Positive youth development
[8] Programs and practitioners seek to empathize with, educate, and engage children in productive activities in order to help youth "reach their full potential".
The traditional approach makes a connection between the changes occurring during adolescent years and the beginning or peaking of several public health and social problems, including homicide, suicide, substance use and abuse, sexually transmitted infections, teen and unplanned pregnancies.
A hallmark of these programs is that they are based on the concept that children and adolescents have strengths and abilities unique to their developmental stage and that they are not merely "inadequate" or "undeveloped" adults.
The influence of ecological systems theory is also seen on the emphasis many youth development programs place on the interrelationship of different social contexts through which the individual moves (e.g. family, peers, school, work, and leisure).
This means that PYD seeks to involve youth in multiple kinds of prosocial relationships to promote the young person's wellness, safety, and healthy maturation.
Physical activity-based programs like "Girls on the Run" are being increasingly used around the world for their ability to encourage psychological, emotional, and social development for youth.
"Girls on the Run" enhances this type of physical activity program by specifically targeting female youth in an effort to reduce the gendered view of a male-dominated sports arena.
[21] Studies have found programs targeting African American youth are more effective when they work to bolster a sense of their cultural identity.
The program is composed of two terms, the first of which is a structured curriculum focusing on the 15 PYD constructs and designed for all students as a "universal prevention initiative."
The Tier 2 Program is a more selective prevention model directly targeting students with greater psychosocial needs identified by the school social work service providers.
The label "at-risk" is intentionally avoided because the term denotes a very negative stigma in Chinese culture, and therefore discourages participation in the program.
Although Chinese social work agencies commonly target students with greater psychosocial needs, these PYD programs have rarely undergone thorough systemic evaluation and documentation.
From Mexico and the Caribbean to Central and South America, this form of implementation has been acknowledged for encouraging both personal and community development, while oftentimes contributing to poverty reduction.
This work has focused on providing broader educational options, skills training, and opportunities for economically disadvantaged youth to obtain apprenticeships.
Centers across El Salvador are one example, as they are supported by USAID in combination with private companies and foundations, and offer expanded education for high-performing students from poorer economic backgrounds.
In Brazil, the Jovem Plus program offers high-demand skills training for youth in disadvantaged communities in Rio de Janeiro and the northeastern area of the nation.
The rates of juvenile offenders affected the community's well-being, so it became a governmental issue to find positive development solutions for youth to behave well at schools and elsewhere.
[32] A debate that has been happening is the socio-emotional learning (SEL) program that consists of Monarch Room(MR) intervention, a trauma-informed alternative to school discipline.
The MR was to promote socio-emotional regulation, and the staff were trained in counseling and trauma-informed to help the youth with sensory states, thoughts, feelings, and "subsequent behaviors".
The program was successful overall as it showed interest in the youth wanting support, and the introduction of MR led to a decrease in the use of school suspension.
However, the researchers did acknowledge that using a PBIS framework does not significantly affect the most severe behaviors, e.g., weapons offenses, because, as an intervention, it does not target those types of incidents.
