Preventing problems vs. promoting the positive: What do we want for our children?

Despite the desires of parents and policymakers for America's children to achieve positive life outcomes, there is surprisingly little national data that tracks explicitly positive child behaviors and outcomes. Rather, the indicators of child well-being that researchers and the government gather about children and youth are typically limited to measures of problem behaviors and difficulties. The reduction of these negative indicators is interpreted as developing positively. In this paper we posit that positive development is not just the absence or reduction of negative behaviors but also the presence of real and desirable characteristics and behaviors across multiple child outcome domains. To have a balanced perspective on children's outcomes, we believe it is essential to develop valid and reliable social indicators that explicitly assess positive development. Furthermore, we offer some suggestions on measures of positive development that could be monitored over time, including: character; civility, parent-child relationships and activities, peer relationships, social capacity, religiosity/spirituality, tolerance, extra curricular activities, sports and exercise, participation in cultural and literary activities, environmental lifestyle, volunteering and collective efficacy. Data on these outcomes can help inform public opinion and public policy, help set national and program goals regarding positive youth development, and expand the range of multivariate and longitudinal studies conducted on child well-being.