. I believe that people are generally created with the desire and ability to thrive. But there are some who just can’t seem to move forward to take the risks necessary to grow. I want to help these people. That’s how I choose to be a steward of the pain I endured as a child.
Jesse Malott
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ReplyDelete1. Damon (2004) suggests that the nature of the child is innately resilient and prosocial. This decreases my worry about children who may go through hardships, and I can now view my childhood trials as growing opportunities. Concerning a child’s interaction with its community, Damon (2004) suggests that child development is more accurately viewed when the entire community is considered and when there is a recognition that the child has an effect on the community. I wonder how my development would have been affected had expectations of giving back to the community been expressed to me by family and teachers. And finally, Damon (2004) suggests that we should take seriously the positive role of moral and religious beliefs in children. I am convinced that my involvement in church was one factor in my ability to avoid addiction to drugs through my childhood.
ReplyDelete2. Of all of the issues discussed by the authors of the Reciprocating Self, I believe that the most salient issue for the development of adolescents today is the development of personal identity. If a child is able to commit to an identity that is caring and giving, he will be able to participate in reciprocating relationships with family and friends. If he develops an identity marked by greed and selfishness, he may lack the ability to love his neighbor as himself. The biggest challenge to an adolescent in developing his identity is differentiating between the beneficial and harmful aspects of his own culture and his own friend groups. Parents will hopefully be able to assist their child in rejecting a materialistic identity and developing a commitment to people other than themselves (Balswick, King & Reimer, 2005, p. 179).
3. I have learned to be a steward of physical pain. In eighth grade I suffered from a stress fracture in my fifth lumbar which left me with great back pain and an inability to exercise for a year. Although it may not be completely connected, I still suffer daily from back pain. My pain is not nearly as bad as what some people go through, but it does help me to connect to people in physical pain. Hiding this physical pain from the world would be stealing others of the opportunity to feel understood and validated and would not encourage others to “open themselves up in risk and hope (Buechner, 1992, p. 98).
1) Positive youth development focuses on three aspects of the developing child: "the nature of the child, the manner in which young people interact with their communities as they grow up, and the way in which young people work out their moral identities and perspectives on society and their present and future roles in it" (Damon, p. 4). I found it a great relief to see that research supports children are not vulnerable,and dangerous at the same time. The nature of the child being empathic and having a sense of justice seems more in line as how i felt in high school. I support Damon's assertion that youth should be more committed to serving in their communities, as opposed to the old way of thinking that youth should have less responsibilities than more. Finally, I was surprised at how much a difference moral identity and religious beliefs could have on a child. I thought religion was something I did, not who I was growing up.
ReplyDelete2) In the developing adolescent the most salient issue that a person faces is emerging relationally. This issue is so important to an adolescent because most of the issue lies in the other. Relationships mean everything to an adolescent and if they cannot form lasting or deep relationships they may feel worthless or unloveable. The biggest challenge of this aspect of development is our culture of autonomy and individuality. In America, people are expected to be self-sustaining and autonomous to an incredible degree. The adolescent who is forming relationships may feel pulled between being part of a group, but establishing their own uniqueness. I find the most troubling part would be an adolescent who desires to be part of a group, but is "uninteresting" as an individual and will find it hard to establish stable peer relations.
3) Death is something that I have been a steward of for a little while now and one that I will probably always be. My Aunt passed away a few years back and that I was really hard for me, she was my mom's identical twin. It was like losing my mother, cause that was who she is essentially, my second mother. I feel I have grown from experiencing her death, but I still relapse every so often of how much I miss her. I always think that I could just call her up, but then remember that I can't, and that really hurts. That pain has helped me to empathize with others who experience loss, but it is a loss that I wish I could regain at the cost of my growth if I could.
1. According to Damon, the positive youth development focuses on the “full potential of all young people” opposed to diagnosing and fixing deficiencies of young people. The youth has been perceived as troubled, dangerous, and at-risk. Positive youth development focuses on “each and every child’s unique talents, strengths, interests, and future potential” (p. 13-15). Three hallmarks are the nature of the child, the interaction between the child and the community, and moral growth of each child. The first hallmark is that children are much more resilient than assumed. In cross-cultural studies, they have found that many children “showed resistance to life’s most severe stressors” with “internal and external assets” (p. 16). The second hallmark is that the community affects children and children are active agents in their community. Children “require multiple relationships to learn…in order to become highly motivated students” (p. 19). The community’s expectations also help children’s development (p. 20). The third hallmark is that “moral and religious beliefs shape children’s identities and perspectives on the future” (p. 21). A strong moral identity will promote social responsibility (p. 22).
ReplyDelete2. I think one of the most salient issues in development is the change in social context. Adolescents go through many transitions from family to peers to school. Peer relations are extremely important. Adolescents attempt to create their own identity (or particularity) while still belonging to a group (or unified). This process can bring about the positives and negatives in individuation and conformity (p. 173-175).
3. A big struggle I went through was isolation from my core group of friends. In the first 2 years of high school, I belonged to a group that I considered my whole world. I spent every waking moment with them and thought they were all I needed in life. I did feel somewhat detached in interests at times, but instead of rethinking the friendship, I changed myself to fit in. After 2 years, the group essentially “kicked” me out with no warning and isolated me. I fell into a deep depression and detached myself from all friends. Eventually I decided to take a risk and start putting myself out there to new friends. In hindsight, I see that God was pulling me away from bad people and bringing me to true friends who love me. However, this occurrence, along with my tumultuous relationship with my family, still keeps me somewhat guarded and putting up a wall. It takes me quite some time to fully feel vulnerable with someone.
1) Positive youth development focuses on the child’s strengths (or the positive) rather than their problem behaviors. The focus is on developing their positive attributes rather than correcting negative ones (p. 15). First, PYD works on the assumption that children are naturally resilient or hardy rather than fragile beings that will succumb to any number of dangers. Based on this assumption, it makes sense to foster their positive development, rather than to worry about all the possible negatives.
