Character Education, Prevention, and Positive Youth Development
Victor Battistich
University of Missouri, St. Louis
Schools today face enormous challenges in educating all of the young people in their charge. In
addition to providing youth with basic academic knowledge and skills, and promoting their
character development, schools have increasingly been called upon to play a primary role in
helping to solve a variety of social problems among youth. Although, historically, schools have
always had responsibility for both academic and character development, the sheer number of
areas to be addressed in the curriculum today may seem overwhelming. This situation has
recently become even more daunting with the passage of the No Child Left Behind legislation,
with its mandated "high stakes" testing and accountability system for demonstrating school
effectiveness. However, the situation may not be as dire as it seems. In the past 15 years, a
growing body of theory and research in the area of character education suggests that a well-
conceived and conducted character education program may be an effective means of addressing
all of these seemingly disparate goals. The purpose of this paper is to summarize and synthesize
this evidence.
1
Research suggests that comprehensive, high quality character education, as defined
below, is not only effective at promoting the development of good character, but is a promising
approach to the prevention of a wide range of contemporary problems. These include aggressive
and antisocial behaviors, drug use, precocious sexual activity, criminal activities, academic
under-achievement, and school failure. Each of these problems, individually, has been addressed
through a variety of approaches, and some of these approaches have been found to be reasonably
effective, although many have not. However, there is increasing evidence that character
education programs focused on the broader goal of promoting the overall positive development
of youth are at least as effective as more specific programs aimed at preventing particular
negative behaviors.
2
1
This research is not reviewed in detail here as several excellent comprehensive reviews have recently been
published: Catalano, R. F., Berglund, M. L., Ryan, J. A. M., Lonczak, H. S., & Hawkins, J. D. (2002). Positive
youth development in the United States: Research findings on evaluations of Positive Youth Development
Programs. Prevention and Treatment, 5, Article 15. Available on the World Wide Web:
http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume5/pre0050015a.html
; Clayton, C. J., Ballif-Spanvill, B., & Hunsaker, M.
D. (2001). Preventing violence and teaching peace: A review of promising and effective antiviolence, conflict-
resolution, and peace programs for elementary school children. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 10, 1-35;
Greenberg, M. T., Domitrovich, C., & Bumbarger, B. (2001). The prevention of mental disorders in school-aged
children: Current state of the field. Prevention and Treatment, 4, Article 1. Available on the World Wide Web:
http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume4/pre0040001a.html
; Payton, J. W., et al. (2000). Social and emotional
learning: A framework for promoting mental health and reducing risk behaviors in children and youth. Journal of
School Health, 70, 179-185; Sherman, L. W. et al. (1998, July). Preventing crime: What works, what doesn’t, what’s
promising. Research in Brief. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. Available
on the World Wide Web:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij
; Solomon, D., Watson, M. S., & Battistich, V. A. (2001).
Teaching and schooling effects on moral/prosocial development. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of research on
teaching (4th ed., pp. 566-603). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
2
See, for example: Battistich, V., Schaps, E., Watson, M., Solomon, D., & Lewis, C. (2000). Effects of the Child
Development Project on students’ drug use and other problem behaviors. Journal of Primary Prevention, 21, 75-99;
1
In addition to reducing the risk of involvement in negative behaviors, character education
has the important additional benefits of helping youth to develop positive personal and social
attitudes and skills that will help them to lead satisfying and productive lives, and to become
active and effective citizens in our democratic society. From a policy perspective, this suggests
that an effective character education program may be a more cost-effective approach to
increasing learning, fostering prosocial behaviors, and preventing a variety of social problems
than the implementation of multiple, more specific school-based programs aimed at influencing
particular behavioral outcomes.
Although the concept of prevention is readily understood, the term character education
means quite different things to different people. Before addressing how character education helps
to prevent social problems, it is important to define what we mean by character and what we
mean by character education.
What is Character?
