| Contemporary developmental theory stresses that mutually influential relations between individual and contextual factors shape the individual across the life span. Key individual factors in development include self-regulation skills such as selection, optimization, and compensatory skills, recently operationalized by Baltes and colleagues as the "SOC" model. While recent research has found that SOC skills predict positive development, few studies have incorporated measures of contextual factors. Using data from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), the present study assesses the relation between SOC and PYD at different levels of two contextual variables---maternal education and per capita household income. Results indicated that at lower levels of both resources, higher levels of selection were associated with PYD. The inverse of this relation held as well. Implications for research and practice are discussed.;*The preparation of this document was supported in part by a grant from the National 4-H Council. The author wishes to thank the members of his committee, Jacqueline V. Lerner, and Marina Bers, as well as his committee chair, Richard M. Lerner, for their mentorship, editing, and feedback. |
