For nearly 50 years, Dr. Peter C. Scales (A.B. (honors) Psychology, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Child & Family Studies, all from Syracuse University, 1971, 1973, and 1976) has been a developmental psychologist, researcher, author, and speaker, internationally recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the positive development of children and youth. With the late Dr. Peter L. Benson, he became the world’s leading researcher on the role of Developmental Assets–positive relationships, opportunities, values, attitudes, and skills–in the lives of children and youth. He was a senior leader in producing and disseminating the 40 Developmental Assets Framework, which in large measure because of his research became the most widely-cited approach to positive youth development in the world. He also co-created the institute’s more recent Developmental Relationships Framework for understanding and promoting positive, empowering relationships in young people’s lives. His special expertise is child and adolescent development, the reduction of inequities in developmental opportunities, and the development of healthy families, schools, and communities where all children and youth can thrive.
The surveys he has developed have been completed by more than 6 million elementary, middle, high school, and college-age youth worldwide. One of the surveys he helped to create, the Developmental Assets Profile (DAP), has been used to measure positive youth development in more than 30 countries outside the U.S., including in war refugee camps. Dr. Scales has overseen its translation into 30 languages other than English. He has received numerous grants, media coverage, and awards, including being named one of “America’s Visionaries for Children” by the Association of Child Advocates, and receiving the United States Administration for Children, Youth, and Families Commissioner Award for exceptional work in preventing child abuse, and a “spirit which is an inspiration to others.”
As Search Institute’s Senior Fellow for nearly 30 years, he was a major contributor to Search Institute receiving the 2018 Society for Research on Adolescence Award for Organizational Excellence in Research and Programming for Youth. The award recognizes organizations that have made a major contribution to understanding youth and improving their lives. “Search Institute has shown exemplary leadership in its research-to-practice and translational work, which has positively influenced both research on adolescence and the lives of youth from diverse backgrounds, communities, and countries. Moreover, the Developmental Assets Framework has contributed to theory and research as evidenced by its prominence in the scholarly literature. As our field attempts to make more of a difference in the lives of young people and their families and communities, we know that your efforts to stimulate relevant research and practice are paving the way.”
In addition to his scholarly work, Dr. Scales is also Pop Pop–a grandfather to two granddaughters–and Coach Pete–a tennis teaching pro, certified by the U.S. Professional Tennis Association, and Professional Tennis Registry, and head JV tennis coach at Parkway South High School in Manchester, MO, where he has coached both boys’ and girls’ teams since 2008. Coach Pete created the highly-acclaimed Compete-Learn-Honor approach to player development and coaching, that places Honor as the foundation for all learning and competitive growth. Coach Pete’s Spring 2017 boys’ team achieved the first undefeated JV tennis season in South High’s history. In 2018, the boys’ team also went undefeated, becoming the first tennis team at any level to have back-to-back undefeated seasons in South High’s nearly 50-year history. Coach Pete also has served as Mental Strength Consultant for the Washington University in St. Louis Men’s & Women’s Tennis Teams, and as a mental game columnist for Racquet Sports Industry Magazine, the National Alliance for Youth Sports, ParentingAces.com, and BetterPickleball.com, among others. With his wife Martha, he created the Winning the Mental Game series of video training courses on BetterPickleball.com.
His books, Mental and Emotional Training for Tennis: Compete-Learn-Honor (2019), and The Compete-Learn-Honor Playbook: Simple Steps to Take Your Mental & Emotional Tennis & Pickleball Game to a New Level (2022), both published by Coaches Choice, each won a Finalist in Sports award, in 2020, and 2024, in the American Book Fest competition. Reviews from staff at the United States Tennis Association and the Positive Coaching Alliance, among others, call the books “outstanding,” “exceptional,” “wise,” “practical,” “masterful,” and “inspiring.” The National High School Tennis Coaches Association called Coach Pete’s 1st Compete-Learn-Honor book one of the best books ever on the mental game. Both books are available at Amazon.com.