Empowered Pathways: A Qualitative Study of Positive Youth Development, Personality and Well-Being in South Africa

This qualitative study explores how personality characteristics and positive youth development (PYD) are experienced among emerging adults in an African context, specifically focusing on the Taung Village in South Africa’s North West Province. The research is situated within a rural South African community where young people face persistent structural challenges, including poverty, educational inequality, unemployment, and limited access to mental health services, all of which constrain psychosocial well-being. Evidence suggests that marginalised youth in South Africa experience heightened vulnerabilities due to systemic inequalities that affect mental health and developmental outcomes (Greater Taung Draft Annual Report, 2023; Ntuli et al., 2020; Shirima & Naudé, 2024). These challenges are particularly pronounced during the transition from adolescence to adulthood, a critical phase for identity formation, emotional regulation, and future planning (Camiré et al., 2023; Gradin, 2018; Theron &Theron, 2010). PYD is a strengths-based framework that captures personal resources and competencies of young people that help them to flourish when nurtured by supportive environments with meaningful growth opportunities (Gonzalez et al., 2020; Lerner et al., 2005). According to Lerner et al. (2005; 2015; 2021), positive development during emerging adulthood is characterised by the Five Cs: confidence, competence, character, connection, and caring, which are understood to predict the ‘6th C,’ Contribution. The integration of critical thinking into the model has since introduced a ‘7th C,’ creativity, which emphasises awareness of social inequalities and a commitment to addressing them (Gonzalez et al., 2020). These personal resources are theorised to help individuals to positively contribute to their communities. As such, fostering PYD in emerging adults can serve as a pathway to promoting meaningful social change (Lerner et al., 2005). Simultaneously, personality and identity development during adolescence and emerging adulthood are widely recognised as critical factors influencing young people’s behaviour, adaptation to life transitions, and subsequent life outcomes. Research has shown that adolescence and emerging adulthood are marked by significant changes in personality, which are closely linked to identity formation and psychosocial adjustment (Bleidorn et al., 2022; Roberts et al., 2006). Traits such as conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience have been positively associated with indicators of PYD, including competence and confidence (Mbuh, 2024). These findings suggest that dispositional characteristics play a foundational role in shaping the individuals’ developmental trajectories (Bleidorn et al., 2022). Moreover, the PYD framework provides a valuable lens for understanding how these dispositional traits and psychosocial processes extend into emerging adulthood. PYD emphasises strengths such as competence, confidence, connection, character, caring, contribution and creativity, which collectively promote adaptive functioning and well-being (Lerner et al., 2005). These attributes not only support thriving during adolescence but also facilitate successful navigation of the developmental transitions characteristic of emerging adulthood, including increased autonomy, identity exploration, and the assumption of adult roles (Arnett, 2014; Schwartz et al., 2016). In this sense, PYD processes contribute to continuity in positive adaptation by fostering self-regulation, purpose, and social connectedness that underpin resilient adjustment and flourishing across the transition to adulthood (Geldhof et al., 2019). Studies by Li et al. (2021) have demonstrated that participation in structured PYD programmes significantly enhances self-concept and moral identity. These attributes are strongly tied to evolving personality structures during adolescence and emerging adulthood. Their findings underscore the importance of developmental supports in shaping dispositional and promoting holistic youth development (Buenconsejo et al., 2025; Li et al., 2021). Although PYD has been widely examined in Western contexts, limited attention has been given to how personality and PYD constructs are experienced and expressed in the lived realities of African emerging adults. While some PYD research and program evaluations have begun in African countries (e.g., Lerner et al., 2019, 2021; Tirrell et al., 2023; 2025a, 2025b), there remains a critical need for contextually grounded studies that advance the positive development of youth across the majority world (Archibald et al., 2021; Chowa et al., 2023; Rajagopal et al., 2022). Specifically, existing personality measures and PYD frameworks are predominantly Western-centric, often overlooking indigenous understandings of character, resilience, and competence that may better reflect African realities. Scholars have argued that Western-developed PYD models do not fully capture the cultural nuances and developmental assets distinctive to African societies (Mbuh, 2024; Wiium, 2018). The scarcity of qualitative, context-sensitive research further limits understanding of how PYD and personality interact within environments shaped by poverty, communal values, and traditional support systems (Anderson, 2017; Chilisa, 2012). Without incorporating culturally embedded perspectives, PYD research risks misrepresenting the lived experiences of African youth. This study explores how African youth understand and experience thriving by examining the pathways through which personality and the core constructs of PYD, competence, confidence, connection, character, caring, contribution, and creativity are expressed and negotiated within their sociocultural realities. Guided by a reflexive thematic approach and an emic perspective (Kagitcibasi, 2007; Nsamenang, 2006), the study centres on youths’ lived experiences and cultural interpretations to illuminate shared and diverse meanings of thriving in African contexts. This study begins from the premise that PYD and personality represent two different yet complementary frameworks for understanding and promoting emerging adults’ psychological well-being across diverse contexts. While PYD emphasises developmental strengths such as competence, confidence, connection, character, caring, contribution, and creativity (Gonzalez et al., 2020; Lerner et al., 2005), personality frameworks focus on unique, relatively stable and enduring patterns of thoughts, emotions, and behaviours (Bleidorn et al., 2022; Kang & Malvaso, 2024). These two complex and multifaceted constructs are both influenced by culture and environmental factors. However, the precise lived experiences that link these frameworks, and how young people themselves understand and navigate them, remain unclear, particularly in African contexts. To address this gap, the study focuses on how African youth understand and experience thriving by examining the pathways through which personality and the full range of PYD constructs are expressed, shaped, and negotiated within their sociocultural realities (Ayoub & Roberts, 2020; Buenconsejo et al., 2025). This study aims to explore how African emerging adults understand and experience thriving by looking at how personality and the core constructs of PYD are expressed and negotiated within their sociocultural contexts. Data collection will focus on emerging adults aged 18–23 years residing in Taung, South Africa. This study employs methodological triangulation by integrating focus groups, the dream weaving path technique, and photovoice to enhance the richness and credibility of the data. Focus groups will facilitate collective dialogue and shared meaning-taking among emerging adults, while the dream weaving path technique will enable participants to narrate personal growth and reflect on personality as developmental strengths (LaMarre & Chamberlain, 2022). Photovoice will complement these methods by offering a visual medium through which participants can depict their lived experiences through photography, fostering deeper engagement and meaning-making. Recent applications of photovoice have demonstrated its value in amplifying community voices and informing contextually relevant interventions (Mathikithela & Wood, 2021; Stephens et al., 2023; Suprapto et al., 2020). Taken together, these techniques will illuminate how personality and PYD constructs such as connection, contribution, and caring foster well-being in emerging adults (Anderson, 2017). This triangulated approach aligns with best practices in qualitative inquiry, enhancing interpretive depth and allowing participants to express insights that may be difficult to articulate through verbal methods alone (Creswell & Poth, 2023; Flick, 2026). Reflexive thematic analysis will then be employed to generate recurring patterns and unique contextual themes (Braun & Clarke, 2022) that will contribute to the understanding of personality and PYD outcomes. Throughout the research process, reflexivity and cultural sensitivity will be prioritised to ensure that findings authentically represent participants’ perspectives.