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Developmental Assets
Essential Building Blocks of Human Development
What do young people need to succeed? Research by Minneapolis-based Search
Institute has found 40 key factors called “developmental assets”
that have a great influence on young people’s lives. These developmental
assets provide the foundation for the Abundant Assets Alliance. This page answers
four questions about developmental assets:
What Are Developmental Assets?
In an effort to identify the elements of a strength-based approach to healthy
development, Search Institute developed the framework of developmental assets.
This framework identifies 40 critical factors for young people's growth and
development. When drawn together, the assets offer a set of benchmarks for positive
child and adolescent development. The assets clearly show important roles that
families, schools, congregations, neighborhoods, youth organizations, and others
in communities play in shaping young people's lives. They provide a powerful
framework and lense for how YMCAs engage with children, youth, families, and
communities.
External Assets
The first 20 developmental assets focus on positive experiences that young people
receive from the people and institutions in their lives. Four categories of
external assets are included in the framework:
Support—Young people need to experience support, care, and love from their
families, neighbors, and many others. They need organizations and institutions
that provide positive, supportive environments.
Empowerment—Young people need to be valued by their community
and have opportunities to contribute to others. For this to occur, they must
be safe and feel secure.
Boundaries and expectations—Young people need to know what is
expected of them and whether activities and behaviors are "in bounds"
and "out of bounds."
Constructive use of time—Young people need constructive, enriching opportunities
for growth through creative activities, youth programs, congregational involvement,
and quality time at home.
Internal Assets
A community’s or YMCA’s responsibility for its young does not end
with the provision of external assets. There needs to be a similar commitment
to nurturing the internal qualities that guide choices and create a sense of
centeredness, purpose, and focus. Four categories of internal assets are included
in the framework:
Commitment to learning—Young people need to develop a lifelong
commitment to education and learning.
Positive values—Youth need to develop strong values that guide
their choices.
Social competencies—Young people need skills and competencies
that equip them to make positive choices, to build relationships, and to succeed
in life.
Positive identity—Young people need a strong sense of their own power,
purpose, worth, and promise.
What Are Assets for All Ages of Children and Youth?
Since 1989, Search Institute has measured developmental assets in almost 2
million 6th to 12th graders in communities across the United States. In addition,
the institute has blended the literature on child development with the framework
of assets for adolescents to identify parallel, developmentally appropriate
sets of assets for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary-age children.
The institute is launching new, long-term research efforts to refine, measure,
and test the asset frameworks for children of all ages.
Drawn together, the five lists of age-specific assets offer a vision for
a foundation of developmental assets through the first two decades of life.
Here are the lists for each age group:
40 Developmental Assets for Teenagers (the primary framework)
English (PDF)
Spanish (PDF)
French (PDF)
40 Developmental Assets for Elementary-Age Children
English (PDF) Spanish
(PDF) French (PDF)
40 Developmental Assets for Preschoolers
English (PDF)
Spanish (PDF)
French (PDF)
40 Developmental Assets for Toddlers
English (PDF)
Spanish (PDF)
French (PDF)
40 Developmental Assets for Infants
English (PDF)
Spanish (PDF)
French (PDF)
Why Are Developmental Assets Important?
The framework of developmental assets is grounded in extensive research on child
and adolescent development, resiliency, health promotion, prevention, and public
health. Numerous researchers have found that these kinds of positive resources
provide key sources of strength for children and youth.
In addition, through surveys of almost 2 million young people since 1990 from
all types of communities and all cultural groups, Search Institute consistently
finds that the more assets young people have, the better. The more assets young
people have, the more likely they will grow up to be caring, competent, responsible
young people. The more assets young people have, the better their chances for
contributing to their society and finding a meaningful purpose in life. On average,
young people with more assets:
Engage in fewer negative, high-risk behaviors, such as using drugs
and alcohol, being violent, and having premarital sex.
Exhibit more positive, or thriving, behaviors, such as succeeding in
school, exhibiting leadership qualities, and valuing diversity.
Being resilient in the face of challenges, stresses, and difficult
situations.
The challenge we face is that, according to the most current Search Institute
research, the average young person surveyed has about 19 of the 40 assets. Furthermore,
only 9 percent of the youth surveyed experiences at least 31 of the 40 assets.
