Conference

Indicators of Positive Development: Definitions, Measures,
and Prospective Validity (Draft Agenda)

National Institutes of Health
March 12-13, 2003

Dear Colleague:

Child Trends is hosting an Indicators of Positive Development Conference in Washington, DC, on March 12th and 13th, 2003. The meetings will be held in the conference center of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, across the street from Union Station. We would like to invite you to attend.

Practitioners have begun to think in terms of new and more positive developmental models, emphasizing child and youth development, family strengths, positive outcomes, resilience, virtues, assets, and health promotion. However, our stock of social indicators to assess positive development is very limited, and the research base to support, guide and evaluate programs taking a positive perspective is also limited. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for the research community to build a set of indicators that is conceptually and psychometrically rigorous.

We are delighted that many key researchers in this field have agreed to participate in this effort to conceptualize the key components of positive development, develop valid and reliable indicators of positive development, and examine the association between these indicators of positive development and concurrent as well as future well-being of children and youth. Policy makers and funders, who are well aware that problem behaviors are associated with poor outcomes in both the short-term and the long-term, require evidence that positive behaviors and assets are similarly robust predictors of good outcomes in both the present and the future.

This conference is being organized by Child Trends in partnership with the Child and Family Research Network of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Other supporters for this conference include the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Family and Youth Services Bureau, Administration on Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the John Templeton Foundation; the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation; and the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.

Measures will be presented of the following constructs:

• Character; spirituality; life satisfaction; hope; positive behaviors and functioning.

• Parent-child relationships; sibling relationships.

• Healthy habits and time use

• School engagement and mastery motivation; self-regulated learning; personal efficacy.

• Connection to community/civic engagement; connection to school; positive group activities; participation in the arts; social identity and economic behavior.

Posters will also be presented on a number of other topics.

We hope that you will be able to join us for this conference. We expect this conference to catalyze the development of positive measures of child well-being, and hope that it will lead to their adoption in large-scale national surveys and program evaluations. Please note that this conference will focus on a discussion of the scientific measurement of these constructs, including the reliability and validity of the scales being presented. If you prefer to send a colleague who focuses on measurement, please let us know.

Child Trends staff are responsible for registration and meeting logistics. Please register for the conference online as soon as possible and no later than Feb. 12 at http://www.childtrends.com/meeting. If you don't have access to the internet, please contact Fanette Jones at (202) 362-5580. If you need overnight accommodations, arrangements have been made for participants to obtain rooms at the Hilton Washington Embassy Row, (202) 265-1600, at a rate of $150/night. In order to receive this rate, please reserve your hotel room by Feb. 19.

Prior to the conference, we will email you a final agenda and background materials. A draft agenda is available by clicking here or on the page header above. Please note also that the conference will begin with registration at 10:00am on Wednesday, March 12th and will conclude at 3:00pm on Thursday, March 13th.

Because of space and funding limitations, this invitation is non-transferable, but if you wish to request that someone else receive an invitation, please contact Laura Lippman (contact information below).

Sincerely,

Kristin Moore Laura Lippman
President and Senior Scholar Area Director,
Data and Measurement
llippman@childtrends.org
202-572-6012