Thriving and Spirituality Among Youth: Research Perspectives and Future Possibilities

Praise for Thriving and Spirituality Among Youth

"The editors and their colleagues have helped us to think about ways to promote positive youth development and, more specifically, how to support young people in contributing to the development of a more civil society . . . Such work will provide practitioners and policymakers and young people themselves with the evidence they need to improve programs and policies and enhance the positive development of all young people."
From the Foreword by Rick Little, founder, International Youth Foundation; President and CEO, ImagineNations Group

Making a contribution to the greater good is a hallmark of positive youth development (PYD). This first work to explore authentic, empirical connections between spirituality, generosity, and PYD, Thriving and Spirituality Among Youth features a vibrant and diverse collection of chapters based on research from scholars representing a wide array of fields including biology, sociology, and theology. This groundbreaking resource draws on cutting–edge theory, methodology, and technology to provide recommendations for implementing practices that support youth success in both their private and public lives.

Drawing on research conducted with diverse groups, including immigrants to the U.S. (for example, Hispanic youth), youth from different nations (for instance China and Israel), and youth of different religions (for example, Christians, Muslim, and Jews), this book integrates qualitative data, physiological and brain imaging data, and a variety of quantitative information to shed light on PYD, including:

The neuronal and physiological dimensions of spirituality and PYD Associations between meditation and emotion regulation The dynamic developmental processes involved in Great Love–Compassion Developmental trajectories of religious conversion Religious adolescents′ views of success and spirituality The relationship between ethnic and religious identity The interplay of self–transcendence and psychological maturity The role of religion and religious organizations in adaptation Religious belief systems and their relationship to PYD

Thriving and Spirituality Among Youth launches a new and exciting empirical phase in the study of spiritual development within the social and behavioral sciences that sets a baseline in how spiritual development in youth will be measured.

Foreword vii

Preface xi

Contributors xv

1 Research Perspectives and Future Possibilities in the Study of Thriving and Spirituality: A View of the Issues 1
Amy Eva Alberts Warren, Richard M. Lerner, and Erin Phelps

Part I: Biological Contexts of Positive Youth Development and Spirituality

2 Prefrontal Cortical Activation During Emotion Regulation: Linking Religious/Spiritual Practices With Well–Being 19
Heather L. Urry, Robert W. Roeser, Sara W. Lazar, and Alan P. Poey

3 Closeness of All Kinds: The Role of Oxytocin and Vasopressin in the Physiology of Spiritual and Religious Behavior 33
Elena L. Grigorenko

4 Positive Youth Development and Age–Related Changes in Cortical Thickness During Adolescence 61
Tomas Paus, Gabriel Leonard, Jacqueline V. Lerner, Richard M. Lerner, Michel Perron, G. Bruce Pike, Louis Richer, Roberto Toro, Suzanne Veillette, and Zdenka Pausova

5 Neural Correlates of Positive Youth Development 77
Sara W. Lazar

Part II: Individual and Psychological Contexts of Positive Youth Development and Spirituality

6 Strengthening Human Potential for Great Love–Compassion Through Elaborative Development 91
Amy Eva Alberts Warren

7 When Beliefs Fit and When They Don′t: Religious Conversion, Spirituality, and Positive Youth Development 129
David Henry Feldman, Mona M. Abo–Zena, Robert W. Roeser, and Amy Eva Alberts Warren

8 The Shared Pathways of Religious/Spiritual Engagement and Positive Youth Development 167
Gabriel S. Spiewak and Lonnie R. Sherrod

9 Religious Adolescents′ Views of Success and Spirituality 183
Jenni Menon Mariano, Robert W. Roeser, Paula Taylor Greathouse, and Sonia S. Issac Koshy

10 Assessing the Relationship Between Ethnic and Religious Identity Among and Between Diverse American Youth 205
Aerika S. Brittian and Margaret Beale Spencer

Part III: Social and Cultural Contexts of Positive Youth Development and Spirituality

11 Contributions Despite Challenges: Exploring Positive Youth Development Among Muslim American Youth 233
Selcuk R. Sirin, Mona M. Abo–Zena, and Hala Shehadeh

12 The Role of Religion and Worship Communities in the Positive Development of Immigrant Youth 255
Carola Suarez–Orozco, Sukhmani Singh, Mona M. Abo–Zena, Dan Du, and Robert W. Roeser

13 The Interplay of Self–Transcendence and Psychological Maturity Among Israeli College Students 289
Ofra Mayseless and Pninit Russo–Netzer

14 Belief Systems and Positive Youth Development Among Chinese and American Youth 309
Wei Zhang, Dan Du, and Shuangju Zhen

Afterword 333

Author Index 343

Subject Index 359

AMY EVA ALBERTS WARREN, PhD, is a Research Scientist at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University.

RICHARD M. LERNER, PhD, is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and the Director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University. He has edited or coedited many publications, including The Handbook of Life–Span Development (Wiley), and was the founding editor of both the Journal of Research on Adolescence and Applied Developmental Science.

ERIN PHELPS, EdD, is a Research Scientist at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University.

" Thriving and Spirituality Among Youth is an important book. The research described in the current book combines qualitative and quantitative multimethod approached applies toward understanding of positive youth development that features spirituality in relation to a number of diverse types of variables. This is a timely yet sparsely explored subject in studies of youth development. Apart from the importance of the topic of positive human development in youths in contrast to the huge number of studies on negative development leading to violence and risk behavior, this book documents the first stages of scholarly exploration based on the roles of spirituality and religion in youths lives that are potentially promising for the prevention of risk behavior." (P sycCRITIQUES, November 2012)