About 40 Assets | 40 Assets Quick View | 40 Assets Training

At a time when many people feel overwhelmed by the problems and challenges facing children and adolescents, hundreds of communities across the county are discovering new energy in working toward a positive vision for young people.

At the heart of this vision is Search Institute's research-based framework of "developmental assets" - factors that are critical for young people's successfful growth and development.

What Are Developmental Assets

Building on extensive research on the healthy development of children and adolescents, Search Institute has identified and measured 40 developmental assets. These assets are positive experiences, opportunities, and personal qualities that all children and adolescents from many cultural backgrounds need in order to be responsible, successful and caring individuals.

An Overview

Researchers have learned a great deal in the past several decades about elements in human experiences that have long-term, positive consequences for young people. Factors such as family dynamics, support from community adults, school effectiveness, peer influence, values development, and social skills have all been identified as contributing to healthy development. However, these different areas of study are typically disconnected from each other.

The framework of developmental assets steps back to look at the whole, to pull many pieces together into a comprehensive vision of what young people need to thrive. In addition to roots in scientific research on adolescent development, the assets grow out of two types of applied research:

• Prevention , which focuses on protective factors that inhibit high-risk behaviors such as substance abuse, violence, sexual intercourse, and dropping out of school.
  
  
• Resiliency , which identifies factors that increase young people's ability to rebound in the face of adversity, from poverty to drug-abusing parents to dangerous neighborhoods.

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.

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" or "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 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. Indeed, shaping internal dispositions that encourage wise, responsible, and compassionate judgements is particularly important in a society that prizes individualism. 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.

The Power of Assets

On one level, the 40 developmental assets represent everyday wisdom about positive experiences and characteristics for young people. In addition, Search Institute research has found that these assets are powerful influences on adolescent behavior - both protecting young people from many different problem behaviors and promoting positive attitudes and behaviors. This power is evident across all cultural and socioeconomic groups of youth. There is also evidence from other research that assets have the same kind of power for younger children.

Yet, while the assets are powerful shapers of young people's lives and choices, too few young people experience enough of these assets. The average young person surveyed experiences only 18 of the 40 assets. Overall, 62 percent of young people surveyed experience fewer than 20 of the assets. In short, most young people in the United States do not have in their lives many of the basic building blocks of healthy development.

Protecting Youth from High-Risk Behaviors

Assets have tremendous power to protect youth from many different harmful or unhealthy choices. To illustrate this power, these charts show that youth with the most assets are least likely to engage in four different patterns of high-risk behavior, based on surveys of almost 100,000 6th- to 12th-grade youth in 213 towns and cities in the United States during the 1996-97 school year.

The same kind of impact is evident with many other problem behaviors, including tobacco use, depression and attempted suicide, antisocial behavior, school problems, driving and alcohol, and gambling.

Promoting Positive Attitudes and Behaviors

In addition to protecting youth from negative behaviors, having more assets increases the chances that young people will have positive attitudes and behaviors, as these charts show.

Everyone's an Asset Builder

The good news is that everyone can build assets. It's not just the responsibility of families, schools, social service agencies, or other institutions - though they all have important roles. Everyone - from a child to a grandparent to a caring neighbor - can start building assets today with the young people in your family, neighborhood, community, or place of business.