Measuring what matters for young people's health and well-being: an asset approach

The more opportunities young people have in childhood and adolescence to experience and accumulate positive skills and emotions, the more likely they are to achieve and sustain physical and mental well-being in later life. We know this – but the predominant focus of policy and practice has been to build programmes that try to ‘fix’ the problems of youth. In turn, we have taken a negative approach to ‘measuring what matters.’ The asset model however assumes that achieving health and wellbeing has to start with people’s capacities to take control over their lives, which means that we begin with what is working and what people care about. This article introduces the key features of the asset model and its potential to realise sustained wellbeing for young people; highlights the types of indicators that naturally stem from its principles, and discusses relevant issues for policy and practice.