Welcome to Search Institute Archives and Downloads
Search Institute Fact Sheet (PDF)
Search Institute Resource Catalog
40 Developmental Assets
Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets® are concrete, common sense, positive experiences and qualities essential to raising successful young people.
40 Developmental Assets for Early Childhood (ages 3–5)
- View Download PDF
- Spanish: 40 Elementos Fundamentales del Desarrollo para niños pre-escolares (edades de 3 a 5) PDF
40 Developmental Assets for Middle Childhood (ages 8–12)
- View Download PDF
- In Spanish: 40 Elementos Fundamentales del Desarrollo para la pre-adolescencia (edades de 8 a 12) PDF
40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents (ages 12–18)
- View Download PDF
- Spanish: Elementos fundamentales del desarrollo PDF
- French: 40 Acquis dont les jeunes ont besoin pour réussir PDF
40 Developmental Assets Translations
Many communities have taken the time to translate our 40 Developmental Assets list into their primary languages. Although these translations have not been formally approved or reviewed for accuracy by Search Institute, we believe they have potential benefit for others.
Do you use any of these lists? If so, we would love to have your feedback! We want to make the assets as effective and far-reaching as possible. And, if you know of other translations, please send them to si@search-institute.org. We will share translations as widely as we can.
Alcholi (PDF)
Arabic (PDF)
Armenian (PDF)
Bulgarian (PDF)
Chinese (PDF)
Farsi (PDF)
Hmong (PDF)
Japanese (PDF)
Khmer (PDF)
Nuer (PDF)
Russian (Word Document)
Somali (PDF)
Vietnamese (PDF)
Research Reports
Search Institute Insights & Evidence is a Web-based publication that presents the latest research from Search Institute on healthy children, youth, and communities in a format that is useful to community leaders and policy makers. All interested persons may download each issue at no cost.
Keeping America’s Promises to Children is a national study by Search Institute and Child Trends that reports on a series of national telephone polls of children, youth, and parents conducted by the Gallup Organization. The study shows that millions of American young people ages 6–17 experience very few, if any, of the Five Promises they need to build their character and competence. The National Promises Study is part of a new report titled “Every Child, Every Promise: Turning Failure into Action,” which was commissioned by America’s Promise—The Alliance for Youth.
- A one-page summary
- The complete publication
- The complete research report by Search Institute and Child Trends: Keeping America’s Promises to Children and Youth
Community Service and Service-Learning in U.S. Public Schools, 2004: Findings from a National Study, conducted for the National Youth Leadership Council by Search Institute and Westat, examines the scope and nature of community service and service-learning in U.S. public schools, and highlights the potential and challenges of engaging young people as resources through schools.
Growing to Greatness: The State of Service-Learning Project
Signs of Progress in Putting Children First presents findings from the first three years of data collection (1997, 1998, 2001) of the multiyear study of Developmental Assets among 6th- to 12th-grade youth in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, sponsored by the partnership between the Children First initiative in St. Louis Park and Search Institute.
Signs of Progress in Putting Children First
Grading Grown-Ups 2002: How Do American Kids and Adults Relate? unfolds key findings from the national survey of more than 2,000 adults and youth. It was conducted to learn about the nature and workings of underlying shared social expectations that govern how American adults relate with children and youth.
- 12-Page Summary: Grading Grown-Ups 2002 in PDF format
- 102-Page Full Report: Grading Grown-Ups 2002 in PDF format
- Grading Grown-Ups 2002 Study Highlights
- Using the Grading Grown-Ups 2002 Conversation Starters
- Conversation Starters for Groups of Adults
- Conversation Starters for Community Groups
- Conversation Starters for Congregations
- Conversation Starters for Intergenerational Groups
- Conversation Starters for Groups of Parents
- Conversation Starters for School Groups
- Conversation Starters for Groups of Youth
- Conversation Starters for Youth-Serving Organizations
- Grading Grown-Ups 2000
Cultivating Developmentally Attentive Communities: A Report on the First Wave of the National Asset-Building Case Study Project — Report text (pages 1–8 and 20–154); Color illustrations (pages 9–19). The National Asset-Building Case Study Project was designed to examine community initiatives promoting healthy development for children and youth; the report details the findings from the first four case study sites.
