Research suggests that increasing egalitarianrelations between young people and adults is optimalfor healthy development; however, the empiricalassessment of shared control in youth–adult partnershipsis emerging, and the field still requires careful observation , identification, categorization and labeling . Thus, our objective is to offer a conceptual typology that identifies degrees of youth–adult participation while considering the development potential within each type. We use an empowerment framework, rootedin evidence-based findings, to identify five types of youth participation: (1) Vessel, (2) Symbolic, (3) Pluralistic, (4) Independent and (5) Autonomous. The typology is constructed as a heuristic device to provide researchers, practitioners and policy-makerswith a common language for articulating degrees of youth participation for optimal child and adolescent health