ABSTRACT
The concept of youth resilience—the ability of young people to mobilise internal and external resources to address challenges in their environment—has garnered significant attention from scholars and service providers in the post-COVID era. Global studies highlight trends related to deteriorating mental health, well-being, and educational outcomes among youth and adolescents. Positive Youth Development (PYD), a programmatic approach that supports SDG 4 (quality education) through promoting healthy transitions to adulthood, has demonstrated considerable promise in fostering resilience among youth through developing key protective factors. However, few studies have compared specific PYD program models to resilience frameworks to uncover the former's potential for enhancing youth resilience. This study provides a focused analysis of the 4-H Thriving Model, the program-wide practice model guiding 4-H programs throughout the United States. I present a conceptual comparison and analysis of the Thriving Model alongside Kempfer and colleagues’ resilience framework to explore the model's potential to promote resilience among youth program participants. The paper concludes with essential questions for researchers concerning the need to explore further the 4-H Thriving Model and its impact on resilience among youth.
