Socio-Demographic Correlates  of Positive Youth Development In Adolescents, Pakistan

Objective: To explore the impact of socio-demographic correlates in positive development of adolescents. Study Design: Cross-sectional study Place and Duration of Study: Department of Psychology, University of Gujrat, Gujrat Pakistan, from Feb to May, 2019. Methodology: In Phase I, The Positive Youth Development Inventory (PYDI) was translated into Urdu by forward-backward translation method. Urdu version of PYDI was administered on 130 students selected by random sampling technique to check the accuracy of comprehension in Urdu and its reliability (α=85). In Phase II, Stratified Random Sample of 608 students (16 to 19 years) from private and public colleges of Sarai Alamgir was selected. Demographic sheet along with PYDI was administered on the students. The data was analysed in SPSS-21 version. Results: In neural network multilayer perceptron analysis, the difference in training and testing relative error was 0.013 average mean, indicating significant contribution of predictive relationship of socio-demographic variables with positive development in youth. The predictive individual normalized importance of gender, monthly income, class, institution type, age, residential area, academic profession, and family system was 100%, 92.7%, 63.4%, 60.5%, 56.6%, 29%, 24.3%, and 9.9% respectively in the healthy development of youth. Conclusion: Gender of adolescents along with socio-economic status based on monthly income plays a significant role in predicting positive development of their personality. This implied for implantation of any youth development intervention plan while keeping in view the perspective of gender and socio-economic status.