ReplyDeleteSecond, PYD recognizes that the child needs to be considered a full partner in the community-child relationship. In other words the not only is the community responsible for the child, but the child is responsible for the community, in a reciprocal manner (p. 20).
Lastly, PYD recognizes the need for moral and spiritual guidance in the lives of children, rather than value neutral, scientific objectivity (p.23).
2) The emergence of relationality is an extremely salient issue for adolescents today. So many aspects of our industrialized culture (intentionally or unintentionally) isolate people from the rest of society. Adolescents today have laptops, video games, cell phones, and lets not forget drugs. All of which potentially disconnect the youth from reality and from forming potentially meaningful reciprocal relationships. I know of adolescents who will literally play video games all day long, while barely communicating (if at all) to another person.
3) Without going into too much detail, I will just say that I got into quite a bit of trouble as an adolescent, more than a typical adolescent even... In my own experience, this sort of behavior puts a strain on family and other social relationships (people lose trust in you, may be angry with you, dislike you, see you as a bad person, etc…). Although this is not the stereotypical painful situation, in retrospect I recognize that it was a very painful time period in my life, filled with loss of friendships, trust, freedom, respect and privileges. While I am not proud of this experience I do feel like I have a greater understanding of the pain that is associated with adolescents going through similar experiences.
1. The PYD approach sees youth as resources instead of societal problems (15). Instead of focusing on the “supposed incapacities,” PYD focuses on “the manifest potentialities” of young people (15). According to Damon, the nature of the child, the interaction between the child and the community, and moral growth are three hallmarks of PYD. The PYD vision is one of a child who is “naturally competent and inclined toward prosocial engagements” (18). PYD also stresses the interaction between the child and the community: the community holds certain expectations for the child, and the child has rights and responsibilities as part of the community (19, 20). Finally, as the child becomes more involved in the community, especially religious communities, he forms a moral identity and contributes more to his civic society.
ReplyDelete2. I think one of the most salient issues for the development of the self for adolescents is emerging relationality. In many obvious ways, the advances in modern technology and transportation are a blessing; our world is becoming more global, and we can connect with people in a way that was impossible a few decades ago. However, adolescents (and people, in general), seem ill-informed about how to interact respectfully and wisely with people of different backgrounds and opinions. As cultures, histories, worldviews, and values collide, we must learn how to dialogue effectively with others so that all sides learn/benefit from the wealth of knowledge and experience between them.
-Grace Maeng
1) Positive youth development is positive because it focuses on each and every child’s unique talents, strengths, interests, and future potential, as opposed to focusing on their deficits. Damon points to three areas of research that have been transformed by the positive youth development approach: the nature of the child, the interaction between the child and the community, and moral growth. (Damon, 13) Studies on the nature of children have shown that children are much more resilient than we previously thought (Garmezy, 1983; Werner, 1982; and Bernard, 1991) and experience emotions, such as empathy (Trevarthen, Hoffman, and Eisneberg) as early as within the first week after birth. (Damon, 16, 18) PYD also emphasizes that children should be viewed as full partners in the community-child relation, with the community strengthening the contexts in which young people’s competence can be fostered. (Damon, 19) Finally, one of PYD’s essential intervention goals is to foster a strong sense of moral identity in young people, because of research showing that moral identity helps to keep at risk youth out of trouble (Garmezy, 1983), foster prosocial behavior (Hart et al., 1995), and encourage youth to see themselves as necessarily implicated in moral problems occurring in every day events (Colby and Damon, 1992).” (Damon, 21, 23)
ReplyDelete2) I think the most salient issue for the development of the self for adolescents today is both identity formation (Reciprocating Self, 178) and emerging relationality (Reciprocating Self, 180). Often times, adolescents base their identity formation on their relationships or lack thereof and vice versus. I, personally, remember what a challenging time adolescence was, especially highschool, trying to figure out who I was, who I wanted to be, how to get people to like me, and how to find friends and significant others who I liked and who liked me in return. I believe the biggest challenge to that aspect of development in our culture, is the high priority placed on looks and, in high school, doing what is cool: drinking, going to parties, drugs, sex, etc.
3) I think the biggest issue in my life I have learned to be a steward of is my identity. I remember being young, in elementary school, not knowing exactly who I was or who I wanted to be. I was content to live and learn, have friends, do crazy, fun things in gymnastics and enjoy my friends and family. I was not the coolest person in my school, but I had lots of friends and definitely would not consider myself a “loser,” as horrible as that term is. Then I went off to high school. I was 4’11, 13 years old, very young and immature for my age, and was quickly packing on weight after my recent retirement from competitive gymnastics so that I could have a social and academic life in high school. I went from a graduating 8th grade class of 25 students at a private Christian school to a 400 student class at our local public high school. I only had two friends going in and had met a couple at a Church summer camp who unfortunately were very cliquey and not easily accepting. To make a long story short, I had to work very hard at making friends and getting people to like me. I feel like I have carried this with me to this day. While I have grown in understanding who I am and who I want to be, I still feel like I often have to work at making friends, even though I now have many of them, and am often pleasantly surprised when people like me.
- Brooke Fullmer
1. Positive Youth Development (PYD) steps away from the criminal justice model that has pervaded culture’s and psychology’s perspective of youth and calls individuals to see adolescents as people of massive potential rather than a mess to be prevented. The first pillar of PYD asserts that nature of a child is full of potential, regardless of environment. Therefore, the goal of PYD is to maximize this potential for growth in areas such as learning, social interaction and more (p. 17). The second pillar asserts that youth are not just recipients of community, but are instead active participants that can act on the community which challenges the notion that adolescents are problems that need to be fixed and acculturated (p. 20). The last pillar of PYD encompasses the idea of an adolescent being an active participant in spirituality through the development of a moral compass (p. 23) that encourages the child to make decisions to make the self into a better person drawn from spiritual aspirations.
