A Twist Of Positive Youth Development: Maladaptive Self-Regulation In Early Adolescence

Abstract

A Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) model has been used to measure adults’ life management skills. The SOC behavior was associated with healthy development and personal success in adulthood. In Positive Youth Development (PYD) studies, SOC has been adapted to measure youths’ intentional self-regulation (ISR)—adult-like management skills. ISR was defined as youths’ active contribution to adaptive developmental regulations, through which youth produce positive developmental outcomes. The present study assessed 644 Grades 5 to 7 youth (55.4% female) from the 4-H Study of PYD and tested longitudinal models of SOC and PYD across Waves 1 to 3 of the 4-H Study to address the unique nature and function of SOC in early adolescence. Research findings suggested that an adaptive valence (whether SOC is applied in adaptive/prosocial self-regulation or maladaptive self-regulation) is important not only because it determines the valence (positive or negative) of effect that SOC has on PYD growth rate but also because it influences the growth rate and nature of SOC (increase or decline) in a significant way. Without an adaptive valence, young adolescents’ SOC behavior is different than adults’ in nature and thus doesn’t have the function of ISR. Therefore, we concluded that simply applying the SOC model to young adolescents as a measure of ISR is premature in relation to research and practice.