PROMOTING POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT THROUGH OUT-OF-SCHOOL-TIME (OST) ACTIVITIES: IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS FROM THE 4-H STUDY OF POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

1
PROMOTING POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT THROUGH
OUT-OF-SCHOOL-TIME (OST) ACTIVITIESIMPLICATION
S OF THE FINDINGS FROM THE 4-H STUDY OF POSITIVE
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

• Richard M. Lerner
• Institute for Applied Research in Youth
  Development
• Tufts University

2
PROMOTING POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT LEVELS OF
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ROLE OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL-TIME
ACTIVITIES

• Why should practitioners, policy makers, and
  funders, interested in promoting positive youth
  development (PYD), care about out-of-school-time
  (OST) activities?
• Are OST activities a resources for promoting PYD?
• What are the features of OST activities that are
  linked to PYD?
• What actions can enhance the importance of OST
  activities for PYD?

3
THE KEY HYPOTHESISOST ACTIVITIES ARE A VITAL
RESOURCE FOR PROMOTING PYD

• TO EVALUATE THIS HYPOTHESIS,
• WE NEED TO ADDRESS FIVE (5) QUESTIONS?
• What is positive development?
• What are the key ideas associated with the PYD
  perspective?
• What is the link believed to be between PYD and
  OST activities?
• What does research tell us about the PYD - OST
  link?
• What are the implications of research for
  practice and policy?

4

• WHAT WE THOUGHT
• WE KNEW ABOUT ADOLESCENCE
• G. Stanley Hall (1904) founded the study of
  adolescence.
• Hall defined adolescence as a period of universal
  and inevitable, biologically-based storm and
  stress
• Therefore, according to Hall, Anna Freud, and
  Erik Erikson, adolescence was a period of crisis
  and disturbance
• These ideas resulted in the view that adolescents
  were "broken" or in danger of becoming "broken"
• For almost all of the 20th century most research
  about adolescence was based on this deficit
  conception of young people

5

• HOWEVER
• As early as the 1960s, research began to show
  that the deficit model was not in fact true

6

• The Seeds of a New View of Adolescence
• Most young people do NOT have a stormy adolescent
  period
• Although adolescents spend increasingly more time
  with peers than with parents, most adolescents
  still value their relationships with parents
  enormously
• Most adolescents have core values (e.g., about
  the importance of education in ones life, about
  social justice, and about spirituality) that are
  consistent with those of their parents
• Most adolescents select friends who share these
  core values

7

• BUT DEFICIT MODELS DID NOT DIE THEY DIDNT EVEN
  SEEM TO FADE AWAY
• Into much of the 1990s most research continued to
  use the deficit model of Hall to study
  adolescence
• Literally hundreds of millions of dollars
  continue to be spent each year in the United
  States to reduce the problems caused by the
  alleged deficits of adolescents
• These problems include alcohol use and abuse
  unsafe sex and teenage pregnancy school failure
  and drop out crime and delinquency and
  depression and self-harming behaviors

8

• The Birth of a New Phase in the Scientific Study
  of Adolescence
• In the 1990s a new vision of adolescence emerged
• This is the Positive Youth Development (PYD)
  Perspective

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Key Principles of the PYD Perspective

1. Because of the potential to change, all youth
   have strengths.
2. All contexts have strengths as well. These
   strengths are resources that may be used to
   promote positive youth development.
3. These resources are termed developmental
   assets They are the social nutrients needed
   for healthy development.

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Key Principles of the PYD Perspective

1. These assets are found in families, schools,
   faith institutions, youth serving organizations,
   and the community more generally.
2. If the strengths of youth are combined with
   ecological developmental assets, then positive,
   healthy development may occur.
3. We should be optimistic that it is in our power
   to promote positive development among all youth.

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Three Key Hypotheses of the PYD Perspective

• 1. PYD is constituted by Five Cs

• The Five Cs
• Competence
• Confidence
• Character
• Connection
• Caring

Contribution
12
Three Key Hypotheses of the PYD Perspective

• 2. Across adolescence, PYD occurs when the
  strengths of young people are aligned with the
  resources for healthy development (developmental
  assets) present in their
• Families,
• Schools, and
• Communities

13
Three Key Hypotheses of the PYD Perspective

• 3. Youth Development (YD) programs constitute
  key developmental assets promoting PYD.
• YD programs are marked by the presence of the
  Big 3, that is
• Sustained, positive adult-youth relations
• Skill building activities and
• Youth participation and leadership.

