Where did they come from?

Developmental Assets are the product of The Search Institute, an independent non-profit research organization whose mission is to provide leadership, knowledge and resources to promote healthy children, youth and communities.  Since 1958, The Search Institute has surveyed hundreds of thousands of youth in the 6th through 12th grade in order to understand why some youth succeed in spite of great hardships, while others fail in spite of advantages.  As a result of nearly 50 years of research, The Search Institute has identified 40 factors (or assets) that are essential to young people’s success.  Their research consistently shows that the more assets a young people experience, the more likely they are to make positive choices and avoid high-risk behaviors. 
For more information about The Search Institute, visit www.search-institute.org

What are they?

Developmental Assets are the influences in our children’s lives that build character and health.  They are their life’s building blocks: the influences in a young person’s life that shape their experiences and their beliefs.  These influences stretch beyond family and schools and include neighborhoods, religious institutions, and the community at large.  All of these influences contribute to a young person’s “assets” – the components of character that help a child make healthy choices as a teenager and become a successful adult.  The assets are both external (things that other people provide for youth) and internal (things that develop within young people themselves).  There are four categories of external assets and four categories of internal assets.