‘Developmental Assets’ are the assets which are necessary for children to mature into healthy, socialized adults. Conceived by Search Institute, the Assets are divided into 20 ‘External Assets’ , including support, boundaries and expectations, etc. which should be provided by adults to protect and maintain a healthy and educational environment, and 20 ‘Internal Assets, including the development of positive values, an enjoyment of learning and a positive self-identity. The reliability and validity of the Assets have been verifi ed in numerous research projects and the 40 Developmental Assets are used regularly in educational facilities, and youth-oriented and community groups in the United States.
The purpose of this research is to investigate the Developmental Assets of children in Japan by translating and implementing the Search Institute’s ‘Developmental Assets Profi le’, a measurement of the level of the Developmental Asset Categories for children between the ages of 11 and 18. While the Developmental Assets have been previously introduced in Japan, there have not yet been any surveys conducted directly on children. This research is the fi rst attempt to measure the level of Developmental Assets of Japanese children directly.
Through analyzing the data collected from over 14,000 Japanese children, it was found that the total level of Developmental Assets was lower than that of the American sample provided for comparison across all 8 Asset Categories, that the average level for almost every item in all the categories went down for each educational level (elementary, junior high school, high school), and that there was virtually no difference in the results by gender.
Developmental Assets
External Assets
Internal Assets
Support
Positive Identity
Boundaries and Expectations