Reducing risks and building developmental assets: essential actions for promoting adolescent health.

Developmental assets provide the positive building blocks young people need for success. In this article, based on a keynote address to attendees at the 1998 American School Health Association annual conference, research is discussed that suggests building specific developmental assets relates to lowered risk behavior patterns and increased patterns of thriving behavior among an aggregate sample of nearly 100,000, 6th-12th grade youth in 213 US communities. Issues related to the scientific foundations, reliability, and validity of the development assets framework are discussed. The contribution that building youth's developmental assets makes toward their well-being is presented as both a unique component of a healthy community and a necessary complement to risk reduction and treatment strategies.

The role of family support programs in building developmental assets among young adolescents: a national survey of services and staff training needs.

A survey of 659 family support workers' regarding training and their provision of services for families with 10- to 15-year-olds showed that 30% to 50% rated their previous training as inadequate or poor, had inaccurate knowledge about young adolescent development, and felt they were doing an inadequate or poor job promoting developmental assets for youths. Higher quality training was significantly related to the programs' potential excellence. Implications for providing training for family support workers and promoting collaboration are discussed.