ReplyDelete2. Of the various issues that an adolescent must face in developing into a reciprocating self, perhaps the most salient is interpersonal relationships. Intense bonding occurs and changes meaning during this stage ranging from same-sex friendships, to romantic relationships, to parental interaction (p. 180). Thus, the challenge faced in interpersonal relationships is how they affect the development and choices an adolescent makes. Will the relationships foster dangerous behavior or behavior of good judgment? The adolescent is both enhanced and endangered by reciprocity in interpersonal relationships.
3. See e-mail.
4. Haha, what do you plan on doing with that Dr. King? :P
- Kevin Kurian
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ReplyDelete1. Positive youth development (PYD), instead of focusing on the ways in which children can develop in maladaptive manners due to incompetence and deficits, chooses to adopt a model in which children are encouraged to aspire to their full capacity as human beings (15). This movement calls for transformation in the way researchers think about three areas: the nature of the child, the ways in which children interact with their communities, and the ways in which they work out their morals, identities, and opinions of society.
ReplyDeletePYD questions the string of research that has asserted that children are fragile in their development, stating instead that every child has resilient personality traits and environmental factors that can contribute to his or her positive development. Instead of trying to compensate for negative factors influencing a child’s development, PYD seeks to develop the resilient factors so that a child will develop the virtues necessary to counteract negative influences (15-18). PYD also questions theories that give children few responsibilities in their interactions with the community. It asserts that children should be full participants, with full responsibilities, in their interactions with the world around them. PYD does not place an emphasis on any one relationship that the child might have, but instead focuses on the whole of a child’s interactions as important for positive development (19-21). Finally, PYD proposes that moral and religious beliefs are essential in the optimal development of the child, as they provide resources to allow the child to fully engage the world. These beliefs often manifest themselves in late childhood, and eventually become an integral part of the child’s identity (21-23).
2. I believe that one of the most salient issues facing adolescents today is the development and cohesion of identity (178). With so many roles, obligations, and life experiences vying for their attention, it is evident why so many adolescents struggle to determine their beliefs, values, and affiliations. In many middle and upper class societies in America, the pressure of filling out college applications encourages teenagers to have a clear and succinct idea of what their career aspirations are and where they see themselves in ten years. Social pressures force these teens to determine their moral values at increasingly earlier ages as underage drinking, sex, and drug use becomes more prevalent.
In our increasingly technological and socially networked culture, the issue that arises is one of an overwhelming multiplicity of influences on the development of identity. All an adolescent needs to do is scan his or her friends’ Facebook pages to be confronted with their religious beliefs, political stance, hobbies, favorite music, and attitude towards relationships. With so many opinions bombarding these youths, the concept of choosing one’s identity may seem like an incredibly daunting task. Instead of engaging in Erickson’s moratorium (179), we may find youths who are so crippled by the options that they become confused and never settle on one identity.
3. Over the past five or six years, one of the painful issues I have learned to be a steward of is a susceptibility to depression. During high school and college, I suffered a number of episodes during which life lost all of its luster, and joy seemed unattainable. At first, I had no idea why the world seemed so pale, but as I have revisited this state again and again, I have learned to give it a name. Even when I am not depressed (and, thanks to therapy and the grace of God, it has been years since I have suffered a depressive episode), the memories of my past illness help to dictate who I am. In many ways, my pain has made me more compassionate towards those who suffer. This pain is also what moved me towards a career in psychology, so that I can help others who are learning to grapple with their own issues. Hopefully, through my own pain, I will be able to help others become good stewards of theirs as well.
(I'm going to post these individually, because I'm having trouble posting)
ReplyDelete1) According to Damon, the “nature of the child,” community interaction, and development of “moral identities and perspectives” are the three hallmarks of positive youth development (p. 15). Damon indicates that in looking at the child’s nature in a positive light, we are able to focus on children’s resiliency not only in horrible situations, but also in how those resources that cause resiliency in some situations helps children to grow through normal, but challenging, situations (p. 16-17). This brings the view of children’s internal abilities from a focus on what they can do when things go wrong, to what helps them to thrive in normal situations (p. 16-17). In discussing interaction with community, Damon explains that children are not merely affected by community, but they do affect community. This leads to the idea that children can enact positive change around them; they are not helpless in their situations as may have been assumed (p. 20-21). Finally, Damon discusses that several of children’s natural assets (as defined by Benson) are part of moral ideals. He explains that even though the secular world may disagree, this natural moral aspect is very positive to our youth, as they are able to determine that they will be positive, moral members of society (p. 21-22). Further, positive youth development can promote these moral beliefs and growth into a person informed by a “moral identity” (p. 23).
Tiffany Schallert
2) I believe the most salient issue for development of the self for adolescents is risk-taking. The authors of “The Reciprocating Self” discuss risk-taking’s positive and negative aspects. It helps adolescents find where the boundaries are of their situations and communities, but some risky behavior is more dangerous than others, ie drug use (p. 179). I believe risk-taking is essential to fully understanding the self and the human condition within society. While I certainly do not want children jumping off cliffs to realize that death is real, I believe that taking some risks will help adolescents understand what they can and cannot do. For example, if you steal all the test tubes from the chemistry lab as a prank, two things could happen. Either you get caught and you learn that there are things you cannot do, that will be detrimental to yourself, or you don’t get caught and you realize that you can no longer do experiments in chemistry, which may make you realize that stealing the test tubes didn’t help anything. So you are defining what you as a “self” within a society/community can and cannot do (and what you are willing to do and what your personal boundaries are). I believe there is a huge challenge to this aspect of development in today’s society. One aspect of the challenge is that children are encouraged if not required to choose their career paths so early in their lives (11, 12, 13 years old) that they don’t get a chance to take risks in their class and activity choices which may help them define their “selves.” Additionally, parents and teachers discourage any form of risk-taking as the consequences, to them, would be too great. Thus adolescents are taking risks without the benefit of a guiding hand from adults (this is not always the case, as discussed in the book there are programs to allow risk-taking in controlled environments (p. 179)). Finally, some adolescents feel such a personal drive (often informed by parents, teachers, and mentors) to succeed in school and get on that path to their future career, that they never deviate from the path enough to really experience life as an adolescent and subsequently learn about themselves.
