Wednesday, October 27, 2010

On Community Programs for Youth and Complexity of Transition to Adulthood

Community Programs to Promote Youth Development/National Academy Press, 2002.
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cIoUoTeBZqwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=youth+developmentots=tKs2ISNPocsig=muXHJ2zm5BM2Uhg180WLPUubEbw#v=onepage&q&f=true

Adolescence is an important period between childhood and adulthood.  It is the time when youth need to acquire attitudes, competencies, values, and social skills that will carry them forward to a successful adulthood. That is why adolescents need a great amount of help, guidance, instruction, and discipline to help them make their way to adulthood.  Community programs for youth provide these sources of supports. They exist in many forms: special clubs, service programs,sport leagues, academic enrichment programs, etc.

Today such programs receive increased funding from diverse federal agencies, and state and local governments.  Private foundations have also expanded their support of community programs for youth. Besides, there is an increased public understanding that organized programs for youth can prevent problem behavior in children and adolescents, as well as promote their health, development, and well-being. 

Youth in 1960s and today

Adolescent development has become increasingly complex. The author gives a very interesting comparison of young people living in the 1960's and today's youth. Back in the early 60s, young people finished high school and either went to college or entered the job market. They usually got married and began families n early 20s. Which means adolescents launched into adulthood in early 20s. Now it is not the case at all. Rapid demographic, sociocultural, and labor-market changes have extended adolescents well into the 20s. The median age for marriage is in the late 20s. The number of youth involved in postsecondary education have increased dramatically. 

Risks confronted by youth 
One of the problems that enhances complexity of transition to adulthood is widespread risks that youth confront.  For example, in the U.S. in the past decade the use and access to alcohol and drugs have increased. Here the author makes some observations which I found especially interesting:

Alcohol 
  • Ecstasy has become the most frequently mentioned drug in telephone calls to the Poison Control Center;
  • A review of top-selling popular songs found alcohol mentioned in 47% of rap music lyrics;
  • In television shows, 9 out of 10 drinkers of alcohol are portrayed as experiencing no negative effect, moreover, positive social and personal outcomes are shown.

Violence
  • By age 18, average young person will have viewed an estimated 200,000 acts of violence on television alone;
  • The incidence of gangs in schools has almost doubled in the last 10 years, which has been linked with increased gun possession among adolescents. 
Programs to combat these trends may be helpful. The idea of positive youth development programs has emerged other time based on the idea that schools have to be supported and complemented by partners in the local communities. 

The reading is very interesting in general, the only drawback I saw is that most of the data go back to 1990s, so there is no recent data. 

Youth Participation and Myths Related to It

Jennifer L. O'Donogue, Benjamin Kirshner, Milbrey McLaughlin. Moving Youth Participation Forward/Jossey-Bass. San Francisco, 2002, #96. 

In the past several decades, the concept of youth participation has become a hot topic. Today, it is an international phenomenon occurring in multiple settings and on various levels. Youth participation has been linked to organizational sustainability and effectiveness, as long as to national economic and political development. However, there is a lot of confusion about what youth participation means, what it looks like, and what it involves. 

The most common definitions is as follows: "Youth participation is a set of activities that empower adolescents to take part in and influence decision making that affects their lives and to take actions on issues they care about".

The paradox regarding youth participation is that despite its presence on different levels all around the world, young people often have to struggle to convince adults they have rights to engage in organizational and public decision making and action. For that, a clear understanding of youth participation is required, which is often challenged by common myths. 

Myths
1. Youth participation is accomplished by placing one youth on a board or committee
2. Youth participation means that adults surrender their roles as guides and educators
3. Adults are ready for youth participation
4. Youth are ready to participate


My comments on the above myths

The author raises a very interesting topic of preparedness of both the youth and adults to youth participation. Adults need ongoing training on how to support youth and how to serve as adult allies. Youth participation is not an independent process free of a certain level of control. It needs to be guided and directed by adults. Though this at times also seems to be rather challenging, because the role of adults as guides and educators is not well defined.  At the same time, youth also need ongoing training. It does not mean that they need to train now and participate later. Rather, they need domain specific skills. For example, if they want to participate in program evaluation, they need training on research methods. If they want to be engaged in decision making, they need training on public speaking, etc. 


When it comes to involving youth in organizational and public matters, it is very important to avoid two risks: "decoration" and exclusivity. The former means that today many school boards and city councils have created space for youth representatives, but in reality young people might not even have a chance to effect change in the world or to speak up. Thus they become just a "decoration". As for exclusivity, it means that selecting several people to represent a larger community might lead to a risk of choosing only the most privileged and skilled young people. 

The above myths represent key barriers to youth participation and raise a number of questions: Are adults fully prepared for youth participation? Are youth ready to take on roles as decision makers? Are adults ready to perceive youth as "actual people" ready to effect change in the world?