A model of positive Liberian youth development

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Answering the call from leading scholars for more research on the positive development of majority world youth, the present study proposes a theory of positive youth development in Liberia, a majority world country in West Africa. To generate the theory, we conducted interviews with adults (N = 25) who work with youth and focus groups (n = 8) with youth (N = 44) nominated as thriving by their communities. We propose that the positive development of Liberian youth is a dynamic process, whereby thriving youth possess community-valued character strengths that elicit supportive relationships and facilitate access to essential resources; these relationships and resources, in turn, support the further development of community-valued character strengths. Implications for understanding and supporting Liberian PYD are discussed.