ReplyDeleteTiffany Schallert
3) When I was a kid (ages 5-16 or so) I loved dancing ballet. I was very involved in my ballet studio (to the extent our finances would allow), participating in classes, productions, additional dance squads, and of course practicing at home a LOT. I loved ballet with a passion. Years later I would still say that ballet/dancing was my first true love (after Jesus). It was that strong an emotion and a passion for me. When I was 16 I had to quit dancing ballet due to knee and shin problems as well as developing exercise induced asthma. This was very painful for me, devastating even. While I had grown tired of the politics of the studio, I still loved with a passion the art. I believe that I became a good steward of this pain though, because I was able to live in it. I did not try to deny what ballet meant to me, and I, in a way, grieved the loss of that part of my life. I went to the performance of The Nutcracker, later that year, the show that I had had to drop out of, and I cried. But I went anyway, and I stayed there in my pain, watching the show. Even years later when I would put in my videotape of a professional production of The Nutcracker I would cry, as I watched the entire thing. I think one reason I was able to do this, was because the pain of going through those experiences affirmed the love I had for the art, and that affirmation also brought joy, in a weird way. So, similar to Buechner’s chapter, I was really “being alive to [my] life” because I did not bury my pain (p. 99). And after several years, I was able to go through those experiences (watching ballet) with only joy and happiness for what I had had the opportunity to experience and love. But I don’t think that would have been possible without the pain in the first place.
ReplyDeleteTiffany Schallert
1. The field of positive youth development is a novel way of investigating the way in which young people develop. Rather than focusing on the negative problems that young people experience while growing up, positive youth development examines the unique strengths, talents, interests, and future potential of children (p. 13). Damon argues that, for too long, most developmental approaches have dedicated to much energy in trying to prevent problematic behavior rather than looking for ways to promote positive, flourishing behaviors. In his article, Damon suggest that by reevaluating the way in which we look at the nature of the child, the manner in which young people interact with their communities, and the way in which young people work out their moral identities and perspectives can help us to see youth development in a positive light (p. 14). First, Damon suggests children are born more resilient, hardy, and empathic than previously considered. In positive youth development, children are seen as being competent and naturally draw toward engaging in prosocial behaviors (p. 18). Studies have shown that children have an innate ability to care for and empathize with others. Secondly, Damon proposes that we rethink the way in which young people interact with their communities. We must view the child as an active contributor of the community with the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else. Similarly, the community needs to have expectations for young people in order that the young people might know they have a responsibility to add to the quality of the community. Thirdly, according to Damon, we must recognize the importance of a young persons moral identity development. Positive youth development has taken seriously the role of morality and religious belief in young people. Previous research has shown that religious faith appears to be the personal characteristic most likely to keep young people out of trouble (p. 21). By helping young people develop a moral identity, we are really helping them to answer questions like “Who am i?” and “Who will I become?”. Ultimately, this will enable them to become active, positively contributing human beings (p. 22).
ReplyDelete2. Adolescence is a time during which young people begin to understand the importance of social relationships. As mentioned in the Reciprocating Self, to an adolescent, relationships are everything (p. 180). During this time of emerging relationality, young people are driven to find their social “niche”. It is the dream of every (American) adolescent to find that specific group of friends that loves, includes, and accepts them. This desire for relationship is extremely important for a complete and whole development to occur. Similarly, it is during this period of emerging relationality that young people become more morally, spiritually, and civically minded. They begin to see the world outside of themselves. Adolescents typically develop an interest in “beyond-the-self” social activities (p. 181). In my opinion, the sooner that adolescents recognize that they were created for meaningful relationships and that a purpose greater than themselves exists, the sooner they can become active world changers and can make positive difference around them. However, in our present age, the drive for individuality and success has become the most important goal. We are told that in order to be successful we must only look after our best interests. The lone ranger syndrome is among us! Similarly, the technology explosion has made it possible to get through life with little to no face-to-face interaction with other people. Why meet up with somebody when you can just shoot them a text message or an IM? Our highly individualistic and technology-saturated culture will make it difficult for the up and coming youth to maintain meaningful relationships. Yet, through innovative ways of thinking, it will be possible to creative interventions like after-school programs, sports teams, and volunteer opportunities that enable children to develop those close relationships and to develop healthy moral, spiritual, and civic outlooks.
ReplyDeleteAnthony S. Junod
Damon asserts that there are three factions to positive youth development. First, the nature of the child comes into play. Terms like resiliency, manifest potentialities arise; researchers investigate the inherent capacity of the youth to excel in the midst of hardship. Second, the interaction of the child with their community is highlighted. As Damon says, "good teaching is essential, but the teacher's agenda must find support from the community if it is to take" (p. 19). Lastly, Damon writes that the formation of identity and moral perspective remain necessary to positive youth development. The formation of important morals can be addressed through PYD methods. "Experiences that promote a sense of personal identification with one's civic society provide a young person with a positive set of aspirations that point the way to a socially and personally productive future" (p. 23).
ReplyDeleteThe most important issue for the development of an adolescent's self today is emerging relationality. It strikes the most at the ways they go about trying to achieve their identity-the media tells them nothing is permanent or absolute, and that anyone can be or think or act how they want to. With such a temporary worldview, how can anyone trust themselves or their convictions. Not to mention how isolating this is from their peer groups, who are the biggest factor in creating their identities! If teenagers can't trust or understand their peers, cannot know who to listen to or when they're going to get one story or the opposite, how can they decide who they want to be and how they want to act?
