Washington (H24N). In this modern era of blame-shifting and the "woe-is-me" tendency, it may be no wonder that Americans spend millions each year attempting to find happiness by "working through" childhood issues. One psychologist, however, Martin Seligman, Ph.D., a pioneer in the study of "positive psychology" believes that the field of psychology has been sidetracked.

In an editorial written by Seligman for the American Psychological Association’s Monitor, he notes that two fundamental missions of psychology – making the lives of all people better and nurturing "genius" – have been forgotten in the field.

"We became a victimology. Viewing the human being as essentially passive, psychologists treated mental illness within a theoretical framework of repairing damaged habits, damaged drives, damaged childhood and damaged brains. Psychology is not just the study of weakness and damage, it is also the study of strength and virtue. Treatments is not just fixing what is broken, it is nurturing what is best within ourselves."

With this paradigm shift in how psychologists view patient’s mental health, Seligman has created a Research Alliance at the University of Pennsylvania that engages in prevention training, positive psychology research and ethno-political conflict. According to Terry Kang, assistant to Seligman, "The mission at the Alliance is to apply knowledge acquired in scientific research to solve real-world problems. One of the projects, the Penn Resiliency Project, was developed as a result of 30 years of research on depression, learned helplessness and learned optimism. In Seligman’s book, The Optimistic Child, there are tolls for both parents and teachers to help children learn the skills necessary to become self-reliant and resilient."

Researchers have begun to take note of this shift toward positive psychology, with many in the field working on adolescent development projects. These social scientists are attempting to measure factors associated with healthy, competent children. Search Institute is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the well-being of adolescents and children by generating knowledge and promoting its application. Operating out of Minneapolis and Denver, the institute launched its Healthy Communities/Healthy Youth Initiative in 1996. Through its survey and research campaigns, the institute has been able to identify 40 external and internal "developmental assets," – like creativity – that young people need to grow up healthy.

The institute’s findings have shown that if a youth has more than 20 assets, they have a better chance of surviving the second decade of life unscathed. On the other hand, too few assets and they have a greater likelihood of substance abuse, violence or contact with the juvenile system.

Instead of focusing on what youth are doing wrong in today’s society, parents, siblings, teachers, administrators and community members need to begin to focus on the positive attributes and strengths that youth bring to our society. As Terry Kang notes, "By equipping our children with the skills and assets needed to perform well in school and in later life, the implications are, of course, that society as a whole will be healthier."

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