The Search Institute Series on Developmentally Attentive Community and Society
Peter L. Benson, Ph.D., General Editor
The Search Institute Series on Developmentally Attentive Communities and
Society is a line of academic books being published by Springer Publishers to advance interdisciplinary inquiry into the
dynamics of healthy development and social change.
Published Titles in the Series
Mobilizing Adults for Positive Youth Development:
Strategies for Closing the Gap between Beliefs and Behaviors
Edited by E. Gil Clary and Jean E. Rhodes
When highly successful people from all walks of life are asked how they were able to attain their goals, they inevitably pay tribute to the influential role played by one or more adults during their younger years. In today's fast-paced, age-segregated world, increasing young people's consistent, meaningful interaction with caring, responsible adults is vital. In this volume, leading scholars from multiple disciplines focus on the how of adult engagement: the strategies that can lead to real change, transformation, and engagement at the individual, organizational, and societal levels. This focus on change strategies requires understanding not only the needs of young people but also the realities, motivations, and priorities of adults, as well as attention to multiple settings, including neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, religious institutions, and youth organizations.
Table of Contents
2006, 276 pages, 6.5" x 10", hardcover.
Price: $49.95
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What Do Children Need to Flourish?:
Conceptualizing and Measuring Indicators of Positive Development
Edited by Kristin A. Moore and Laura Lippman
Regardless of its validity, many adults share a common belief that today's youth face an inauspicious future. Drugs, sex, violence, the disintegration of the nuclear family, technology that replaces relationships—that's what you hear in the news. This image ignores the many children who are thriving and it ignores the possibility of positive outcomes for children and youth.
What Do Children Need to Flourish? focuses on how scholars and practitioners can begin to build rigorous measures of the positive behaviors and attitudes that result in positive outcomes for youth. It is an important volume for researchers, practitioners—anyone interested and involved in working with children and adolescents.
Table of Contents
2005, 383 pages, 6.5” x 10”, hardcover.
Price: $55.95 (U.S.)
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Developmental Assets and Asset-Building Communities:
Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice
Edited by Richard M. Lerner, Ph.D.,
and Peter L Benson, Ph.D.
Leading scholars in human and community development examine the
relationships of developmental assets to other approaches and bodies of
work. The book raises challenges about the asset-building approach and
offers recommendations for how this approach can be strengthened and
broadened in impact and research. In doing so, this book extends the
scholarly base for the understanding of the character and scope of the
systemic relation between young people's healthy development and the
nature of developmentally attentive communities.
The chapters present evidence that asset-building communities both
promote and are promoted by positive youth development, a
bi-directional, systemic linkage that--consistent with developmental
systems theory--further civil society by building relationship and
intergenerational places within a community that are united in
attending to the developmental needs of children and adolescents.
Table of Contents
2003, 244 pages, 6.5” x 10”, hardcover
Price: $55.00 (U.S.)
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now
Other People’s Kids:
Social Expectations and American Adults' Involvement with Children and Adolescents
By Peter C. Scales, Ph.D.
A critical issue for healthy development is to create an expectation or
norm in the culture that adults have a social responsibility to
contribute to young people’s healthy development—not only for children
in their own families, but also for “other people’s kids.” Yet,
according to groundbreaking national research from Search Institute,
only a fraction of American adults consistently engage with other
people’s children in positive ways. “Other People’s Kids” shows the
importance of developing “social norms” in communities and society to
support adult engagement with young people. It presents the study
findings in detail, examines a wide range of research on social norms,
and suggests implications for personal and collective actions for
mobilizing adults to be actively engaged in their communities.
Table of Contents
2003, 274 pages, 6.5” x 10”, hardcover
Price: $ 55.00 (U.S.)
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now
About the Series
Purpose
To advance interdisciplinary inquiry into the individual, system,
community, and societal dynamics that promote developmental strengths;
and the processes for mobilizing these dynamics on behalf of
children and adolescents.
Overview
For optimal development, young people need to be engaged positively in
a rich, interconnected web of positive relationships and opportunities
with family, peers, neighbors, schools, community organizations,
religious institutions, and other socializing systems. All these
socializing influences need to be supported by and reinforced with
appropriate social policies and norms at the local, state, and national
levels. “Developmental attentiveness” refers to the active engagement
of this complex array of resources, opportunities, experiences, and
relationships to build the strengths young people need to thrive.
This series explores these complex and interwoven issues by presenting
theories, models, research studies, and symposia that examine
dimensions of this emerging concept of developmental attentiveness.
Drawing on the work of scholars from multiple disciplines, it will
explore sources of developmental strength for children and adolescents,
and the dimensions and experiences of developmental attentiveness in
multiple contexts and settings.
Audiences
Academicians, applied researchers, and thought leaders in the fields of
human development, community development, social services, social work,
applied psychology, sociology, education, family studies, health,
juvenile justice, public policy, religious or spiritual development,
and related disciplines. The volumes are designed to be appropriate for
upper-level undergraduate and graduate course use.
The Series Editor
Peter L. Benson, Ph.D.,
is president of Search Institute, a position he has
held since 1985. As lecturer, author, researcher, and consultant, his
work focuses on strengthening communities, social institutions, and
public policy on behalf of young people. Dr. Benson is widely
recognized as one of the leading contributors to the fields of child
and adolescent development, with a special focus on the power of
communities in raising successful, healthy, and caring children and
adolescents. In addition to having published numerous journal articles,
he is the author, coauthor, or editor of ten books on children,
adolescents, and the community forces that shape their lives.
The Publisher
The Search Institute Series on Developmentally Attentive Community and
Society is published by
Springer , one of the most renowned scientific publishing companies in the world. Its
publications cover subjects ranging from the natural sciences, mathematics,
engineering and computer science to medicine, psychology, the arts, and
social sciences. With offices in Berlin, Heidelberg, Dordrecht, Paris,
Milan, New York, Boston and New Delhi, Springer produces more than 3,500 new
books each year and 1,250 journals, most of which are also available in
electronic form. The series was originally launched with Kluwer
Academic/Plenum Publishers, which merged with Springer in 2004.
Support
This series is made possible, in part, with the generous support of The
Lilly Endowment, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana.
Call for Submissions
Scholars from multiple disciplines in the social sciences are
encouraged to consider contributing to this series in a wide range of
areas related to the themes outlined in the overview. We seek the
following kinds of manuscripts:
- Original, book-length research manuscripts
- Collected scholarly papers (single or multiple authors)
- Proceedings from scientific symposia, meetings, or colloquia
How to Submit a Book Proposal
We seek to publish three titles per year.
In order for your idea or manuscript to be considered as a title in
this series, please send a brief proposal containing the following:
- A brief description of the content and focus of the proposed book
- An annotated table of contents and sample chapter (for work
already in progress)
- The intended audience and market
- Anticipated manuscript length and special features (if any), such
as extensive tables and charts, photographs, etc.
- Information concerning how much of the manuscript is currently
available; and
- Professional information about the author, including previous
publications.
Submit your proposal to Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, senior advisor to the
president, either by
email or
regular mail (Search Institute, 615 First Avenue NE, Suite 125, Minneapolis, MN
55413).
We will notify you within one month whether we consider your manuscript
a candidate for the series. If so, you will be asked to submit a
complete book proposal for consideration. Peer and publisher reviews of
the proposal will follow. Authors whose manuscripts or proposals are
accepted for publication will be furnished with written guidelines for
preparing their final manuscript. We will return your manuscript only
if you provide a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
