NCJ Number
120213
Date Published
1989
Length
12 pages
Annotation
A general frame of reference for a comprehensive approach to youth research discusses a meta-theoretical model of the subject in youth research, principles of theory construction, and pluralistic methodological procedures.
Abstract
The meta-theoretical model focuses on subjects who productively process and manage reality, and it views personal development and social development in a dynamic perspective and as being mutually dependent. The model presents a tentative notion of the "object of investigation" in question, human development in adolescence. The central point of the model is the rejection of linear, single-factor models of personality development that assume a passive, receptive formation of the individual through either socioeconomic or psychophysical factors. The meta-theoretical model argues that personal development occurs in the process of productively managing reality. Components of a comprehensive model of socialization are detailed to illustrate some of the steps necessary in transforming the meta-theoretical model into adequate research constructs. Methodological procedures in youth research are detailed, with emphasis on the effectiveness of combining objective social reality investigations and subjective interpretations of reality. 17 references, 2 figures.