According to the study conducted by Gallup Organization, only a minority of Americans experience consistent normative motivation for engaging with other people's children. Social norms theory suggests that adults are more likely to get deeply involved if that involvement is viewed as highly important, and if they perceive a social expectation to do so.

This volume examines the nature of social norms in general and in relationship to children and adolescents. The book examines the complex dynamics of understanding the appropriate roles of parents and other adults in young people's healthy development. The volume also presents the study's findings in detail, including numerous areas of consensus among American adults, differences among American adults, and the gap between perceived importance and actual engagement. A wide-ranging literature synthesis suggests implications for both personal and collective actions with potential to change norms that inhibit engagement and to strengthen values that encourage engagement.

It is a great pleasure to offer this volume from Michael J. Nakkula, Karen C. Foster, Marc Mannes, and Shenita Bolstrom as the latest in the Search Institute Series on Developmentally Attentive Community and Society. Its importance to the series and this ?eld of inquiry and practice is readily evident in its title, Building Healthy Communities for Positive Youth Development. Since the early 1990s, Search Institute has invited and encouraged communities of all shapes and sizes to use its framework of Developmental Assets and principles of asset building to create strong, vibrant, and welcoming communities for children and youth. We have operated largely at the grassroots level, encouraging innovation and adaptation around a shared vision, rather than proposing a program or model for replication. We seek to learn as much from the communities as they learn from us. This book offers in-depth case studies of what happened in eight diverse c- munities that took up our invitation. In them, we see a wide array of strategies and approaches that, on the surface, seem to have little coherence. But, as Nakkula and colleagues found, underlying each of these distinct efforts was a deep commitment to transforming the social norms of community life to more effectively attend to young people's healthy development throughout the ?rst two decades of life. There have been many ambitious efforts aimed at comprehensive community change on behalf of young people.

It is a great pleasure to offer this volume from Michael J. Nakkula, Karen C. Foster, Marc Mannes, and Shenita Bolstrom as the latest in the Search Institute Series on Developmentally Attentive Community and Society. Its importance to the series and this ?eld of inquiry and practice is readily evident in its title, Building Healthy Communities for Positive Youth Development. Since the early 1990s, Search Institute has invited and encouraged communities of all shapes and sizes to use its framework of Developmental Assets and principles of asset building to create strong, vibrant, and welcoming communities for children and youth. We have operated largely at the grassroots level, encouraging innovation and adaptation around a shared vision, rather than proposing a program or model for replication. We seek to learn as much from the communities as they learn from us. This book offers in-depth case studies of what happened in eight diverse c- munities that took up our invitation. In them, we see a wide array of strategies and approaches that, on the surface, seem to have little coherence. But, as Nakkula and colleagues found, underlying each of these distinct efforts was a deep commitment to transforming the social norms of community life to more effectively attend to young people's healthy development throughout the ?rst two decades of life. There have been many ambitious efforts aimed at comprehensive community change on behalf of young people.

According to the study conducted by Gallup Organization, only a minority of Americans experience consistent normative motivation for engaging with other people's children. Social norms theory suggests that adults are more likely to get deeply involved if that involvement is viewed as highly important, and if they perceive a social expectation to do so. This volume examines the nature of social norms in general and in relationship to children and adolescents. The book examines the complex dynamics of understanding the appropriate roles of parents and other adults in young people's healthy development. The volume also presents the study's findings in detail, including numerous areas of consensus among American adults, differences among American adults, and the gap between perceived importance and actual engagement. A wide-ranging literature synthesis suggests implications for both personal and collective actions with potential to change norms that inhibit engagement and to strengthen values that encourage engagement.

With contributions ranging from academic and professional theorists and policy developers to independent social workers, this book explores the development of family-centered services, the processes by which these services are implemented, the problems the field now faces, and prospects for the future. Multi-faceted examinations of the field show how family-centered services and child well-being can be linked on a daily basis to better the lives of both parents and children.