These charts show the connections between assets and young people’s healthy
development:
English
The Power of Assets to Protect
(pdf)
The Power of Assets to Promote
(pdf)
The Challenge Facing Your YMCA
(pdf)
The Average Number of Assets Young
People Have (pdf)
Spanish
El poder de los elementos fundamentals
(pdf)
French
Le pouvoir de acquis conduisant
à l’épanouissement (pdf)
Where Can I Learn More about Assets among U.S. Youth?
To learn more about developmental assets among U.S. youth and the power of developmental
assets, see these publications:
The
Asset Approach—an 8-page booklet that presents the latest findings
from the asset research on U.S. youth. Available in bulk for sharing with others
in your YMCA and community. Available in both English and Spanish.
Speaking
of Developmental Assets—This kit provides scripts, tips, transparencies
(and Power Point slides), and reproducible handouts to tell others in your community
and YMCA about developmental assets.
A
Fragile Foundation: The State of Developmental Assets among American Youth—An
in-depth report that examines the developmental assets of young people and how
they are associated with risks and thriving. The report includes comparisons
among young people by gender, grade, race/ethnicity, community size, and family
composition.
Developmental
Assets: A Synthesis of the Scientific Research on Adolescent Development—This
academic book shows how the developmental assets are grounded in hundreds of
other studies by other researchers. It also draws out research showing the power
of each individual asset.
What about Assets among Canadian Youth?
Though asset-based data on Canadian youth are sparse, the early evidence is
that the asset patterns have been fairly consistent with U.S. data. Twelve Canadian
communities have conducted Search Institute Profiles of Student Life Attitudes
and Behavior, the survey that measures the 40 developmental assets. Five of
these communities are in British Columbia, three in Alberta, two in New Brunswick,
one in Manitoba, and one in Ontario.
The manual, Asset Building the YMCA Way (which
is available by participating in the in-depth assets training for YMCAs),
includes information on developmental assets in Canada, including results
from two Canadian communities that have publicly released their data on developmental
assets, risky behaviors, and thriving.
Though they do not measure developmental assets, two other key resources
also provide helpful data on Canadian young people:
Trends in
the Health of Canadian Youth (pdf) compares data collected among 11-, 13-,
and 15-year-olds in Canada.
Reginald W. Bibby, Canada’s Teens: Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow (Toronto:
Stoddart Publishing, 2001).
How Does Asset Building Fit with YMCAs?
Asset building is about building strong kids, strong families, and strong communities.
It’s about doing teen programs, school-age programs, child-care programs,
and family-life programs in ways that make a difference in the lives of young
people and their families. It’s about creating a YMCA culture that brings
out the best in everyone: your staff, your volunteers, your donors, your members.
And it’s about helping your community become an asset-building community
so that all young people in your community benefit along with every resident.
Asset building is an approach, not a program. The assets provide a framework
for action that encourage all individuals to make a difference, whether they
do clerical work at your Y, are a member, or run a program. YMCAs across North
America are discovering that embracing the asset framework brings them together
in new and exciting ways. Asset building serves as a call to action and cooperation,
a catalyst for uniting people who never before had reason to work together both
within and beyond the YMCA.
Asset building can transform your YMCA by helping you to focus your efforts
on building strong kids, strong families, and strong communities. By adopting
the asset framework and being intentional about building assets, you can make
a difference in the lives of young people.
How Can I Learn More?
Visit the Learn and Share section of this website.
Have your YMCA participate in the in-depth Asset Building the YMCA Way training,
which includes a comprehensive manual on assets and asset building. Learn more
about the training and the manual by clicking here.
(Available only toYMCAs.)<
br>">clicking here.
(Available only toYMCAs.)
Examine more of the research behind the developmental assets as well as practical
tools and ideas for asset building from Search
Institute’s Web site.
Gain a picture of the asset profile of young people in your community by conducting
Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes & Behaviors, the survey
that measures assets among community youth (grades 6 through 12). Contact
Search Institute’s survey services department.
Use the YMCA Purple Kit to assess how well young people in your YMCA
are experiencing asset-rich programs, environments, and relationships. For
more information, contact the YMCA Program Store at 800-747-0089 (Available only toYMCAs.)
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