Thursday, September 30, 2010

Positive Youth Development in the United States: A Report


This report contains research findings on evaluation of positive youth development (PYD) programs.  It identifies 25 well-evaluated programs (and their results) which address elements of PYD. It covers such topics as the origins of the positive youth development approach, definitions of PYD, standards for selecting program evaluations, and standards, constructs, and social domains of PYD programs.

How Can Friendship Facilitate the Sense of School Belonging?

Jill V. Hamm, Beverly S. Faircloth. The Role of Friendship in the Adolescents' Sense of School Belonging//Jossey-Bass. San Fransisco, 2005, #107.

This article explores friendship in the school context, and determines its role in the development of students' sense of school belonging. It is based on the results of a survey carried out among 24 males and females (high school students) of different ethnic background. Though the survey sample seems rather limited and does not include college students,the article still gives a pretty good understanding of how friendship helps develop adaptive behaviors and adjust to school. It was especially interesting for me because I am a first-year grad student in a new school, and some ideas expressed in the article are quite relevant. 

What is School Belonging? 

A sense of school belonging is not just fitting in. There is emotional attachment, that comes from being valued by, and evaluating of others. It derives from interpersonal relationships with members of school community, and is critical for adolescents because it meets their need for relatedness.  For example, teens increase the level of school engagement when they have a sense of school belonging.  Positive sense of school belonging can protect against nonacademic risk behaviors like suicide, pregnancy, and violence. 

Challenges to a Sense of School Belonging 

Many adolescents experience school as an alienating setting, both socially and academically. 

The main factors of alienation are:
  • cliquishness
  • lack of acceptance from the school body as a whole
  • academic success 
If the first two factors are quite understandable, the third one came as quite a surprise.  The survey showed that high-achieving students experience lack of peer acceptance resulting in the development of vulnerability. In the surveyed school, academic efforts were denigrated b the larger student community. Which for me raises a pretty interesting question: If I were a student at that school, would I rather have many friends and totally 'fit-in', which for me is equal to social development, or concentrate on studies and become a brilliant student, which would probably cross me out from social life, but promote my academic development. 

Friendship and Belonging 

Friendship is what makes school comfortable. Difficult assignments, academic failure, and lack of motivation can make students question their competence and the vale of what they are doing. In this perspective, friends help a lot both with academic and nonacademic issues, and serve as a perfect mechanism to cope with stress. Thus having friends appears to be a good means of finding a place in the school and gaining a sense of school belonging.

Multiple provisions of friendship form a foundation for the development of the sense of school belonging: companionship, tangible and emotional support, helpfulness, trust, intimacy, and enhancement of self worth.


Being with friends and participating in joint activities, according to the survey, decreases the sense of boredom and develops a sense of pleasure from the time spent in a classroom. Many students identify that having friends in class means not only great enjoyment, but also meaningful shared experience which develops further on through extra-curricular activities. 

Conclusion 

The authors go deeper into detail describing how different provisions of friendship promote the sense of school belonging, but the main idea is as follows: Having many friends makes school experience far easier and more enjoyable. Friendship can buffer against the negative effects of peer group acceptance, can help cope with stress, peer and family problems.  And although peer acceptance is important to the sense of school belonging, a close and intimate friendship can protect from the feeling of exclusion and alienation caused by the lack of acceptance. Close friendships are a context for developing adapting behaviors among individuals. Thus, the role of close friendship is crucial in the high school students' sense of belonging.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Development of Friendship Between Men Throughout History

The History and Nature of Man Friendship. http://artofmanliness.com/2008/08/24/the-history-and-nature-of-man-friendships/

This is just a little fun article on the history of man friendship I came across when browsing the web.  It describes the development of the principles of friendship between guys throughout different historical periods, from the ancient times till nowadays. Why did male friendship use to be seen more noble than marital love?  When did man friendship reach the peak of sentimentality? When did man hug appear? The answers to these and other questions you'll find in this article. You will also see some good pictures from the past which give a better understanding of what friendship was like back then.

