Sparks and The 40 Developmental Assets
Sparks and The 40 Developmental Assets
Sparks and The 40 Developmental Assets
Search InstituteSM has identified the following building blocks of healthy development that
help young people grow up healthy, caring and responsible. The percentages of young people
who report experiencing each asset were gathered in 2003 from the administration of the
Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors survey in 202 communities and 27 states.
26. Caring Young person places high value on helping other people 50%
27. Equality and Social Justice Young person places high value on promoting equality
52%
and reducing hunger and poverty
28. Integrity Young people acts on convictions and stands up for her/his beliefs 68%
Positive Values
29. Honesty Young person “tells the truth even when it is not easy” 66%
30. Responsibility Young person accepts and takes personal responsibility 63%
31. Restraint Young person believes it is important not to be sexually active or to use
45%
alcohol or other drugs
32. PLANNING AND DECISION MAKING Young person knows how to plan ahead and
29%
make choices
33. INTERPERSONAL COMPETENCE Young person has empathy, sensitivity and
45%
friendship skills
Social
34. Cultural Competence Young person has knowledge of and comfort with people of
Competencies 43%
different cultural/racial/ethnic backgrounds
35. Resistance Skills Young person can resist negative peer pressure and dangerous
41%
situations
36. Peaceful Conflict Resolution Young person seeks to resolve conflict nonviolently 40%
37. Personal Power Young person feels he/she has control over “things that happen to
42%
me”
38. SELF-ESTEEM Young person reports having a high self-esteem 48%
Positive Identity
39. SENSE OF PURPOSE Young person reports that “my life has a purpose” 57%
40. POSITIVE VIEW OF PERSONAL FUTURE Young person is optimistic about her/his
72%
personal future
Copyright © 2009 Search Institute, 615 First Avenue NE, Suite 125, Minneapolis, MN 55413, 800-888-7828 www.search-institute.org www.ignitesparks.com
, ,
The Challenge: Levels of Assets Experienced by Youth While there is no “magic
number” of assets young
8%
17% people should have, our data
indicates that 31 is a worthy,
though challenging,
benchmark for experiencing
32%
their positive effects most
strongly. Yet, as this chart
shows, only 8 percent of
43% youth have 31 or more
assets. More than half have
1-10 Assets 11-20 Assets 21-30 Assets 31-40 Assets 20 or fewer assets.
Based on Attitudes and Behaviors survey data gathered by Search Institute on 148,000 6th-12th grade students
in 2003.
Copyright © 2009 Search Institute, 615 First Avenue NE, Suite 125, Minneapolis, MN 55413, 800-888-7828, www.search-institute.org, www.ignitesparks.com