14
Using the PYD Perspective to Provide New
Information About Adolescent Development and the
Role of OST Activities

• The 4-H Study
• of
• Positive Youth Development

15
TEAM TUFTS

• Amy Alberts
• Pamela Anderson
• Neda Bebiroglu
• Deborah Bobek
• Michelle Boyd
• Aerika Brittian
• Jennifer Carrano
• Elise Christiansen
• Jennifer Davison
• Dan Du
• Kristen Fay
• Yulika Forman
• Helena Jelicic

• Heidi Johnson
• Jacqueline V. Lerner
• Richard M. Lerner
• Yibing Li
• Alicia Doyle Lynch
• Lang Ma
• Maria McNamara
• Nancy Pare
• Marie Pelletier
• Erin Phelps
• Lauren White
• Nicole Zarrett
• Stacy Zimmerman

16
Design of the 4-H Study

• The 4-H Study is a longitudinal investigation
• Beginning in 5th Grade, we are following some
  youth through 12th Grade (and we hope for at
  least one year past high school)
• To adjust for the loss of participants and to
  maintain statistical power, we have added new
  students in 6th, 7th, 8th grades, etc.

17
Design of the 4-H Study

• We also are studying these new students
  longitudinally
• To date, we have sampled more than 4,000 youth
  and more than 2,000 parents
• from 25 states

18

• BOTH THE INITIAL FINDINGS OF THE 4-H STUDY,
• AND THE MORE RECENT FINDINGS, HAVE CHANGED
• RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
• IN
• YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

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Five Initial Discoveries of the 4-H Study

• 1. We can now talk about the strengths of young
  people by using a scientifically-validated set of
  positive terms
• PYD is constituted by Five Cs, and PYD is
  linked to youth Contribution

• The Five Cs
• Competence
• Confidence
• Character
• Caring
• Connection

Contribution
20

• PYD is constituted by Five Cs, and PYD
  continues to be linked to youth Contribution in
  Grade 8

• PYD, as marked by the Five Cs
• Competence
• Confidence
• Character
• Caring
• Connection

Contribution
.62
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Five Initial Discoveries of the 4-H Study

• We know now what must be done to promote PYD and
  Contribution
• Across adolescence, positive youth development
  occurs when the strengths of young people are
  aligned with the ecological resources for healthy
  development present in their communities
• (Youth Strengths Ecological Resources
  Developmental Assets)

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Five Initial Discoveries of the 4-H Study

• 3. The strengths of young people their
  internal developmental assets can be measured
  by three (3) characteristics
• Selection of goals
• Optimization (developing strategies and means for
  reaching ones goals)
• Compensation (in the face of failure or blocked
  goals)

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Five Initial Discoveries of the 4-H Study

• 4. There are four (4) Ecological Assets present
  in the Families, Schools, and Communities of
  Youth
• Individuals
• Institutions
• Collective Action
• Access
• In each setting INDIVIDUALS are always the most
  important asset!

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Five Initial Discoveries of the 4-H Study

• 5. Youth Development (YD) programs constitute key
  ecological assets promoting PYD

• YD programs are effective in promoting PYD
  because they are marked by the presence of the
  Big 3, that is
• Sustained, positive adult-youth relations
• Skill building activities and
• Youth participation and leadership.

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Summary of Key Initial Discoveries of The 4-H
Study
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Implications of the Initial Discoveries

• Practitioners can speak of overall PYD when
  discussing a thriving young person
• A tool for measuring PYD and Contribution as
  well can be derived from the 4-H Study
• The tool can be used to assess the status of
  adolescents on these indicators of healthy
  development and of program success in promoting
  contributions to, and leadership of, valued
  community programs
• We do not need to measure 40 developmental
  assets, or rely only on youth perceptions, to
  measure developmental assets

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BUILDING ON THE INITIAL DISCOVERIESIMPORTANT,
NEW DISCOVERIES OF THE 4-H STUDY

• Contrary to prior beliefs, there is not only one
  pathway for PYD
• The mantra, that the best way to prevent
  problems is to promote PYD, MUST be changed
• Using information from Grades 5, 6, 7, and 8 we
  have identified several distinct patterns of PYD,
  Contribution, and Risk/Problem behaviors