To some, having character simply means “following the rules.” If you do what you are asked (or
told), avoid becoming involved with drugs or gangs, do your schoolwork and graduate from
school, and find useful employment, then you have character. This certainly is relevant to
character, but is far from sufficient. As understood here, character refers to a much broader
constellation of attitudes, behaviors, motivations, and skills. It is more than simply avoiding
involvement in socially undesirable behaviors. Character includes attitudes such as the desire to
do one’s best and being concerned about the welfare of others; intellectual capacities such as
critical thinking and moral reasoning; behaviors such as being honest and responsible, and
standing up for moral principles in the face of injustice; interpersonal and emotional skills that
enable us to interact effectively with others in a variety of circumstances; and the commitment to
contribute to one’s community and society. Stated simply, character is the realization of one’s
positive development as a person—intellectually, socially, emotionally, and ethically. To be a
person of good character is to be the best person that one can be.
It is important to strongly emphasize the social aspect of character. Having good
character does not simply mean being competent as an individual. Good character also includes
being committed to making positive contributions to one’s community, and to promoting a
democratic way of life based upon justice, equality, and respect for all people. Good character
also does not mean always conforming to the status quo, but requires “breaking the rules” on
occasion if demanded by conscience.
What is Character Education?
Berkowitz, M. W. (2000). Character education as prevention (pp. 37-45). In W. B. Hansen, S. M. Giles, and M. D.
Fearnow-Kenney (Eds.), Improving prevention effectiveness. Greensboro, NC: Tanglewood Research; Yoshikawa,
H. (1994). Prevention as cumulative protection: Effects of early family support and education on chronic
delinquency and its risks. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 28-54.
2
Just as we define character broadly, we define character education as the deliberate use of all
dimensions of school life to foster optimal character development. This comprehensive approach
to character education utilizes every aspect of schooling—the content of the curriculum, the
process of instruction, the quality of relationships, the handling of discipline, the conduct of co-
curricular activities and the ethos of the total school environment—to foster good character in all
school members. While recognizing the primary role that parents rightfully play in the character
development of their children, we also affirm the essential role that schools must play in
promoting students’ character development and preparing them to be effective citizens.
The goals of character education are thus essentially the goals of raising good children:
youth who understand, care about, and act upon the core ethical values (such as diligence,
compassion, integrity, and fairness) that make for a productive, just, and democratic society. As
they grow in character, young people grow in their capacity and commitment to do their best
work, do the right thing, and lead lives of purpose. Effective character education involves
creating the kinds of classroom and school environments that enable all students, without
exception, to realize their potential to achieve these vital goals.
The Character Education Partnership (CEP) has identified 11 broad principles as defining
a comprehensive approach to character education:
3
• Promote core ethical values as the basis of good character.
• Define character comprehensively to include thinking, feeling, and behavior.
• Use a comprehensive, intentional, proactive, and effective approach.
• Create a caring school community.
• Provide students with opportunities to engage in moral action.
• Provide a meaningful and challenging curriculum that helps all students to succeed.
• Foster students’ intrinsic motivation to learn and to be good people.
• Engage school staff as professionals in a learning and moral community.
• Foster shared moral leadership and long-term support for character education.
• Engage families and community members as partners in character education.
• Evaluate the character of the school, its staff, and its students to inform the character
education effort.
3
Lickona, T., Schaps, E., & Lewis, C. (2003). CEP’s Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education.
Washington, DC: Character Education Partnership.
3
Character Education as the Core Concept of Positive Youth Development
For many years the disciplines of character education, civic education, moral development,
social and emotional learning, service learning, and prevention have been distinct areas of
scientific inquiry and educational intervention. Recently, however, these seemingly disparate
areas of theory and school-based intervention have begun to converge. Although there is not yet
complete consensus on terminology, many scientists and practitioners are coming to agree that
this convergence is accurately represented by what we have defined above as comprehensive
character education.
How Does Character Education Relate to the Prevention of Problem Behaviors?
Public schools in this country were founded to foster citizens capable of self-rule and
contribution to the common good. Although the prominence of this educational goal has waxed
and waned in the U.S. over the decades, the past two federal administrations, as well as most
states and thousands of communities, have firmly supported the importance of schools’
developing good character in youth.
