ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of positive youth development (PYD) and how this approach can be beneficially applied to research on sport contexts. Therefore, it describes one model of PYD and presents the metatheoretical assumptions that guide the application of this model to both research and practice. In particular, the chapter focuses on the ways in which this approach can contribute to the promotion of PYD through sport, with sport representing one portion of a complex, interrelated system of contexts in which youth engage. In understanding the Five Cs model with respect to youth sport participation, several considerations arise. The Relational developmental systems (RDS) metatheoretical perspective is based on the understanding that all elements of a system are fused and should be examined in relation to each other, whereas reductionist perspectives view a whole as being made up of separate parts.
