The CI Study of PYD is a three‐nation, longitudinal study of the use of the Lerner and Lerner model of Positive Youth Development (PYD) for understanding the bases of PYD among some of the world’s poorest youth enrolled in Compassion’s child development centers. The study was renewed for 3 years. We are now in Year 7 of a 9-year study. Compassion International (CI) is a faith-based child‐sponsorship organization that partners with over 8,000 churches to promote thriving in over 2.1 million children living in poverty in 25 countries located in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia.
The project includes both quantitative (in El Salvador, Rwanda, and Uganda) and qualitative (in El Salvador) research studying the development of youth involved in CI’s programs.
The quantitative work involves a longitudinal study of the development of youth (using a counterfactual causal modeling design in Rwanda and El Salvador) to compare the development of CI program participants to youth who are not participating in CI’s programs. This design enables the researchers to identify specific facets of the CI program that work, with specific children, in specific contexts, over specific time periods. The identification of such specific findings is enhanced by our measure‐development work. We undertake theory‐predicated, measurement invariance testing of the constructs involved in the Lerner and Lerner PYD model including constructs related to faith and spirituality. These constructs are emphasized as key strengths in the lives of youth in CI’s theory of change as well as in the model of Lerner and Lerner. We measure spirituality through use of measures developed by Professor Pamela Ebstyne King and her colleagues at Fuller Theological Seminary. In Uganda, to provide heretofore unavailable person-specific information about character virtue development among youth within the CI intervention, we have employed an idiographic, person-specific intensive-measurement design with a randomly selected subsample of CI youth (n=200) (Data collected Spring 2022). Integrative Data Analysis is being used to compare idiographic trajectories within and across groups and, as well, to contrast person- centered findings vs. variable-centered findings (e.g., involving variance accounted for and predictive validity).
The qualitative work explores cultural and local meanings about beliefs and experiences related to PYD, thriving, spiritual development, and features of effective youth development programs (termed the Big Three), and to gain greater insight into concepts that have arisen since the start of our work with CI (e.g., joy, purpose, being known and loved, mattering) in the context of CI programming in El Salvador.
Two waves of data have been collected in El Salvador as well as qualitative data. One wave of data has been collected in Rwanda. The first wave of data was collected in Spring of 2022 in Uganda. Travel for future waves is currently being discussed with wave 2 Uganda and wave 3 El Salvador likely being summer 2023.
Boston College is leading mixed methods analyses. The analyses explore youth contribution and the role of the Big 3 features of effective programs in more detail and the relation between spirituality and perceived safety.
As we approach the end of Year 7 of the project, several manuscripts have been published, are in press, or are nearing completion. To date, every manuscript we have submitted has been published in excellent journals, and this record of publication is building the visibility of the CI Study and of CI more generally in the sector. This visibility has been furthered by conference presentations wherein the project was either the primary focus of the presentation or a key component of the presentation.
In short, the project is moving the field of PYD and the study of religious and spiritual development in international settings forward. The results of analyses can be used to enhance the work of CI and improve the child-sponsorship sector through never-before available theory-predicated developmental data. USAID, UNICEF, and many others are looking to our research for guidance about measurement and are particularly interested in whether we can establish measurement invariance across the international contexts we are studying.
Project Collaborators:
Pamela Ebstyne King, Ph.D.
Peter L. Benson Associate Professor of Applied Developmental Science
Thrive Center for Human Development
Graduate School of Psychology
Fuller Theological Seminary
Email: pamking@fuller.edu
Jacqueline V. Lerner, Ph.D.
Co-PI, Compassion International Project
Professor of Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology
Boston College Lynch School of Education
Email: lernerj@bc.edu
Alistair Sim, Ph.D.
Program Effectiveness Research Director
Compassion International
Sydney, Australia
Email: alsim@us.ci.org