The research behind thriving and sparks

Thriving Indicators Project

Funders: The Thrive Foundation for Youth, W. T. Grant Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, and Campbell Family Foundation

Purpose: Since 2003, Search Institute has worked with leading researchers and practitioners at Tufts University, Stanford University’s Center on Adolescence and its John Gardner Center, the Fuller Theological Seminary, and Friends of the Children to break new ground in defining and measuring thriving among young people. We view “thriving” as a combination of a young person energized by discovering his/her passions, interests, and “sparks,” and the developmental contexts—the people and places—that know, affirm, celebrate, encourage, guide, and nourish those sparks: Sparks + support = thriving. Unfortunately, our research shows that less than half of American youth both identify a spark and say they have the support to develop it.

In a new Thriving Orientation Survey, we have identified a number of “markers” of a thriving orientation—signs in early, mid, and late adolescence that a young person is likely to be moving toward, or is on a pathway to, a hopeful future in young adulthood and beyond. The essence of our research on thriving and sparks is to answer the question, How do young people flower into the kinds of persons who don’t simply avoid problems and pathologies, but who embrace life and make full use of their special gifts in ways that benefit themselves and others?   

 

Status: The following publications have been released or are in press:

* Benson, P. L. (2008). Sparks! How Parents Can Help Ignite the Hidden Strengths of Teenagers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

* Benson, P. L., & Scales, P. C. (in press). “The Definition and Measurement of Thriving in Adolescence.” Journal of Positive Psychology.

* King, P. E.; Dowling, E. M.; Mueller, R. A.; White, K.; Schultz, W.; Osborn, P.; Dickerson, E.; Bobeck, D. L.; Lerner, R. M.; Benson, P. L.; & Scales, P. C. (2005). “Thriving in Adolescence: The Voices of Youth-Serving Practitioners, Parents, and Early and Late Adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25, 94–112.

* Scales, P. C., & Benson, P. L. (2005). “Adolescence and Thriving.” In C. B. Fisher & R. M. Lerner, Eds., Encyclopedia of Applied Developmental Science, vol. I (pp. 15–19). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

* Scales, P. C., Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., & Blyth, D. A. (2000). “Contribution of Developmental Assets to the Prediction of Thriving among Adolescents.” Applied Developmental Science, 4, 27–46.

Duration: 2003–2006

More Research Projects from Search Institute

Learn more about selected Search Institute research projects that have been completed, including where you can find the results and publications.

Developmental Assets and Other Positive Youth Development Research Projects
* Longitudinal Research on Developmental Assets
* Successful Young Adult Development

Adult-Youth Relationships
* Grading Grown-Ups 2000
* Grading Grownups 2002

Community and Social Change
* Case Studies of Asset-Building Communities

Youth Development Programs and Practices
* Is There Common Ground?