Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40115186›Full record

ArticleChild & youth care forum2025

Measuring Character Strengths and Promoting Positive Youth Development in Zambia: Initial Findings from the GROW Hopes for Life Study.

Jonathan M Tirrell, Mutale Sampa, Kit Wootten, Sion Kim Harris, Robert E McGrath, Mataanana Mulavu, Ntazana Sindano, Lameck Kasanga, Oliver Mweemba, Dana McDaniel Seale and 2 more

Abstract read
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Article in Child & youth care forum, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

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No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Jonathan M TirrellInstitute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University, Medford, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4825-0207
Mutale SampaUniversity of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.ORCID 0000-0001-5845-9533
Kit WoottenAugusta University, Augusta, USA.
Sion Kim HarrisBoston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4618-0348
Robert E McGrathFairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2589-5088
Mataanana MulavuUniversity of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.ORCID 0000-0001-6096-4897
Ntazana SindanoUniversity of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8494-4735
Lameck KasangaSerenity Harm Reduction Programme Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
Oliver MweembaUniversity of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
Dana McDaniel SealeGlobal Resilience Oral Workshops, Lusaka, Zambia.ORCID 0000-0002-3962-5222
J Paul SealeAugusta University, Augusta, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5760-2262
Wilbroad MutaleUniversity of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.ORCID 0000-0002-4891-6750

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The Global Resilience Oral Workshops (GROW) Free and Strong programs take a strengths-based, positive youth development (PYD) approach to promoting thriving. Through both prevention (GROW Strong) and intervention (GROW Free) exercises, these programs aim to build character and emotional resilience while also lowering unhealthy alcohol use. Objective: To meaningfully assess the impact of the GROW programs on health and PYD, ecologically and psychometrically valid measures of character strengths were needed, with a focus on the strengths of hope, forgiveness, spirituality, prudence, and self-control (self-regulation) promoted by GROW. Method: We tested a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of these five key constructs using two samples: a school-based youth sample enrolled in GROW Strong ( Results: Measures demonstrated strong invariance across specific subgroups present in the data sets, with differences emerging across ages, urban/rural locations, and baseline study conditions. Conclusions: To meaningfully document PYD programs and character development in the majority world, measurement models must be theory-predicated, robust, and empirically validated for the specific context. The results provide evidence for such a measure that will be useful in future intervention studies promoting character strengths to address unhealthy alcohol use in Zambia. Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10566-024-09814-8.

Indexed as

Character strengthsGROW Hopes for Life studyPositive youth developmentUnhealthy alcohol useZambia

Identifiers

PMID40115186
PMCPMC11920339

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.