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

Publications (11)

Article
Research pioneered by Peter L. Benson, of Search Institute, has enhanced the study of developmental assets and thriving among youth. Thriving occurs when the strengths of youth are aligned with ecological developmental assets. Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD) indicate that when individual and ecological assets are int...
Chapter
Contribution to civil society is a key outcome of positive youth development (PYD), as evidenced by findings from the 4-H Study of PYD. In this chapter, we focus on conceptualizations and measurement of contribution within PYD research. We first discuss conceptualizations of contribution as Active and Engaged Citizenship (AEC) and the relations a...
Article
This article discusses the current and emerging status of contemporary developmental science and present predictions about the growth of the field by 2025. Key contemporary features of developmental science involve a theoretical focus on models derived from the relational developmental systems, metamodel, a methodological focus on quantitative, qua...
Article
Theory and research in adolescent development have emphasized that contributing to self, others, and community is important to the success of society and predictive of positive youth and later adult development. Despite this emphasis, there is a lack of qualitative and youth-centered research exploring whether adolescents themselves value contribut...
Article
Prior research has demonstrated that participation in out-of-school time activities is associated with positive and healthy development among adolescents. However, fewer studies have examined how trajectories of participation across multiple activities can impact developmental outcomes. Using data from Wave 3 (approximately Grade 7) through Wave 8...
Article
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Little research has investigated postsecondary institutions as a context for character development, despite theoretical suggestions about their potential significance. Accordingly, the authors initiated the Assessment of Character study, a mixed methods investigation of character development, among students at the Williamson Free School of Mechanic...
Article
The goal of developmental science is to describe, explain, and optimize changes within individuals and differences between individuals across the life span. Contemporary developmental science is framed in the main by relational developmental systems models, conceptions that emphasize that change across life occurs through mutually regulative relati...
Article
Experiencing positive and healthy youth development may be particularly challenging in the face of abrupt, major, rapid, or nonnormative ecological changes. Aligning individual youth strengths and ecological assets may promote youth thriving in the face of these changes.

Citations

... 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]. ...