2-087 - Bridging the Research to Practice Gap in Positive Youth Development: The Role of Multi-Disciplinary Collaboration

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

For decades, developmental scholars have urged researchers to conduct studies that enhance the lives of children, youth, and families (Lerner, Fisher, and Weinberg, 2000). Developmentalists have responded by prioritizing questions of interest to policy-makers (Huston, 2005), expanding methods for applied contexts (McCall and Green, 2004), conducting relevant research and intervention evaluations, and disseminating results widely to multiple stakeholders (Sherrod, 1999). While these tools highlight the importance of applied research, they are insufficient to bridge the research to practice gap (Jenson, Hoagwood, and Trickett, 1999; Tseng, 2012). This roundtable brings together a multi-disciplinary group of scholars whose work intersects within the field of positive youth development (PYD). The first panelist will stimulate a conversation about the value of PYD, the knowledge gaps plaguing the field, and the need for outreach scholarship to address these gaps. Offering contrasting views from local and national perspectives, the second and third panelists will tackle what the discipline of program evaluation offers the developmental community and will discuss how researcher/evaluator partnerships can enhance developmental scholarship while directly improving programs for youth. The fourth panelist works at a research-to-practice firm, specializing in researcher-practitioner collaborations. Together these panelists will stimulate a discussion on how the field of PYD can be advanced by the collective knowledge gained once “disciplinary silos” are removed. The roundtable will be moderated by Dr. Kelly Murphy, who has been cross-trained in developmental psychology and program evaluation, and, as a result, will be instrumental in balancing and challenging the perspectives offered by the panel.

Sub Unit

• Health, Growth, Injury

Moderator

• Kelly Murphy, Child Trends

Panelists

• Reed W Larson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

• Tiffany D Berry, Claremont Graduate University

• Kristin A Moore, Child Trends

• Amy K. Syvertsen, Search Institute