Youth Development in the Pacific: A Decade in Review

Historical trauma and cultural loss resulting from colonialism have contributed to educational and health disparities among Pacific youth. Recognizing the protective factors is essential for mitigating disparities and enhancing the overall well-being of these youth.

This review provides evidence about the current state of youth development among Pacific youth.

We conducted a systematic review of the literature published between 2010 and 2020, including the fields of education, social, psychological, and medical sciences. We employed qualitative data analysis of 35 peer-reviewed studies.

The majority (69%) of the studies focused on program interventions among 10–19-year-old youth at-risk primarily in New Zealand among Māori (51%) and in the U.S. among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (46%). Health interventions were common in Hawai‘i, while the New Zealand studies focused more on measuring youth resilience. Among the three outcomes identified, health/well-being was the most studied area, followed by social-emotional, and cognitive development. The outcomes suggest mainly positive effects on health and well-being, socio-emotional, and cognitive development related to Pacific youth.

While the last decade has seen a growth of culturally anchored programs, more research is needed to account for wider social, economic, and political dynamics that impact youth development, which was largely unaccounted for in the extant studies. There is a need for broader developmental frameworks that would, first, align with the context and culture of the youth’s community, and second, expand our horizon of the developmental patterns as they occur in diverse sociocultural contexts.