Character education, done early and well, appears to put students on a path toward
successful life outcomes, and is therefore an approach to primary prevention. A good character
education program establishes a reinforcing system of positive influences that help youth to deal
effectively with life and avoid becoming involved in negative behaviors. Moreover, it does so
largely before such problems emerge, as opposed to trying to intervene after the young person
has already become enmeshed in a social system that supports antisocial attitudes and
behaviors.
4
For many years, the field of prevention was focused on the idea that people involved in
problematic behaviors had some individual “deficits” that put them “at risk” of such
involvement. More recently, two alternative concepts have come to prominence—these are the
notions of resilience and health promotion. Resilience refers to the fact that many people who are
exposed to adverse life circumstances do not succumb to involvement in negative behaviors.
5
That is, they appear to have assets or protective factors in their lives that enable them to cope
effectively with environmental stressors. Health promotion is the educational enactment of
resilience: the explicit attempt of schools (and other social institutions) to help children and
youth to develop the capacities to succeed in life as individuals and members of society.
How is it that so many youth exposed to adverse life circumstances manage to survive, or
even thrive, and what can schools do to promote this? A variety of evidence converges on the
4
This is not to suggest that having an effective primary prevention program will be sufficient to prevent all students
from becoming involved in problem behaviors, or that youth who have already become involved in problem
behaviors will not benefit from exposure to a primary prevention program. However, for students with relatively
severe difficulties in life, and who may have become deeply involved in unhealthy actions, a targeted, secondary
prevention program may also be required to prevent even more serious difficulties later in life.
5
See Werner, E. E., & Smith, R. S. (1982). Vulnerable but invincible: A longitudinal study of resilient children and
youth. New York: McGraw-Hill.
4
importance of belonging as a critical component of doing well in life: that is, the feeling that one
is a competent, contributing, and valued member of a prosocial group.
6
This evidence comes
from both basic research on effective schooling and evaluations of school-based intervention
programs. Although not all of these studies have examined the same outcomes for youth, they
collectively have examined effects on a wide range of contemporary social problems, and their
findings consistently indicate that young people who attend schools where they feel accepted,
competent, and valued are much less likely to become involved in problem behaviors.
7
One important piece of this evidence comes from an ongoing longitudinal study of a
nationally-representative sample of adolescents. This research has found that, along with positive
relationships with one’s family, a sense of connectedness to school is the most significant
protective factor for every problem behavior examined, including alcohol and drug abuse,
violence and delinquency, and early sexual activity and teenage pregnancy.
8
Consistent with
these findings, evaluations of a number of positive youth development programs for elementary
schools have found long-term positive effects on students’ involvement in problem behaviors.
One example is the Seattle Social Development Project, an elementary school intervention that
has followed program and comparison children into early adulthood. This study found significant
positive effects on drug use, delinquent behaviors, and precocious sexual activity, as well as
improved academic attitudes and achievement.
9
Another is the Child Development Project,
which has been evaluated in a number of studies and has been found not only to promote
children’s general positive development, but to have significant preventive effects on students’
involvement in problem behaviors at least throughout the middle school years.
10
Both of these
6
See: Baumeister, R. F., and Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a
fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497-529; Osterman, K. F. (2000). Students’ need
for belonging in the school community. Review of Educational Research. 70, 323-367.
7
See: Battistich, V., & Hom, A. (1997). The relationships between students’ sense of their school as a community
and their involvement in problem behaviors. American Journal of Public Health, 87, 1997-2001; Bryk, A. S., &
Driscoll, M. E. (1988). The school as community: Theoretical foundations, contextual influences, and consequences
for students and teachers. Madison: National Center on Effective Secondary Schools. University of Wisconsin;
Goodenow, C. (1993). Classroom belonging among early adolescent students: Relationships to motivation and
achievement. Journal of Early Adolescence, 13, 21-43.
