Political Insight of Youth Development: An Investigation Form Public Sector Colleges in Lahore

IntroductionPositive development of the youth and setting their directions is a serious problem of the modern world, because youth is more vulnerable than any other segment of the society (Yohalem & Pittman, 2001). Young people are found to be more vulnerable due to unemployment, heightened poverty, faster residential mobility, and are often plagued with high rates of crime and violence (Sampson, 2006). On the other hand, youth is the most important segment of the society as it has the potential and determination to contribute in the overall development of the society (Silva and Souto, 2009). Henceforth, properly managing their abilities and positive development of the youth is essential for the smooth running and development of the society (Weiss, 1996). Development of the youth is a continues process and different prospects and dimension are related to it. Furthermore, there are different stakeholders involved in the healthy development of the youth (Scales, 2006). Role of family, peer, community and schooling is worth mentioning in the development of the youth (Osgood and Chambers, 2000). Thriving indicators are also helpful in setting the course of the young people towards their positive development (Lerner et al., 2012). However, the current study tires to investigate how developmental assets promote youth development.Youth development is a multidimensional concept and different disciplines look at the youth development with differing approaches. Each perspective or discipline looks at only one or few dimensions of development. The psychologists see the human beings as the psycho-bio unit and thus account the development of youth from adolescent in a series of stages like the work of Erik Erikson.On the other hand sociologists see the development with a different perspective and terminology but ultimately prepare the youth for future and the allotted status and roles (Ulrich & Harris, 2003). Sociologists are further concerned about the youth development to avoid the deviant behavior in youth and to make them adapt to the cultural norms and values which foster a positive change in the society (Furlong, 1997). Sociologists look the process of development involving different social institutions and involving different persons in the society.So, in the current study youth development will account for the development in terms of adapting to the cultural norms and values, educational achievements, supporting in the community and being a productive and law abiding person in the society. "Positive Youth development is strength based approach to working with youth people that draws on positive psychology, development psychology, development epidemiology, and prevention sciences" (Roth and Brooks-Gunn, 2003). Later on Lerner (2012) extended the concept of developmental asset by explaining the developmental assets as the combination of biology and disposition to relationships, social institutions, culture and history-is fused into an integrated system. Development has to do with changes in the relations among and between these multiple levels of organizations.Literature ReviewDavis and Pamela (2005) presented a content analysis of published articles of last five years to see how the youth development term and definition is difficult to comprehend and define. They observe that research on youth is not the same as youth development research, a term that in itself is challenging to define. Their review of the last decade raises issues around the need for publishing alternatives for research on applied youth development and analysis of practice. The primary issue is to define youth development being a difficult and multidimensional term that has cultural implications.Park (2004) found from his study that subjective well-being is directly related to positive youth development. Life satisfaction and positive values are important component of subjective well-being. …