CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
        Adolescents experience many problems, including teen pregnancy, alcohol and drug use/abuse and violence, school failure and eating disorder (Callalian, & Stein 2003). The extent and seriousness of these problems may cause social scientists, policy makers and parents to overlook youth who are well functioning: teens that excel in school, have positive family and peer relationships, and have minimal participation in behaviors such as stated above. (Demon, 2004; Moore et al., 2004).
        Adolescent has been described as a phase of life beginning in biology and ending in society (Peterson, 1988). Indeed, adolescent may be defined as the period within the life span when most of a person’s biological, cognitive, psychological and social characteristics are changing from what is typically considered child-like to what is considered adult-like (Learner and Spainer, 1980). For adolescents’, this period is a dramatic challenge, one requiring adjustment to changes in the self, in the family, and in the peer group. In contemporary society, adolescent experience institutional changes as well. Among young adolescents, there is a change in school setting, typically involving a transition from elementary school to either junior high school or middle school; and in late adolescence there is a transition from high school to the worlds of work, University or childrearing.
        Adolescent is a time of excitement and of anxiety, of happiness and of troubles, of discovery and of bewilderment, and of breaks with the past and yet of links with the future. Adolescence can be a confusing time – for the adolescent experiencing this phase of life; for the parents who are nurturing the adolescent during his or her progression through this period; for adults charged with enhancing the development of youth during this period of life, and with disturbing, historically unprecedented frequency – for adolescents who themselves find themselves in the role of parents. When we searched the literature it became clear that the vast majority of adolescent research reported on the causes and correlates of problem behaviors (Shagle and Barber, 1995; Small and Luster, 1994; Pick and Palos, 1995).
        Most research on adolescent focuses on specific problem behaviors, whereas few studies examine the avoidance of multiple forms of risk taking or the determinants of positive development (Moore and Glei, 1995). Positive youth development approach helps in enhancing adolescent development, and for helping youth reach their full potential. This approach recognizes that all adolescents have strengths and that children and youth will develop in positive ways when these strengths are aligned with resources for healthy development in the various settings in which adolescent, live and interact.
        Research indicates that the more exposure that adolescents have to positive resources and experiences and where synergy between multiple settings can be established – the more likely it is that they will develop, positively. Therefore, physical and institutional resources present in the social environment (for example, family support) are just as essential for promoting positive youth development as are individual assets (such as skills, talents, self-esteem and resiliency).  These resources provide adolescents with routines and structure, as well as opportunities for learning, recreation, and engagement with individuals and their communities.