Lisette M. DeSouza's research while affiliated with Tufts University and other places

... PYD emphasizes that young people have strengths and are valuable, thus, they should be viewed as capable of participating in planning their care. Positive youth development programs are focused on helping youth become assets to their family, community, and society (Hershberg et al., 2015), including adolescents with SED (Bradshaw et al., 2008). This encourages a strengths-based approach to working with or for youth with SED (Bradshaw et al., 2008;Zeldin, 2004), and encourages the inclusion of youth with SED in program planning and evaluation (Lich et al., 2017). ...

... Although certain identities are widely recognized as conferring oppression (e.g., being a person of color) or privilege (e.g., being White), particular configurations (e.g., being a woman of color or a White woman) might relate to CC in different ways. A consideration of how identities intersect is highlighted through an intersectional framework (Hill Collins, 1990), which we accordingly applied in our investigation of CC (specifically CR) among young White men from low-income and working-class backgrounds attending free or highly subsidized trade schools (Johnson et al., 2014). ...

... Also note that leadership is contextual and dynamic (Day et al., 2014), arising with respect to a given combination of individuals and in a specific situation, each of which may contain both facilitating and constraining features that evolve over time (Dinh et al., 2014;Murphy & Johnson, 2011). This latter point illuminates how the developmental focus of adolescent leadership is substantively compatible with theoretical frameworks of adolescent development more generally (Lerner et al., 2015). It is also important to acknowledge research showing that leadership potential and propensity emerges in childhood, well before adolescence. ...

... That is, thriving youth tend to possess an other-oriented ideology and act in ways that enhance their families, schools, and communities, and possibly the natural environment in which they exist (Tidball and Krasny, 2010). Youth contribute to these settings in diverse ways, from helping parents at home, participating in student government, organizing community clean-ups, and volunteering to engaging in civically-oriented actions such as protesting and activism (Zaff et al., 2010;Hershberg et al., 2015). ...

... Greater freedom and more self-determination has been shown to increase pupils' level of activity in PE classes (28). The presented research supports an ecological theory perspective on PA behaviour, implying that human behavior and development are dynamic products of interactive relations between all variables in the individual and all variables in the individual's context (29). We consider the ecological theory perspective, which is applied within developmental psychology, appropriate for our work of research. ...

... The predominant theory for understanding dynamic relations between individuals and their developmental contexts is relational developmental systems theory (Lerner et al., 2013). Building on Bronfenbrenner' s bioecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), Lerner and colleagues (2013) posited that the individual is at the helm of their own development within a complex web of social contexts. ...

... The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development by Lerner and colleagues (2005) demonstrated how youth outcomes could be meaningfully measured using the Five Cs model. This study, along with subsequent research (Hershberg et al., 2014;Worker et al., 2018) suggests that youth who develop the five Cs will be more likely to espouse a sixth component of contribution. The Community Action Framework for Youth Development (Connell at al., 2001) emphasizes the importance of recognizing and strengthening the community context to support economically self-sufficient, healthy, and engaged young adults. ...

... Overwhelmingly, OST program participation appears to be associated with direct and indirect benefits for youth (for review, see Bowers, Geldhof, et al., 2015). For example, youth who participate in OST programs tend to show more signs of positive youth development (i.e., higher levels of the "5 Cs": confidence, competence, caring, connection, and character; Lerner et al., 2002); increased willingness to contribute to society and become active, engaged citizens (Agans et al., 2014;Eccles & Gootman, 2002;Lerner et al., 2005); and diminished risk-taking behavior (Jelicic et al., 2007). Consistent with theories on effective elements of successful youth programs (e.g., Catalano et al., 1999;Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2003;Roth et al., 1998), OST contexts featuring the "Big Three" affordances (i.e., skill-building opportunities, leadership experiences, and supportive youth-adult relationships; Lerner, 2004) may be most equipped for ushering benefits. ...

... Lerner launched the Five Cs of the PYD model (2004), through which he stated that there are five indicators: competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring. To these indicators he added a sixth C, contribution, which is the result of the manifestation and mutual strengthening of the other Cs [8]. These indicators participate in developing the well-being and potential of young people and their development as contributors to good families and to community and society [9]. ...