A pain in my life that I had to learn to respond to is being inexplicably dumped by some friends of mine. I had never had girl friends that were so close, and we did everything together-they were my identity and my weekends and my laughter. Then one day they stopped calling or talking to me, found excuses to eat lunch somewhere else. I never knew what I did wrong, and for a long time it haunted me. I've had to learn to trust God to provide community and intimate friendship for me, and to cling tight to my relationship with Him above all else. It also made me more sensitive to those around me, and the next three years I spent more energy reaching out to those that needed a friend even more than I did.
1) According to Damon, adolescents have been giving a bad reputation in psychology and the media. Positive Youth Development seeks to reverse this perspective, looking instead on the gifts and resources of adolescents; this gives hope to this stage and sees potential for change.
ReplyDeleteThe nature of the child: In my opinion, this is where positive youth development shines the brightest. If there is one thing that I would change about our developmental culture, it would be the over protective bubble that parents surround their children with. I have read many articles and opinions, and agree with them, that over protectiveness is damaging. It is easier to say this without kids, I am sure.
The interaction between the child and the community: I believe that Damon holds a lot in common with Frankl in believing that kids (and the rest of us) need a reason or a purpose for their gifts. I can do nothing but agree.
Moral growth: I think it is interesting that Damon labels his section on this “Identity and Moral Perspective” then goes on to talk about “moral identity.” I wonder if moral development is identity development. When you know what you value, what you believe, what you should do, what else is there to know about your core identity?
2) I believe the most salient issue facing adolescents today is the development of social skills. Adolescence is a time for developing skills away from your family, to build social skills is to build relationships in every aspect of life. I also mention this because it is the skill I most worry about for the following generation. I believe the biggest challenge is going to be social networking. I wonder how much online interaction is going to effect the development of social skills.
3) I’m still in the process of learning how to be a steward of my almost-marriage this summer. I think the first large step in learning how to do this was during the “My name is so-and-so and I have a developmental issue”; I was able to tell all 40 of us my experience (and I thank Sarah Johnson for being such a good “steward” herself right before I spoke, giving me the strength to speak out). I’m learning the hard way what Buechner says about suffering: “We are never more in touch with life than when life is painful” (p. 99). This process, of stewarding my pain, has taught me more about my true self than possibly any other experience I have ever had. It has been painfully wonderful.
Jon Reeves
According to Damon, positive youth development is so foundational and important because it focuses on “understand(ing), educat(ing), and engag(ing) children in productive activities rather than” treating them as problems to be fixed (Damon, 2004 p. 15). Within this understanding Damon points to the child’s nurture, relationship with the community and moral identity as areas in which children ought to be seen as examples rather than issues. Damon points out that children are biologically wired to develop such traits as “resilience, persistence (and) hopefulness” and thus should be viewed as “considerably resilient (with) vast potential” (Damon, 2004 p. 17). Next, Damon goes on to outline the potential young people exhibit in their communities, mainly, that communities need to see youth as full, responsible members rather than immature problems. Taking into account his first hallmark, youth are able to draw upon their own hardwiring to engage with their communities in a positive manner. Lastly, Damon states that a religious community provides a moral resource for children to develop a moral sense of identity. The interaction with the community accompanied by an identity understanding of morality allows the youth to engage well within the context of his community and develop fully.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest impediment to a healthy development in our context is the inability to create a proper cognitive development. As stated by the authors, the cognitive development of an individual begins to develop during the adolescence years, and thus, is incredibly affected by pop culture and media. Our cognition is used both to understand the input of our feelings and the input of societal expectations and standards. If we begin to develop on a faulty ground in processing both of these inputs then our development will be swayed an incredible amount. The biggest challenge this offers is how quickly cognition picks up subtly. Our cognition and understanding of our environment and self is extremely influenced by the very thing our generation has been bombarded with; pop culture.
During adolescence my younger brother was often in and out of psych. Hospitals and rehab facilities. This obviously created a lot of tension within my family and fostered a feeling of loneliness throughout my high school years. I was blessed in that the Lord taught me how to look for mentors and be open and intimate with them in ways which allowed me to feel understood and accepted.
Matt Varnell
1) PYD sees adolescents as resources rather than problems. It focuses on encouraging the potentialities in youth. Damon focuses on three main areas that have been influenced by the advent of PYD, nature of the child, adolescent interaction with the communities, and the development of moral identities. I think that there are a lot of programs that support this style of thinking. Community involvement has become such a vital part of college and highschool curricula in response to the idea that service is one of the most beneficial teaching tools for young people. I was slightly surprised by the effect of religious instruction and moral development. I can see how that would be an effective modeling tool for moral thought but the behavioral and social changes in those with more advanced moralistic reasoning was surprising. And I am very glad that the research shows how resilient children are to change. Certainly I know that kids are malleable, but sometimes I think people underestimate the responsibility, intellect, and compassion children can show, even those who have been through traumatic events.
ReplyDelete2) The most significant issue for adolescent development is Identity formation. It is a struggle to cohesively define the multiple, sometimes conflicting, aspects of your personality into a unified, understood whole. Yet that sense of individuality and uniqueness is vital to maintain healthy relationships and attitudes about life and experiences. Unfortunately this aspect of growth is one of the most manipulated and fragile concepts to maintain in today’s world. Advertising and media are apt to portray what you “should” be, “must” wear, “need” to have in order to have value. This conflict causes much pain in adolescence youth who are particularly vulnerable to messages about their perceived worth.
3) I had significant experiences with loneliness as an adolescent, my family moved around frequently and while I was very young it wasn’t a problem but during the awkward early teen years I experienced extended periods when I didn’t have anyone around me. My mother was bedridden with Lyme’s Disease and my father was a pilot and away for sizable portions of the year and we moved to rural Georgia. I had to overcome my loneliness and find a way to be comfortable with myself.
1) Damon's view of the positive youth development movement can be seen as an optimistic and constructive reaction to a fault-finding and reconstructive body of research. Instead of focusing on the risks and problems, positive youth development aims to learn about how healthy development occurs and is encouraged (pg 15).