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Trajectories from Grades 5, 6, and 7
29
35
17
14
4
29
Youth participating in 2 or more waves are
included
27
37
13
17
6
30
Contribution Trajectories from Grades 5, 6, and 7
19
66
14
31
Youth participating in 2 or more waves are
included
8
24
53
15
32
High PYD Trajectory vs. Risk Behaviors from
Grades 5 to 7
Percentage of Youth in High PYD Trajectories who
are in one of Three Risk Trajectories
Increasing
1
Low, slight increase
17
82
None
33
Youth participating in 2 or more waves are
included
4
27
69
34
High PYD Trajectory vs. Depression from Grades 5
to 7
Percentage of Youth in High PYD Trajectories who
are in one of three Depression Trajectories
Increasing
15
Decreasing
5
Low, stable
80
35
Youth participating in 2 or more waves are
included
7
8
17
68
36
Percentage of Youth in the top PYD Trajectories
Across Grades 5 to 8
Gender Males 56 Females
74 Race/Ethnicity African American
66 Asian American 62 European
American 70 Latino/a 58 Multi-ethnic/raci
al 67 Residence Urban 67
Rural 63 Suburban 69
37
Percentage of Each Group in the Top PYD
Trajectories Across Grades 5 to 8
Single parent family 59 Two parent family
68 Youth hoping to graduate from college
71 Youth not hoping to graduate
39 Youth expecting to graduate from college
73 Youth not expecting to graduate
44
38
IMPLICATIONS

• Practitioners cannot use a cookie cutter, or a
  one size fits all, approach to designing or
  implementing their programs
• Youth Development (YD) programs need to be as
  rich and diverse as the developing youth engaged
  in these programs
• Practitioners need to attend to BOTH promotion
  and prevention There is not a simple inverse
  relation between PYD and risks/problems
• Practitioners should be concerned about how we
  can promote PYD and youth contribution among both
  boys and girls their development is not the
  same.

39
Expanding on Key Finding 5Youth Development
(YD) Programs Constitute Key Ecological Assets
Promoting PYD

• Across grades, youth participate in structured
  out-of-school-time activities (OSTs) at a high
  level fewer than 10 do not participate in any
  identified OST
• On average, youth participate in about three
  different types of activities each year
• However, the array of activities changes across
  grades
• In general, the more time youth spend
  participating in YD programs (participation
  intensity) the more they benefit from their
  participation

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In What Activity Groups Do Youth Participate?
Percentage of Youth Participating
Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8
None 8.8 6.8 6.4 2.3
Sports 60.8 70.3 64.1 76.8
YD Programs 26.2 35.5 32.2 35.4
School Clubs 32.0 23.4 12.4 21.2
Performing Arts 54.3 61.7 62.9 56.5
Arts 32.7 10.8 26.3 15.9
Volunteer 11.5 13.9 28.5 25.7
Faith-based 45.5 29.5 43.3 40.1
Paid Work 21.8 20.4 39.4 41.7
Dichotomized participation based on participation
of more than once a month in the activity
41
Zarrett, 2007
University of Michigan Dissertation Research on
Longitudinal Patterns of OST Activity and of
Other Uses of Time from 7th to 11th Grade

• WHAT TYPES OF ACTIVITIES WERE STUDIED?
• CONSTRUCTIVE ACTIVITIES
• OST ACTIVITIES Sports School-related
  Community-, Volunteer-, and Faith-based
  Activities Playing a Musical Instrument
• Reading, Homework, Paid Work, Household Chores
• PASSIVE ACTIVITIES
• Hanging out with Friends Watching Television

42
WHAT MAJOR CATEGORIES FOR YOUTH TIME EXPENDITURE
WERE FOUND (Across Grades 7, 9, and 11)?

• SPORTS-ONLY. Sports participation as only OST
  activities
• SPORTS ACTIVITY. High participation in sports
  and at least one other organized OST activity
• OTHER ACTIVITY. Participation in at least one
  OST activity, but this activity does not include
  sports
• LOW-ENGAGED. Little participation in any OST
  activity

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FINDINGS

• Particular activity participation pathways
  predicted higher PYD.
• The pathway of sports and at least one additional
  organized activity (Sport Activity) was linked
  to the highest levels of PYD
• Participation in sports as the only organized
  activity (Sport-Only) predicted lower levels of
  PYD

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Sport-Only vs. Sport Activities

