The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence

Pamela Ebstyne King serves as research assistant professor of psychology in the Center for Research in Child and Adolescent Development in the School of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Her primary research and teaching interests include positive youth development, spiritual and moral development, and theological perspectives of development. She is particularly interested in enabling thriving through families, congregations, schools, and youth-serving organizations. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Dr. King has a background in child, youth, and adult ministry; a master’s of divinity; and Ph.D. in family studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. She was a visiting scholar under the Divinity Faculty at Cambridge University and did her postdoctoral work at the Stanford Center on Adolescence. Dr. King is a coauthor of The Reciprocating Self: Human Development in Theological Perspective (2005). Her research has been published in Developmental Psychology, Applied Developmental Science, the Journal of Early Adolescence, and the Journal of Psychology and Christianity.

Linda M. Wagener is associate professor of psychology and associate dean of the graduate school of psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary, where she is also codirector of the Center for Research in Child and Adolescent Development. Her research interests include positive youth development, with a particular focus on the spiritual, religious, and moral development of adolescence. Dr. Wagener is currently a principal investigator on an adolescent violence prevention grant from the United States Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Peter L. Benson is president of Search Institute, which provides leadership, knowledge, and resources to promote healthy children, youth, and communities. He has written extensively in adolescent development, altruism, spiritual development, and thriving in adolescence. He serves as principal investigator for Search Institute’s initiative on spiritual development in childhood and adolescence. In 1991, he received the William James Award for career contributions to the psychology of religion from the American Psychological Association. Dr. Benson is the author or editor of numerous books and articles, including Developmental Assets and Asset-Building Communities, All Kids Are Our Kids: What Communities Must Do to Raise Caring and Responsible Children and Adolescents, and Religion on Capitol Hill: Myths and Realities. He is general editor for the Search Institute Series on Developmentally Attentive Community and Society, published by Springer. He holds a doctorate in experimental social psychology from the University of Denver.