ReplyDeleteThe nature of the child: It seems Grandma was right, youngins are resilient!...pardon, they possess developmental assets that enable them to learn valuable life skills even in the absence of distress (pg 17). Personally, I have heard of many colleagues who would rather work with youth because they believe that youth still have room to be shaped and grow.
Interacting with the community: As reciprocal partners, youth have a bi-directional effect on their communities! It is not enough to treat the child (or even just the nuclear family); the community must be taken into account and addressed (pg 19).
Identity and moral development: Taking your teen to church may not constitute brainwashing but instead foster positive identity and moral development. Religion has been shown to contribute positively to identity and moral development (pg 21). I recently read an article about college freshmen who were involved in church activities and held strong religious beliefs; the writer believed them to be more confident, resilient to stressors, and happier (could not find article to cite).
2) Although I believe it is difficult to choose a single most salient issue (since they are are equally crucial to development), I will choose Identify Formation in Emerging Particularity as especially important (pg 178). I think continuing to build a developmental foundation on unstable identity could be potentially hazardous to development. I think that a culture of swiftly changing trends and the media to express them as swiftly as they change could overwhelm a person with images of what it means to be a person. Additionally I think adolescents could get examples of what it means to be a teenager from the media, which only presents shallow exemplars of personhood. I would encourage parental engagement and face to face cooperative contact (like sports or youth group) to foster interaction with live identities.
3)As an outwardly happy, well-adjusted, relatively popular cheerleader, I began to feel incomprehensible sadness. I could not pinpoint a reason and this made me feel even worse. I had no reason to be sad. The emotions felt as real as any physical pain I'd felt. I kept it a secret and the sheer exhaustion caused severe headaches. It felt like a huge cloud followed me all day, every day and blocked everything. I tried very hard to hide that cloud. I did an excellent job and few people noticed any change except I seemed a little down. But I'd smile and they'd shrug it off. I was disheartened that everyone was so easy to fool. The pain was unbearable and at times I even thought the unthinkable.
Eventually I have learned to live with my depression. The cloud never fully went away, but it's less imposing...a little smaller. It sits in the corner of my mind and I have learned to live out my calling even while it's raining. I have even been blessed to use the thorn in my side to comfort others as I have been comforted.
-Sarah Johnson
1) PYD views young people not as problems to solve, but rather as resources for society. It focuses on emphasizing the potential assets of youth and engaging them in productive activities where they can use these assets, rather than focusing on the correction of their shortcomings. I agree with the idea that the true nature of a child is resilient. Also, while I do believe that children are born with the ability to be empathetic, I still believe that all children are also born with the ability to do bad things. I agree that a positive community is essential for the development and education of youth in a positive way, and that youth should be encouraged to reach out to their community, or “give back.” I also agree with the importance and focus on developing a strong-sense of moral identity. When youth feel confident and encouraged to make informed, good decisions, they will.
ReplyDelete2) I actually think that each of the issues the authors mention, biological, cognitive, social-contextual, and family relations, are important. The most salient issue, I believe is that adolescents are not typically seen as whole people, but rather as fragmented selves trying to find out who they are. While it is true that adolescence is a time for self-discovery and identity formation, I also think it is important to note that adolescents are still whole people even while they are in the making. Perhaps the most salient issue is that society underestimates the importance of each of these issues in the development of the “reciprocating self.” I think culture further encourages this idea of “messy” adolescence by commonly portraying youth as problematic and confused.
3) I am 22 and for the last nine years my dad has lived two and half hours away during the week, only coming home on the weekends. For most of high school (9th-12th) I dealt with this by ignoring my dad and not really allowing him to have a deep relationship with me. I thought he did not really care about anything going on in my life because he was never around. About three years ago I learned a different way to be a steward of the pain of never really having my dad around. I learned to appreciate him. I was finally able to realize that what he did was a sacrifice, for me as well as for him. I now am able to see his actions not as abandonment but as one of the most selfless acts I have ever experienced.
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ReplyDelete1. Rather than taking a negative approach by underestimating adolescents’ capacities in focusing on qualities they lack, positive youth development is positive by taking an approach which focuses on the positive attributes of a child: talents, strengths, interests, and future potential (13). According to Damon, the first hallmark of PYD concerns the nature of the child. Rather than upholding a view that the child is fragile, the research of Benson affirms that the nature of a child is marked by considerable resiliency and vast potential (17). The second hallmark of PYD concerns how children interact with their communities. The PYD approach is holistic by considering the whole community in relation to the whole child rather than considering just considering particular interactions (19). This helps to view the child as a full partner in a community-child relation which in turn encourages viewing youth as having full rights and responsibilities to serve others by taking useful roles in the community. The third hallmark of PYD concerns the identity and moral perspective of youth. PYD understands that the role of moral and religious beliefs provide crucial resources for the development in youth, especially in that they propagate values including caring, equality, social justice, and others (21).
ReplyDelete2. The most salient issue for the development of the self for adolescents today is the issue of emerging relationality. As our society becomes more technological, I believe the quality of relationships is waning as they become more superficial. The idea of taking quality time to intimately know others becomes less appealing as time progresses. Relationships currently have become more virtualized and instant, whether they be made through the medium of social networking websites or video games. Such innovations make it even harder for the youth to even see the relevant value of forging intimate relationships that takes sweat and tears.
3. In 9th grade, my circle of friends began to start new trajectories in life, some healthy and others not as quite. As I was figuring out what my identity was, I started to hang out with both different groups of friends. Unfortunately, one day as I was hanging out with the friends who were changing for the worse, we got into a lot of trouble. This troublesome event devastated my family and also drowned me in guilt. I remember one night after this episode how with tears I confronted the pains I had caused everyone. At that night, I decided to become a steward of my pain, hope for joy, and let my life be an open testimony of the goodness of God to my other peers.