 Ancient Times

During this period of time, male friendship was seen as the most fulfilling relationship a man could ever have. It was more noble than marital love because women were viewed as inferior. Platonic relationships characterized by emotional connection without sexual intimacy were considered ideal and were greatly extolled by philosophers.  At this time, the idea of heroic friendship based on emotional and intellectual maturity developed.  Historic examples:  Achilles and Patroclus,  

19th Century America

Male relationships at this period of time with filled with deeply held feeling and sentimentality, and endearing language in daily interaction was often part of them. In addition to that, men were not afraid to be physically affectionate, i.e. to hold hands. At times, they even shared the same bed - in order to save money. There was no concept of homosexuality back then as we know it now. One of the reasons for such level of intimacy in male relationships was lack of interaction between sexes prior to marriage. Due to all these, male friendships were very similar to romantic relationships between men and women. 

20th Century America


Man friendship underwent a big transformation from being intimate and sensual to being almost free of emotional bonding and physical affection of any sort. Such transformation was driven by the fear of being called 'gay'. Later on, man friendship experienced a great influence from market economics, when men started seeing each other as competitors. With increased mobility, it became harder to make true friends. And with the development of leisure and sports infrastructures, men started building their friendships around shared activities rather than basing them on an emotional bond. 

Close Male Friendships: Myth or Reality?

Judy Y. Chu. Adolescent Boys' Friendships and Peer Group Culture//Jossey Bass, San Franscisco, 2005, #107.

Overview

This is a very interesting article that helps to develop a comprehensive understanding of boys' friendship experiences.  It is a well-known fact that boys have fewer close friendships and develop less intimacy within these relationships as compared to girls. The author suggests that incapability or lack of interest of boys to develop close same-sex relationships is closely connected with the male peer group pressure.  The article is based on the data collected over the course of 2 years with 65 adolescent boys attending a private boys secondary school. Since the data is so limited it is not clear how reasonable it would be to generalize it, but still the article is worth reading at least because it gives an insight on the guys' world, and helps understand a little better why guys sometimes act the way the do.

Some smart thoughts and interesting conclusions

All individuals are born with a fundamental capacity and desire for close, mutual relationships. Children and adolescents seek the following social provisions in their friendships:
  • intimacy (sharing secrets);
  • affection (showing warmth and care);
  • companionship (spending time together);
  • alliance (feeling joined)
  • satisfaction (being happy with the relationship)
Most of the boys perceive their peer group culture to present certain obstacles to their development of close friendships.Such obstacles include the need to protect vulnerability, prove masculinity, and preserve integrity while among male peers. 

The peer group culture makes it unsafe for boys to express themselves and relate to others in the ways that support development of close friendships. Although the boys seem not to care about what other people think, they modify their behavior and styles of relating to avoid being ridiculed, criticized, and rejected by other peers. However the decision to be selective in their self-expression and guarded in their interactions, inhibits their chances to be truly known by others and thus interferes with the boys' efforts to develop close friendships.

In order to fit in among other peers and not to stand out in ways that might have undesirable repercussions, boys need to sustain a certain image of masculinity. Within a peer group, it means that the boys need to differentiate themselves from femininity and, in general, anything that could be associated with grils' or womens' behavior.  They boys constantly need to prove that they are self-sufficient, tough, and capable of emotional stoicism. That is why the boys learn to exaggerate masculine qualities, and to suppress feminine qualities. 

The threat of being called 'gay' appears to be a primary motivation for conforming to masculine norms of behavior. Thus, through constraining the boys' self-expression and interpersonal engagement, it becomes difficult for others to know what they are really like, and as a result, this threat inhibits the boys' development of close friendships.

Those boys who do manage to develop a close same-sex friendship, despite, the peer group pressure, acknowledge its protective role by making it possible for boys not only to survive, but to thrive under the circumstances of peer pressure. A close friendship creates an environment in which the boys can be truly honest and open to one another. It enables them to trust and be trusted,  to confide in, be vulnerable, and really take good care of each other. This experience of trust and intimacy in their close relationships could be carried over to other relationships and interactions.

Conclusion

Boys are faced with a dilemma. On the one hand, they show a clear capacity for and interest in close friendships, on the other hand, they actively read and respond to their peer group culture, which reinforces masculine norms of behavior. Given that the male peers in general tend to be judgmental, the boys decide to be guarded in their social interactions  and demonstrate exaggerated masculine behavioral patterns.

Further discussion
  • There might be some male peer groups which present less challenges to development of close relationships. What kind of groups could those be?
  • Boys may respond differently to the challenges they face. What determines their response?
  • What helps boys succeed in developing close same-sex relationships?