Book Review: Handbook of Positive Youth Development: Advancing the Next Generation of Research, Policy, and Practice in Global Contexts

Abstract

Radosveta Dimitrova and Nora Wiium (Springer), 2021, 754 pages, ISBN: 978-3-030-70261-8 Adolescents and emerging adults are the two populations most affected by the changing world (Dimitrova, 2018; Mehta et al., 2020), and their well-being is critical for the social well-being globally. Even though Positive Youth Development PYD scholars have long acknowledged that different contexts and conditions in youths' life provide different opportunities for learning (Burkhard et al., 2019; Shek et al., 2019; Syvertsen et al., 2019; Wiium and Dimitrova, 2019) research about the adaptability, utility, and limitations of various PYD conceptualizations and practices across diverse (cultural) contexts remained relatively understudied. The Handbook of Positive Youth Development: Advancing the Next Generation of Research, Policy and Practice in Global Contexts edited by Dimitrova and Wiium (2021) tackles this need and offers an integrative and comprehensive collection of empirical evidence about the conceptualization and application of PYD approaches across the globe. A relevant feature of this volume is to expand the generalizability of the PYD framework beyond the WEIRD contexts by presenting a set of empirical findings from innovative theoretical and methodological approaches (e.g., cross-cultural, multinational , experimental, longitudinal mixed-methods) enlarging the broad literature with fresh international perspectives. In so doing, each chapter of the volume presents a context specific description of the local socio-political, cultural features and current issues affecting youth, PYD programs, and studies for policy and intervention. Most importantly, context/cultural specifics and universal mechanisms of PYD are presented delineating what is unique in each chapter and how the knowledge provided can also be useful to understand and apply to other contexts, while balancing between non-WEIRD (i.e.,) contexts. The handbook is unique and unprecedented in its' scope as (1) it covers evidence based on various conceptualizations and indices of PYD that outline the holistic and interactive nature of PYD; (2) presents PYD evidence far beyond the WEIRD contexts drawing attention to extraordinary samples and their specific needs; (3) addresses issues of cross-cultural measurement invariance, and (4) bridges research and practice on PYD across the globe that enables the dissemination of knowledge for improving the lives of youth.