Overview
Well-adjusted youth have a repertoire of socio-emotional skills that help them effectively navigate their social worlds. These skills, or competencies, can also prevent involvement in problem behaviors such as substance use, violence, delinquency, early school leaving, and high-risk sexual behavior. There have been a number of efforts to identify a set of “core competencies” or primary markers of healthy adolescent socio-emotional development. Delineating a common set of indicators has clear benefits for developing coordinated programs to promote positive youth development and prevent youth problems. Guerra and Bradshaw (2008) have recently proposed a core competency framework relevant to both healthy adjustment and prevention. This framework highlights the importance of five core competencies: (1) positive sense of self, (2) self-control, (3) decision-making skills, (4) a moral system of belief, and (5) prosocial connectedness (Guerra and Bradshaw 2008).
Competence and...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Benson, P. (1997). All kids are our kids. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Commission on Children at Risk. (2003). Hardwired to connect: The new scientific case for authoritative communities. New York: Institute for American Values.
Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social-information processing mechanisms in children’s social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 74–101.
Damon, W. (2004). What is positive youth development? Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 591, 13–24.
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity, youth, and crisis. New York: Norton.
Gottfredson, M. R. (2007). Self-control and criminal violence. In D. Flannery, A. Vazsonyi, & I. Waldman (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of violent behavior and aggression (pp. 533–544). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Guerra, N. G., & Bradshaw, C. P. (Eds.) (2008). Core competencies to prevent problem behaviors and promote positive youth development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 122, 1–17.
Lerner, R. M., & Benson, P. (2003). Developmental assets and asset-building communities: Implications for research, policy, and practice. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
Small, S., & Memmo, M. (2004). Contemporary models of youth development and problem prevention: Toward an integration of terms, concepts, and models. Family Relations, 53, 3–11.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Guerra, N.G., Sadek, S., Chou, C. (2011). Core Competencies. In: Levesque, R.J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_93
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_93
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1694-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1695-2
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences