About this session

Thursday, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Building Positive Health: Temperament, Family, and Social Context in Child Well-Being Across Developmental Stages

Although developmental research has primarily emphasized risk factors associated with youth vulnerability to subsequent psychopathology, there is a growing shift toward understanding how individual and contextual factors lead to or promote better adjustment (Pluess, 2024). The Positive Youth Development framework asserts that youth have the capacity for positive outcomes by leveraging their individual strengths and developmental assets from their environments to foster pathways that support enduring well-being (Lerner et al., 2013). This symposium investigates how individual characteristics may serve as direct antecedents (i.e., sociodemographic predictors), mediational mechanisms (i.e., effortful control), and moderators (i.e., self-directedness, self-efficacy) of youth’s later psychological adjustment and well-being. Presentations examine longitudinal pathways across a variety of familial and societal contexts, while also exploring positive health outcomes across diverse samples of children, adolescents, and young adults using a variety of methodologies. Findings emphasize the complex dynamics that ultimately influence enduring patterns of positive health outcomes across development. In early childhood, Study 1 and Study 2 emphasize how family-level factors (i.e., constructive interparental conflict, caregiving experiences) contribute to not only children’s better psychological adjustment and positive health but also the quality of their parent-child interactions. In adolescence, Study 3 explores how the interplay of self-directedness and parenting affects adolescents’ life satisfaction and sense of purpose. Finally, Study 4 examines how individual-level (i.e., self-efficacy) and social-level (i.e., social support) characteristics protect minoritized college students from mental health difficulties. Collectively, this set of empirical work further explores the clinical and policy implications for supporting families and youth through equitable and personalized interventions for well-being outcomes.

Paper #1
Title	Unlocking Positive Health: Intra- and Interpersonal Risks and Strengths Shaping Childhood Positive Health Assets
Presenting author	Courtney King Blackwell, Ph.D., Northwestern University, United States

Paper #2
Title	The Beneficial Sequelae of Constructive Interparental Conflict: Children’s Effortful Control and Positive Affect as Mechanisms
Presenting author	Vanessa T. Cao, University of Rochester, United States

Paper #3
Title	Parenting and Child Temperament in Mid-Childhood: Predicting Positive Health Outcomes in Adolescence
Presenting author	Zhaoying Chen, M.Ed., George Washington Univeristy, United States

Paper #4
Title	Real-Time Promotive Factors Attenuate the Associations Between Stress and Well-Being Among Racially/Ethnically Minoritized Students
Presenting author	Mackenzie Murphy, Washington State University, United States

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Session chairs
Zhaoying Chen, M.Ed., George Washington University, United States; Jody M. Ganiban, Ph.D., , United States

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