1. According to Damon, PYD focuses on envisioning young people as resources rather than problems for society. This perspective "emphasizes the manifest potentialities rather than the supposed incapacities of young people" (Page 15). The three hallmarks of positive youth development include the nature of the child, the manner in which young people interact with communities, and the way they work out their moral identities and perspectives on society. I agree with Damon's idea that the child is resilient, while also supporting the notion that their interactions with community are essential for positive development. The child will learn their moral identities through the models provided for him in the community and well as be transformed through positive relationships with others.
ReplyDelete2. In my opinion, the most salient issue facing adolescents today is the issue of identity (Page 178, The Reciprocating Self). A youth struggles toward identity cohesion. They seek to define themselves through roles as well as goals values and meaning in their life. Adolescents must work toward fidelity, or the goal of committing to an identity. Due to the fact that we live in a culture that prizes individualism, it is possible that a youth will feel isolated in this stage. We need reciprocating relationships within community in order to grow and change. It would be a significant challenge for an adolescent to attempt to do this alone. This is an area in which out culture could improve significantly.
-Elise Middleton
1) PYD is positive because it considers how to maximize a youth's strong points, instead of trying to minimize a youth's weak points. Contrarily other developmental models might be trying to eliminate the tendency to use drugs, teach kids about the dangers of non-marital sex, teach kids how to not fall into bad health habits, etc.
ReplyDeleteDamon focuses on three areas: the nature of the child, the interaction between the child and the community and moral growth. By focusing on these three things, we are not focusing on all things that could lead to positive development, but also directing youth development in a specific direction.
Considering the nature of the child, Damon asserts that we should focus on how strong that are for their tasks in life instead of how weak they are. It is a focus on promoting resiliency instead of the common promotion of fragility.
Concerning the child's interactions with the community, Damon asserts that we should see the adolescent as fully interacting with the community rather than partially interacting as we see it today. Instead of seeing adolescents has partially capable as adults are, we should see them fully capable, as whole individuals interacting with whole environments.
We should focus on caring, equality, social justice, integrity, honesty, responsibility, restraint and the inclusion of a religious community. Focusing on developing these traits will naturally steer youth in the right direction, and make them able to make wiser decisions.
2)The most salient feature of adolescent development mentioned in Reciprocating Self would be the changes with the child's social-contextual environment. This is especially so in our culture, where things like highschool more serious friendships, dating relationships. These things are all amplified by bodily changes, the pressures of the wider social environment and probably pressures to find work. Of all these factors, I think the most damaging and difficult obstacle adolescents face today are the pressures of pop culture. Girls and boys, but especially girls are told to have a high value (a unhealthy value) on their body image. This is especially salient during puberty where so many bodily changes are occurring (which tends to be even more rough for girls). Furthermore, there is always the popularity rat race at junior high and highschool, which generally amounts to some people feeling like they are worthless and others feeling like they are kings/queens of the world (neither of which are true). Another interesting compounding that can occur is for religious adolescents, who have to deal with the mockery they receive at school.
3)Honestly, as an adolescent and even today my most prolonged area of pain is my insecurity about my inability to open up to others. While my strong tendency toward introverision is part of this issue, the other part is the culture at large and that inability to act in the extroverted culture we live in. In some cultures, introversion or silence is a coveted trait because it is believed to be a sign of depth and thought. In our culture introversion is a bit like the plague. If you have it, you better learn to get rid of it as soon as possible or you will be swimming, not thinking. Being an introvert in an extroverted society (especially as a man) means that you seem gruff, awkward, aloof and insensitive. The funny thing is, the exact opposite is true with me, and only in relationships where there is mutual understanding can I open up and those traits be expressed. As a matter of stewardship, I realize that I can't change the culture, and cannot continue to exist functionally as an introvert, so I do need to "get out of my comfort zone" as much as I can, to make friends and connections in the community. The pain comes from the knowing that I need to be more social, and the conflict of that with the fact that I can't because I lose all my energy in social interactions within two minutes.
1) The three things Damon suggests to be hallmarks of PYD are the nature of the child, the way adolescence interact with their communities as they grow up and how the young individuals work out their perspectives and moral identities on society and their roles in it. In considering the nature of the child I appreciate the positive spin that PYD puts on the nature of children in being able to overcome circumstances. In many situations I see this as very true, yet at the same time though adolescents certainly have the capabilities to be victorious in the midst of hardship, there is still the realm of personal choice as well as a support group that influences a positive or negative response to adversity. I suppose this is where the second facet of PYD contributes to this discussion in mentioning how adolescents need that support group and positive environmental interaction to thrive. However, I am not sure I completely agree with the need to increase youth responsibility. More often than not I think they carry more responsibility than necessary and in trying to build their college resumes can overextend themselves to the point that they do not have any fun. Without the fun enjoyment and easy laughter life can very quickly get overwhelming. The last part of PYD involves youth working out their moral identities and perspectives in society. This is one of the most appealing points of PYD for me, since the source an individual sees as being their guiding force for life and place of absolute authority will drastically change their life in one way or another.
ReplyDelete2) The biggest issues in terms of an adolescents development I believe is proper support and scaffolding from their parents and from society at large. Too often I see adolescents who acquire everything they want or are given so much freedom that there are no constraints. It is in this that they do not have the proper tools of modeling and boundaries to provide them with an example of how to be a productive citizen. Parents today, in reaction to their parents, often tend to be very licentious, allowing their teenagers to do as they please without punishment. This kind of laissez-faire parenting I believe is a huge disadvantage to these young people.
3) There are many instances in my life where I have had to be a steward of my pain and I feel that my reaction to many of the different circumstances I have been through has helped to build character in me. There was a great deal of pain I had to deal with in adolescence which I had been unable to deal with in my childhood when my oldest brother died. As a child I did not have the tools to deal with such a huge loss and much of my emotions I had to repress. As I got to a safer place where life was slightly more stable in adolescence all the hurt and pain from that event began to come up. In working through my feelings I have become more in touch with my emotions and compassionate with others.
