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Girl Scouts of Western Massachusetts 40 Assets to Healthy Living There are 40 Assets that youth need to succeed in today's society. Girl Scouting provides 23 of them. This page and it's links are from the Search Institute, founders of this information.   External Assets Internal Assets Assets for All Ages The Power of Assets Everyone's an Asset Builder Tools for Introducing Assets to Others More Information   In an effort to identify the elements of a strength-based approach to healthy development, Search Institute developed the framework of developmental assets. This framework identifies 40 critical factors for young people's growth and development. When drawn together, the assets offer a set of benchmarks for positive child and adolescent development. The assets clearly show important roles that families, schools, congregations, neighborhoods, youth organizations, and others in communities play in shaping young people's lives. External Assets The first 20 developmental assets focus on positive experiences that young people receive from the people and institutions in their lives. Four categories of external assets are included in the framework:  Support-Young people need to experience support, care, and love from their families, neighbors, and many others. They need organizations and institutions that provide positive, supportive environments. Empowerment-Young people need to be valued by their community and have opportunities to contribute to others. For this to occur, they must be safe and feel secure.  Boundaries and expectations-Young people need to know what is expected of them and whether activities and behaviors are "in bounds" and "out of bounds."  Constructive use of time-Young people need constructive, enriching opportunities for growth through creative activities, youth programs, congregational involvement, and quality time at home. Back to top Internal Assets A community's responsibility for its young does not end with the provision of external assets. There needs to be a similar commitment to nurturing the internal qualities that guide choices and create a sense of centeredness, purpose, and focus. Indeed, shaping internal dispositions that encourage wise, responsible, and compassionate judgments is particularly important in a society that prizes individualism. Four categories of internal assets are included in the framework: Commitment to learning-Young people need to develop a lifelong commitment to education and learning.  Positive values-Youth need to develop strong values that guide their choices.  Social competencies-Young people need skills and competencies that equip them to make positive choices, to build relationships, and to succeed in life.  Positive identity-Young people need a strong sense of their own power, purpose, worth, and promise.  Back to top Assets for All Ages Since 1989, Search Institute has measured developmental assets in more than 1 million 6th to 12th graders in communities across the United States, using the survey Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors. In addition, the institute has blended the literature on child development with the framework of assets for adolescents to identify parallel, developmentally appropriate sets of assets for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary-age children. The institute is launching new, long-term research efforts to refine, measure and test the asset frameworks for children of all ages. Drawn together, the five lists of age-specific assets offer a vision for a foundation of developmental assets through the first two decades of life. Here are the lists for each age group: 40 developmental assets for infants HTML / PDF 40 developmental assets for toddlers HTML / PDF 40 developmental assets for preschoolers HTML / PDF 40 developmental assets for elementary-age children HTML / PDF 40 developmental assets for adolescents (the original framework) HTML / PDF Elementos fundamentales del desarrollo: See the 40 assets for adolescents in Spanish. Back to top The Power of Asset On one level, the 40 developmental assets represent everyday wisdom about positive experiences and characteristics for young people. In addition, Search Institute research has found that these assets are powerful influences on adolescent behavior—both protecting young people from many different problem behaviors and promoting positive attitudes and behaviors. This power is evident across all cultural and socioeconomic groups of youth. There is also evidence from other research that assets have the same kind of power for younger children. Yet, while the assets are powerful shapers of young people’s lives and choices, too few young people experience enough of these assets. The average young person surveyed experiences only 18 of the 40 assets. Overall, 62 percent of young people surveyed experience fewer than 20 of the assets. In short, most young people in the United States do not have in their lives many of the basic building blocks of healthy development. Back to top Everyone’s an Asset Builder The good news is that everyone can build assets. It’s not just the responsibility of families, schools, social service agencies, or other institutions—though they all have important roles. Everyone—from a child to a grandparent to a caring neighbor—can start building assets today with the young people in your family, neighborhood, community, or place of business. Click here for some ideas to get started.  Back to top Tools for Introducing Assets to Others Search Institute has several resources designed to present the developmental assets and the research behind them in simple terms to different groups in your organization or community. Check these out, along with other resources: The Asset Approach presents the basic research on developmental assets and offers suggestions for how anyone can build assets. Sold in packets of 20. You Can Make a Difference for Kids engages individuals in reflecting on how they already build assets and what they can do to be more intentional asset builders. Sold in packets of 20. Pass It On! Ready-to-Use Handouts for Asset Builders offers dozens of simple, reproducible handouts for numerous audiences throughout your organization or community. You Can! The Asset Category Poster is a large, colorful poster that highlights the eight categories of assets as concrete actions that anyone can do. The Healthy Communities – Healthy Youth booklet gives a simple overview of the developmental assets and how everyone in a community can work together for asset building. Back to top More Information on the Assets This Web site is packed with information on these assets. What you'll learn is that investing in these assets doesn't necessarily cost much money, but it does take time. Here are some ways to learn more: The research behind the developmental assets Read an overview booklet on a community-wide approach to asset building Current research on developmental assets Find out about Search Institute's national initiative, Healthy Communities - Healthy Youth, which seeks to unite communities around asset building  Check out available books, reports, videos, and other materials on asset building and community mobilization  Read articles and reports on asset building  Find out about our national asset-building magazine, Assets: The Magazine of Healthy Communities & Healthy Youth  Back to top    Back to Parents Back to Home   Copyright 2000 GSUSA. All rights reserved.