8
Blum, R. W., McNeely, C. A., & Rinehart, P. M. (2002). Improving the odds: The untapped power of schools to
improve the health of teens. Minneapolis, MN: Center for Adolescent Health and Development, University of
Minnesota.; Resnick, M. D., Bearman, P. S., Blum, R. W., Bauman, K. E., Harris, K. M., Jones, J., Tabor, J.,
Beuhring, T., Sieving, R. E., Shew, M., Ireland, M., Bearinger, L. H., & Udry, J. R. (1997). Protecting adolescents
from harm: Findings from the national longitudinal study on adolescent health. Journal of the American Medical
Association, 278, 823-832.
9
Hawkins, J. D., Catalano, R. F., Kosterman, R., Abbott, R., & Hill, K. G. (1999). Preventing adolescent health-risk
behaviors by strengthening protection during childhood. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 153, 226-
234.
10
Battistich, V., Schaps, E., Watson, M., Solomon, D., & Lewis, C. (2000). Effects of the Child Development
Project on students’ drug use and other problem behaviors. Journal of Primary Prevention, 21, 75-99; Battistich,
V., Schaps, E., & Wilson, N. (2004). Effects of an elementary school intervention on students' "connectedness" to
school and social adjustment during middle school. Journal of Primary Prevention, 24, 243-262.
5
programs have identified students’ feelings of belonging to school as a primary reason for their
positive effects.
The findings of these studies and related research clearly suggest that schools that focus
on promoting the overall positive development of youth (i.e., character education) by creating
caring and supportive environments where students feel that they belong also effectively prevent
the involvement of their students in a variety of problem behaviors. But why should this be the
case? As suggested above, the central issue is the importance of positive interpersonal
relationships to human development.
The Critical Importance of Relationships to Positive Human Development
If we have learned nothing else about preventing negative life outcomes among our youth, we
know that having a caring and supportive relationship with at least one adult is extremely
important for healthy development (see footnote 5). Certainly for most youth, parents provide
this essential relational context. Unfortunately, for many young people today, such positive
relationships with a caring adult are not readily available within their immediate family or their
surrounding community. This reality creates a more compelling reason for schools to fulfill their
character development mission and to create the kind of social environments where students feel
accepted, supported, and valued as contributing members of the school community and thus,
ultimately, as members of our larger society.
The crucial point from the perspective of prevention is that schools must be places that
foster students’ positive development not just in academics, but in the emotional, ethical, moral,
and social aspects of their lives as well. In short, schools must become health promoting
environments, where young people acquire the abilities, inclinations, motivation, and values to
succeed in their lives.
11
This, in fact, is what character education is all about. By providing youth
with a supportive school environment, especially during their childhood years, their
psychological needs to feel that they belong to a community where there they are competent and
influential will be satisfied,
12
and they will therefore want to remain part of the school
community and be inclined to adopt its positive social norms and values. Under such
circumstances, the school is a social context where youth can acquire the abilities and knowledge
they need to succeed in school (and later in life), and the motivation to become effective
democratic citizens. Children thus are set on a developmental trajectory that increases their
opportunities for positive life outcomes, and decreases their likelihood for involvement in
problem behaviors (see footnote 10).
How Can Schools and Teachers Promote Positive Development?
11
Battistich, V., Schaps, E., Watson, M., & Solomon, D. (1996). Prevention effects of the Child Development
Project: Early findings from an ongoing multisite demonstration trial. Journal of Adolescent Research, 11, 12-35;
Hawkins, J. D., & Catalano, R. F. (1990). Broadening the vision of education: Schools as health promoting
environments. Journal of School Health, 60, 178-181.
12
See Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New
York: Plenum; Also see footnote 6.
6
Fortunately, a number of school-based programs recently have provided convincing research
evidence both of promoting children’s character development, and of being effective approaches
to building resilience and reducing risk for involvement in such behaviors as alcohol and drug
use, aggression, and precocious sexual activity.
13
These programs include interventions for pre-
kindergarten through 12
th
grade, so there are research-based curricula and supporting staff
development available for teachers from preschool through secondary school who wish to enact
effective approaches to promoting positive youth development and preventing involvement in
negative behaviors. Although these specific programs differ in may ways in their particular
emphases and practices, they include several common elements that are consistent with CEPs 11
principles:
• Build caring and supportive relationships in the classroom and throughout the school. First
and foremost, the school environment must be one characterized by safety, mutual trust,
respect, and concern for the welfare of others. This begins, of course, with the classroom
teacher, who needs to try to establish a positive, personal relationship with each of his/her
students. This will not always be easy, but even with very difficult students it can be
accomplished,
14
and it establishes the essential foundation for positive development.