• 11th Grade Means by Continuous Activity
  Participation

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CONCLUSIONS

• Sports participation alone, or participation in
  ANY OST activity, alone, does not tell the whole
  story of PYD
• We need to dig deeper into the impact of
  combinations of OST activities on PYD Some
  combinations of activities are more positive than
  others AND most youth participate in combinations
  of OST activities
• The 4-H Study provides excellent data for digging
  deeper

46
Participation Patterns in the 4-H Study

• We discovered Five Sports-Dominant Participation
  Patterns at Grade 7
• High-Engaged Sports, School Clubs, and many
  other activities
• Sports and Youth Development (YD) Programs
• Sports and Faith-based Youth Groups
• Sports and Performing Arts
• Sports-Only
• There are two other patterns Performing Arts
  Engaged and Non-Engaged

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Implications of Participation Patterns in Grade 7
PYD PYD Contribution Contribution Risk Behavior Risk Behavior Depression Depression
Clusters M SE M SE M SE M SE
High Engaged 74.03 1.39 56.36 1.51 1.88 .44 15.42 1.16
Sports-YD programs 73.85 1.05 55.36 1.13 1.53 .32 13.40 .87
Sports-Religious 71.05 1.03 51.50 1.13 1.24 .32 12.55 .87
Sports-Perf. Arts 71.52 .95 50.61 1.02 1.72 .29 12.81 .79
Sport-Only 69.93 .97 47.78 1.06 1.53 .30 12.33 .81
Non-Sport 68.40 .64 44.86 .69 1.78 .20 13.68 .53
Controlling for youth goal-orientation (SOC),
race, sex, SES
48
Grade 8 Matched Group Comparison of Means by
Activity Participation Types 4-H Programs vs.
Other OST Activities
Statistically Significant Difference, p lt .05
49
Grade 8 Matched Group Comparison of Means for
Educational Outcomes 4-H Programs vs. Other OST
Activities
p lt.05
50
Youth Civic Contribution Involves Eight (8)
Characteristics Grade 8

• Neighborhood Social Capital/Social Trust
• Peer Social Capital/Social Trust
• Adult Social Capital/Social Trust
• Civic Duty
• Civic Information
• Civic Voice
• Civic Helping
• Civic Activities

51
Grade 8 Matched Group Comparison of Means for
Civic Identity and Civic Engagement 4-H Programs
vs. Other OST Activities
p lt.001
p lt.001
52
Grade 8 Matched Group Comparison of Means for
Civic Identity and Civic Engagement 4-H Programs
vs. Other OST Activities
p lt.001
p lt.01
p lt.001
53
Grade 8 Matched Group Comparison of Means for
Civic Identity and Civic Engagement 4-H Programs
vs. Other OST Activities
p lt.001
54
IMPLICATIONS

• In planning their work, and with a focus on what
  is best for youth, practitioners working in any
  one OST program need to collaborate with
  practitioners involved in other OSTs
• At any one time, youth are involved in several
  programs and the nature, philosophy, message, and
  goals of these other programs can vary
• We need to integrate our messages to be clear and
  coherent to youth

55
IMPLICATIONS

• The set of programs in which youth engage changes
  substantially from one year to the next
• As a consequence, practitioners need to again
  cast their net broadly across the community to
  both track and find ways to get their message for
  youth effectively delivered
• To maximize the promotion of PYD through OST
  activity, seek to engage youth in a YD program
  (in addition to any other OST in which they
  participate)

56
NEXT STEPS FOR THE 4-H STUDY

• Only longitudinal research could have identified
  these relations
• With the continuation of the 4-H Study we will be
  able to tell a longer and richer story about the
  future development of youth and of their ultimate
  contributions to self, family, community, and
  civil society
• The study is currently continuing through the
  10th grade. We have funds for Grades 11 and 12.
• We need to continue the study at least across the
  transition to the post-High School years of work,
  college, community service, or military service

57
PROJECTED IMPACT OF THE STUDY OF OST ACTIVITIES
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ANSWERING THE REALLY BIG QUESTION ABOUT THE
ROLE OFOST ACTIVITIES

• What OST activities (e.g., actions predicated on
  the Big Three), of what duration, with what
  youth, in what communities, at what points in
  adolescence, will result in what features of
  positive youth development and youth
  contributions to self, family, community, and
  civil society?
• Or, more simply
• How do we foster through OST activities mutually
  beneficial relations between healthy youth and a
  nation marked by social justice, democracy, and
  liberty?