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Research:
Positive Youth Development Program
4-H Study of Positive Youth Development
About the Study
The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development in the Applied
Developmental Science Institute of the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child
Development at Tufts University is a longitudinal study sponsored by
the National 4-H Council. A longitudinal study is used when
researchers want to study changes within the same group of children
every year. The study is now in its fifth year and is led by Richard
M. Lerner and Jacqueline V. Lerner.
There are about 4,000 diverse adolescents with varying levels of
involvement in community-based programs, such as 4-H clubs, Boys &
Girls Clubs, YMCA, and Scouting that participate in this study.
Researchers want to look at how positive influences in the lives of
youth help protect them from getting involved in "problem behaviors",
such as substance abuse, unsafe sex, school underachievement and
failure, and delinquency and violence. The purpose of the research
is to identify characteristics that are related to positive youth
development. Some examples of these characteristics include having
close friends and/or supportive adults in your life, receiving good
grades in school, and having, overall, good feelings about yourself.
Researchers are thinking about how to best measure these positive
characteristics in youth and will be using this study data to help
them achieve that goal.
Back to 4-H Study of Positive
Youth Development main page.
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