However, while a positive teacher-student relationship is necessary, it is not sufficient. The
teacher also must create an environment where relationships among students are caring and
supportive. This can begin as simply as providing opportunities for students to get to know
one another as individuals, and opportunities for students to work together toward common
goals, such as through cooperative learning.
• Model positive behavior (i.e., “walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk”). An essential part of
establishing a caring and supportive classroom environment is for the teacher to model caring
and respectful behavior in his/her interactions with students. Whatever the rhetoric in the
classroom, students are very attuned to their teacher’s actual behavior and will reflect on
what they observe, not only with respect to the particular circumstances, but more
importantly, with respect to their developing understanding of the nature of the world they
live in. In the process of developing their own identities, students seek role models that help
them to personally understand what it means to be a good person and effective citizen, and
their teachers are influential in this process. Being a good role model also includes being an
advocate (although not an indoctrinator) for basic social and moral values (see “moral
discourse,” below). Thus, teachers not only should exemplify positive relationships in the
classroom, but should express their own opinions about right and wrong when warranted by
circumstances, provided that this is done from a stance of reason rather than simply authority.
• Create opportunities for students to be actively and meaningfully involved in the life of the
classroom and school. Most schools are autocratic environments where students essentially
13
See: Berkowitz, M. W., & Bier, M. C. (2005). What works in character education: A research-driven guide for
educators. Washington, DC: Character Education Partnership. Available on the World Wide Web:
http://www,character.org/files/p
ractitioners_518.pdf; Greenberg, M. T., Weisberg, R. P.., O’Brien, M. U., Zins, J.
E., Fredericks, L., Resnick, H., & Elias, M. (2003). Enhancing school-based prevention and youth development
through coordinated social, emotional, and academic learning. American Psychologist, 58, 466-474; Also see
reviews listed in footnote 5.
14
See Watson, M. S., & Ecken, L. (2004). A matter of trust. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
7
have no say in how the classroom, much less the school, operates. Yet, as noted above,
providing young people with the skills and inclinations they need to succeed in life as
productive citizens in our democratic society requires that they have opportunities to develop
these capacities. To do so, schools must become more democratic environments where
students make decisions, act on them, and reflect upon the results of these actions. A well-
established and effective approach to accomplishing this is through the frequent use of class
meetings—at the beginning of the school year to involve students in establishing classroom
norms and rules, and throughout the year to involve them in decision-making about
classroom activities and in helping to resolve the inevitable problems that develop in school
and other social settings.
15
Class meetings also provide excellent opportunities for helping
students to develop interpersonal skills and their understanding of democratic processes.
• Teach essential social and emotional skills. Although creating classroom practices,
structures, and a positive climate are very important, this, in itself, is not enough for all
children. An essential part of promoting students’ positive development includes the direct
teaching of social-emotional skills, such as listening when others are talking, recognizing and
managing emotions, disagreeing respectively, and resolving conflicts through non-violent
means that respect the needs of both parties.
• Involve students in moral discourse. It has been persuasively argued that discussion about
moral issues is the essence of educating children to be prosocial, moral people.
16
Teachers
need to engage students in meaningful dialog about what it means to be a caring, fair, and
responsible person if they are to develop the understanding and skills they need to be
successful in life, and avoid the pitfalls of involvement in negative behaviors. Young people
are actively striving to understand themselves and the world in which they live, and they
certainly need guidance to accomplish this. Because schooling, like any social enterprise,
inevitably involves social and moral issues and conflicts, teachers can and should take
advantage of these “teachable moments” to further develop their students’ understanding of
the meaning and importance of core social values. Class meetings provide one mechanism
for engaging students in such discussions. Another is the use of literature and the media to
involve students in dialog about what it means to be a good person and the potential
outcomes of different life circumstances and decisions.