Finding Common Ground: Community- and Faith-Based Youth Workers Agree on Key Priorities
August 24, 2007—Youth workers in community- and faith-based settings agree that it’s essential that youth workers develop positive relationships with youth, are positive role models, and involve and empower youth, according to a just-released study from the National Collaboration for Youth and Search Institute, which was supported by Lilly Endowment Inc.
- Report and Executive Summary (PDF 49 pages, 612 KB)
- Complete Report with All Appendices (PDF 123 pages, 7.9 MB)
Communities
- Grant Template
- Asset Approach to Community Change
- Taking Asset Building Personally: A Guide for Planning and Facilitating Study Groups
Mentoring Tools
“I use the handouts in Mentoring for Meaningful Results on a daily basis when supporting my matches. The resources in this book have really helped the people we serve get through some tough issues and develop stronger friendships. Did I mention I love this book!?” —Tami Schumacher, Match Support Coordinator, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities, MN
Tools for Mentoring Adolescents was developed by the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota and Search Institute to support and strengthen relationships between mentors and mentees. These resources offer new ideas and insights for mentors and mentor program staff to enhance relationships with teens, and also assist in recruiting more community members to support young people.
Mentoring Tools (excerpted from Mentoring for Meaningful Results and used frequently by Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities):
What Is My Role as a Mentor?
My Mentor’s Role in My Life
Setting and Reaching Goals
Supporting Your Child’s Relationship with a Mentor
For more information on National Mentoring Month, visit MENTOR at mentoring.org.
Families
Building Strong Families
- Study Says Parents Simply Want More Time to Spend with Children—Press release announcing the study findings
- Fact sheet of key findings
- Selected charts from the study (PDF)
- Building Strong Families 2004: Summary Report (PDF 24 pages)
Faith Communities
An Introduction to Asset Building in Congregations is a two-page handout that you can copy and use to introduce others in the faith community to asset building and its potential for congregations.
Grounding Asset Building in Lutheran Faith: Revised Edition is a booklet that links core Lutheran beliefs and practices to an asset-building approach. This resource was developed in conversation/consultation with representatives from ELCA, LCMS, and WELS (also with support from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation).
Faith Community Research Reports and Articles
“Building Assets, Strengthening Faith: Results from a Field Test Survey” (2003)
How well are congregations nurturing faith and building assets with children, youth, and families? This report offers insights into this question, based on surveys of 1,500 youth and adults in 15 U.S. congregations. The report highlights perceptions of the congregations’ strengths, challenges, and areas of impact. It addresses congregational opportunities for children and youth, opportunities for families, intergenerational opportunities, and community engagement. Youth and adults both rated opportunities for children and youth as areas of strength, and community engagement and family support as challenges.
[PDF, 34 pages; 1.1 MB]
“Youth Development in Congregations: An Exploration of Potential and Barriers” (1995)
This report synthesized the knowledge about the potential of congregations for nurturing youth development through the lens of Developmental Assets.
[PDF, 96 pages; 19.7MB]
“The Attitudes and Needs of Religious Youth Workers” (1995)
This study of 500 religious youth workers in seven communities examined their goals for youth work, their interests in training and resources, and their openness to interfaith engagement.
[PDF, 74 pages; 4 MB]
“Shema: Listening to Jewish Youth” (1995)
Based on an in-depth survey of Jewish youth in Minneapolis, this report examines factors in school, family, synagogue, and community life that are associated with issues of identity and continuity for Jewish youth.
Complete Report: [PDF, 96 pages, 388KB]
Summary Report: [PDF, 23 pages; 1.8MB]
“Youth in Protestant Churches” (1993)
Using data from the Effective Christian Education study, this special report provided in-depth statistics on the faith life, congregational experience, and family life of youth in Protestant congregations.
[PDF, 151 pages; 8.16 MB]
“Effective Christian Education: A National Study of Protestant Congregations: Summary Report” (1990)
This landmark study examines the faith maturity of youth and adults in six Protestant denominations and factors in congregational and personal life that are associated with growth in faith maturity.
Summary Report: [PDF, 90 pages; 3.61 MB]
Six-Denomination Report: [PDF, 82 pages; 3.72 MB]