1. Damon suggests that PYD, rather than focusing on the negative aspect of youth development, instead focuses the potential of youth development. It looks at the strengths, talents, interests, etc. of the developing youth. In terms of the nature of the child, the PYD perspective views children as competent and involved more in pro-social activities and environments. It also rejects the notion of the problem-youth idea and concentrates on research concerning invulnerability and resiliency in youth.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the way young people interact with communities, psychologists note the importance of looking at youth development in the youth’s full context. Researches like Peter Benson have stated that responsibility, service, and expectations serve as assets for youth. Along those lines, he has suggested that giving youth useful and meaningful roles in their community as well as encouraging service to others is important in youth development.
PYD makes moral and religious beliefs a central factor in assessing the development of youth. In fact, research findings have supported the notion that the development of strong moral identity in youth is vital.
2. The idea of particularity seems to be especially important in terms of development. At this stage in life, youth seem to be inclined to identify themselves with various groups or communities of people, so the idea of relationality seems to come naturally for the adolescent. However, because of the inclination to identify and commune so readily with others particularity seems to be a more difficult aspect of development to emerge in youth. Perhaps it is because of the risk that becoming oneself poses. In our culture, although individuality is highly valued, the path to achieving that individuality is carved out for you especially via media, authority figures, etc. So, while the developing youth understands that becoming a distinct and unique individual is of high value, the risk of defying conventional ideas and pressure of what is expected of the “individual” to become particular from others, in the mind of the developing youth, may threaten to disrupt the relationality of the youth with those in their broader context.
3. Growing up, my parents were always very involved in contributing to the positive development of others. For as long as I can remember, they were licensed foster parents, so when they adopted my three younger sisters (my maternal cousins) when I was 4 out of the foster system, my older sister and I had already grown accustomed to sharing our parents with others. In fact, as a child, having 3 younger sisters was a welcomed addition to the family, as I would very happily have new playmates. However, as we got older (especially during adolescence), the negative effects of having been in a broken system and the loss of their mother and father seemed to play a much larger role in my younger sisters lives than I had anticipated. Even, now, the pain of being reminded that they still view themselves as a separate entity within the family is frustrating. Becoming a steward of this struggle has been a challenge in that I have had to humble myself a great deal in order to help bear the burden of my sisters’ hurt that seems to go far beyond what any of us understand. Even so, I have found that God has always brought our family back to the reality that each of us has been called into this family to serve a broader purpose, whether it be for others who are part of a similar situation or for our own spiritual development.
1) According to Damon (2004) What is so positive about positive youth development? Please comment on the 3 things that Damon suggests are the hallmarks of PYD.
ReplyDeletePositive Youth Development is characterized by the three things mentioned by Damon. Damon's suggests that PYD affirms of the resiliency and natural trend of children to develop in pro-social ways. PYD also emphasizes understanding the child in relationship to its community, and seeing the child as a contributing member of the society. Finally, PYD emphasizes the moral development of the youth in areas like empathy.
2) The authors of Reciprocating Self contend that big things happen in terms of the development of the self in the "reciprocating self." Of what the authors mention, which do you think is the most salient issue for the development of the self for adolescents today? And what is the biggest challenge to that aspect of development in our culture?
I think one of the biggest challenges to adolescent development currently is tension that is sometimes felt between the adolescent becoming more focused on peer relationships and maintaining nurturing and mentoring relationships with adults. On the one hand, youth culture, as represented by films, music, and so on, often plays on adults as not able to relate or connect. Adult culture, especially in the media, portrays youth as rejecting of adults. One wonders if much of the consumer culture that has pervaded adolescence might have something to gain by playing up the disconnect between adults and youth.
3)Buechner offers a powerful description of the role of pain during adolescence--or perhaps during all of life--what in your life has been an issue you have learned to be a steward of? BTW-If this feels too personal for a blog, you may turn a brief comment into Dr. King.
One pain that I have had to steward in my life has been my mom's depression and the way that impacted our relationship. I like how Buechner goes over the different ways to steward pain. I think that its important to steward our pain properly in order to keep from drawing the wrong lessons from it. Throughout my life, I have not always stewarded the pain from this and the way my family dealt with it, and so I have sometimes been confused or out of touch with my own feelings.
1) Damon (2004) addresses three areas of research that demonstrate the positive hallmarks of positive youth development. First off, Damon talks about the influence of resiliency and positive social behavior on PYD. He stated that “the capacity for moral awareness and prosocial behavior is universal across culture.” Secondly, Damon identified that PYD considers the whole community in relation to the child. He said that PYD sees the child as a full partner in the community-child relation who shares all of the rights and responsibilities. Thirdly, Damon discussed how the development of moral identity is one of the greatest challenges of PYD, yet this process is “essential to their positive development as future citizens.”
ReplyDelete2) In my opinion, the most salient issue for the development of the self for adolescents today has to do with their social-contextual changes. As noted in the Reciprocating Self, adolescents attach great importance to the activities they do with their friends. Belonging to a group defines the adolescent and provides a sense of identity. The biggest challenge to this aspect of development in our culture is whether or not the peer has opportunities to be a part of a positive social context. Without this form of development, differentiation from the family may not take place and identity formation can become stunted.
3) During adolescence, I struggled with feeling overshadowed by my older brother. He is two years older than me, and he excelled at everything he did in life. He was always in the top of his class academically, he dominated in every sport that he played, and every girl wanted to date him. My brother played college and professional baseball (Padres), and he is currently in medical school at UNC Chapel Hill. Basically, I remember feeling hurt because my parents would show him so much positive attention and love because of his successes. I desperately wanted for my parents to talk about me the same way they did about him. For whatever reason, I perceived that my parents did not rejoice in my achievements as much as they did for his. I developed a sense of bitterness and jealousy towards him and others around me, especially when hearing their accomplishments. This competitiveness really prevented me from rejoicing with others in their lives. Since then, I have become aware of this tendency, and I have learned to check myself when I become critical of others. Although it is a slow process, I am learning how to be a good steward of this pain.