• Make learning tasks meaningful and relevant to students’ lives. Although the academic
curriculum may seem removed from the goals of character education and prevention, it is, in
fact, a very important part of creating a school environment where students feel that they
belong and of promoting their positive development. For too many youth, much of what they
are asked to do in school seems an exercise that has little or nothing to do with their “real”
lives. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that many youth lose interest in school
and, too often, disengage from school and drop out. This is particularly true for young people
15
See, for example: Kriete, R., & Bechtel, L. (2002). The morning meeting book. Greenfield, MA: Northeast
Foundation for Children; Developmental Studies Center. (1996). Ways we want our class to be: Class meetings that
build commitment to kindness and learning. Oakland, CA: Author.
16
See: Oser, F. K. (1986). Moral education and values education: The discourse perspective. In M. C. Wittrock
(Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching. Third edition (pp. 917-941). New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
8
who are most at-risk of becoming involved in problem behaviors. One important way to keep
this from happening is for teachers to help students to see how what they are learning in
school is important to their lives outside of school. This can be done by engaging young
people in discussions about how particular learning subjects will be important in helping
them to achieve their personal aspirations, and by connecting the academic curriculum to
their lives outside of school, such as engaging them with their families and community
members in academically-relevant activities.
17
• Leave no child behind. The full measure of a successful school includes educating all
students to realize their full potential by helping them to develop their unique talents and
abilities, and by inspiring their growth intellectually, ethically, socially, and emotionally. A
student may be relatively poor at basic academic subjects (as assessed by current, norm-
referenced achievement tests), yet be exceptional in music, athletics, or art. If, as suggested
above, a sense of connection to school is critical to prevention and the overall positive
development of youth, then it is imperative for schools to provide diverse opportunities for
students to demonstrate their individual competencies. When multiple avenues exist for
making a meaningful contribution to the school community and demonstrating one’s talents
and abilities, the proportion of youth who value their school and demonstrate the motivation
and effort needed to do as well as they can at school is likely to increase, resulting in overall
improvements in student performance in many areas, including “high-stakes” assessments.
Conclusions
The primary argument advanced here is that, by having schools focus on comprehensive
character education—i.e., promoting the positive development of young people, not just
academically but also emotionally, ethically, and socially—they may not only promote students’
overall positive development as individuals and citizens, but also effectively prevent the
occurrence of a wide range of current social problems among our youth. Research evidence from
many well-designed and conducted studies indicates that this more comprehensive approach
could be a much more efficient and cost-effective approach to prevention than the adoption of a
multitude of individual programs, each of which is focused on a particular social problem. The
scientific evidence in support of this viewpoint is now sufficiently broad and convincing that
practitioners and policy makers should seriously consider the merits of this broader approach to
helping our youth avoid the many pitfalls of life, and to developing their fullest capacities as
caring and competent people, and as responsible citizens.
From a policy perspective, another important point is to emphasize primary prevention—
to establish programs that put children on positive developmental trajectories early in life, before
they have become deeply involved in problematic behaviors and are enmeshed in systems of
negative influences that may be very resistant to change. Consistent with this recommendation, it
has been known for many years that investing resources early in the course of children’s
development not only has a broad range of positive effects on developmental outcomes, but
17
See, for example: Dalton, J., & Watson. M. (1997). Among friends: Classrooms where caring and learning
prevail. Oakland, CA: Developmental Studies Center; Developmental Studies Center. (1994). At home in our
schools. Oakland, CA: Author.
9
results in significant reductions in monetary and other societal costs throughout the life course.
18
Character education is such an approach to primary prevention and positive youth development,
with the added benefits of fostering academic achievement and character development for all
students.
Character Education Partnership would like to thank the following individuals for their work in
preparing this literature; Kristin Fink, Thomas Lickona, Charles Haynes, Marvin Berkowitz and
Roger Weissberg.
18
See, for example: Weber, C. U., Foster, P. W., & Weikart, D. P. (1978). An economic analysis of the Ypsilanti
Perry Preschool Project. (Monographs of the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, No. 5.) Ypsilanti, MI:
High/Scope Press.
10
