Relationships First: Creating Connections that Help Young People Thrive

After decades of forming hypotheses, conducting surveys, crafting and rewriting definitions, analyzing data, and writing journal articles, Search Institute researchers and practitioners have arrived at a surprisingly simple conclusion: nothing—nothing—has more impact in the life of a child than positive relationships.”        

    –Peter L. Benson, creator of the Developmental Asset® framework.

We’ve always known that relationships are important.

But just how important they are was not apparent until Search Institute analyzed research on more than 5 million youth and interviewed hundreds of young people from different backgrounds and settings about important relationships in their lives.

What we’ve discovered is summarized in our new research–Relationships First: Creating Connections that Help Young People Thrive. This publication (available free for a limited time) focuses on elements of developmental relationships that contribute to a young person’s growing, learning, and thriving.

This publication includes:

  • The Developmental Relationships Framework
  • One Community’s Snapshot of Developmental Relationships
  • Why Developmental Relationships Matter
  • How Developmental Relationships Grow
  • Activating Relationships in Organizations
  • 55 Ideas for Deepening One-to-One Relationships
  • Imagining Strong and Flexible Webs of Relationships

Download this publication free (no opt-in required) for a limited time.

Download now:

Click to Download!

Previous Next View All