YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Youth Development

Youth Development

Positive youth development is a deliberate approach, pro-social that involves youth in their communities, schools, organizations, peer groups, and families in a way that is productive and constructive, recognizes, uses, and enhance the strengths of young, "and promotes positive outcomes for young people by providing opportunities, to promote positive relationships, and providing the support necessary to build on the strengths of his leadership. Positive youth development has its origin in the field of prevention. In the past, general prevention efforts focused on individual problems before they arose in youth, such as teenage pregnancy, drug abuse and juvenile delinquency.

Over time, practitioners, policymakers, funders and the researchers determined that the building assets and promoting positive considering the youth as resources are critical strategies. As a result, the field of youth development began examining the role of resistance-protective factors in a young person with the environment and how these factors may influence the ability to overcome adversity. These factors include, but are not limited to: family support, caring adults, positive peer groups, strong sense of self and self-esteem, and participation in school activities and community.

Researchers and practitioners began to report that young people with a diverse set of protective factors may, in fact, experience more positive results. These results encouraged the development of interventions and programs that reduce risks and strengthen protective factors. These programs and interventions are strengthened when to involve and engage young people as equal partners, will ultimately provide benefits to both the program and for young people involved.

Youth development programs are defined here as any structured learning activity offered during the out-of-school hours. They include but are not limited to sports programs, beforeand after-school clubs, service clubs, faith-based organizations, 4-H Youth Development programs, Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, YMCA, and those sponsored by other community and/or youth-serving organizations. Youth programs do more than occupy the idle time of youth; they provide them a playing field from which they can learn essential life lessons, develop practical life skills, and build strong positive relationships with adults and peers (Perkins & Borden, 2003). However, the impact that participating in a youth program has on a young person is determined by the quality of that program.

The importance of youth programs was accented in a study that found engagement in youth development programs was the most pervasive positive influence and common predictor of positive youth outcomes (Scales, Benson, Leffert, & Blyth, 2000). The positive influences that youth programs have on youth are dependent on several factors: (a) focus of the program, (b) degree of participation by youth, (c) adults involved with the program, and (d) context in which the program takes place (Perkins & Borden, 2003).

Programs that are process-focused strategies, that is, have a dual emphasis of reducing risk and increasing assets, are more likely to have a positive influence on youth. These programs focus on assets (e.g., skills and competencies) to be developed and not problems to be managed (Lerner, 2001); therefore, promotion and prevention are seen ...