The Cross-National Project on Positive Youth Development (CN-PYD)

The Cross-National Project on Positive Youth Development seeks to examine the extent to which developmental assets are available and accessible to the youth and emerging adults in different national contexts, and how these assets in turn relate to thriving and positive outcomes such as the “5Cs” of PYD (i.e., Confidence, Competence, Character, Caring and Connection), and subsequently, to young people’s contribution to the development of self and the society they are part of. Other topics that are taken up in the project include risk and health behaviours, job crafting in the school context, young people’s attitudes and values towards climate change and environmental sustainability, psychological well-being and their associations with developmental assets and positive outcomes. The ultimate goal of the project is to influence patrons, programmes and policies to stimulate the developmental assets needed to facilitate positive development and contribution among young people in the participating countries.
The cross-national project was initiated in 2014 and currently involves partner researchers from over 40 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the US, Latin America as well as Australia and New Zealand, and represents expertise in a diverse range of scientific fields, such as health psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, cross-cultural psychology, public health, environmental science, sociology, health promotion, speech-language pathology, and family studies.