Risk, resilience & a role for recreation
Promoting positive youth development through assests-based programming
by Thor Larson (Research Editor, GETOUT! Ideas Factory), June 15, 2005
» Adolescence: a time of transition & challenges
» Elements of healthy adolescent development & youth resilience
» Implications for programming: moving towards a youth development approach
» works cited
I can’t quite place where I first heard the advice that you should read the newspaper daily, but I still barely take the opportunity to even look at the headlines staring out at the world from the street-side newspaper boxes. Nonetheless, as I was running through Vancouver’s silver rain one afternoon, I stopped and looked into one of these boxes and caught the following:
“DELTA TEEN MOWS DOWN 3 WITH A CAR” – ‘He drove on to the sidewalk and hit them one at a time,’ says a youth. Students worry more violence is brewing after the wild clash between two groups of teens (Vancouver Sun, Sunday, June 5, 2005).
It typified the message about youth portrayed in the mainstream media: violent, out-of-control, reckless, etc., and a concerned community that lay in the wake of the event. Such stories raise questions about the reasons why youth pursue different paths, why some engage in risky and some in healthy behaviors, and what factors can affect the course of these behaviors.
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Adolescence: a time of transition & challengesAdolescence, according to developmental psychologists, involves a time of physical transformation, growing independence, expanding self-discovery, and also of a series of challenges known as “developmental transitions” that occur along the way to adulthood.
Each transition entails some alteration in youths’ roles, how they make sense of themselves and their world, and how others view them. Scholars suggest that the abundant changes in adolescence seem to be overwhelming for - “those with less optimal peer and family relationships, poorer coping skills, and academic difficulties during middle childhood” (Roth and Brooks-Gunn, 4). Therefore, both internal and external aspects of an individual affect the transition to adulthood.
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Elements of healthy adolescent development & youth resilienceRecent research into adolescent development focuses on the ingredients promoting positive actions and behaviors. The emphasis is on well-being and development of resilience rather than on prevention of problems.
The work of the Search Institute, in Minneapolis, Minnesota advances the shift in adolescent development research by supplying concrete descriptions of the assets needed for positive adolescent development. Based on research on child and adolescent development, risk prevention, and resilience, the Search Institute has identified a framework of 40 developmental assets. The authors claim that surveys of over one million 6-12th graders across the US have continuously revealed that those adolescents who experience more of these assets are more likely to make healthy decisions, choose positive paths, and avoid a wide range of high – risk behaviors.
The Developmental Asset framework is categorized into two groups of 20 assets: internal assets and external assets.
Internal assets
those traits that exhibit positive internal growth and development of youth.
- Commitment to learning - young people need to develop a lifelong commitment to education and learning.
- Positive values – Young people need to develop strong values that guide their choices.
- Social competencies – Young people need skills and competencies that equip them to make positive choices, to build relationships, and to succeed in life.
- Positive identity - Young people need a strong sense of their own power, purpose, worth, and promise.
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External assets
the positive experiences that young people receive from the people and institutions in their lives.
- Support - Young people need to experience support, care, and love from their families, neighbours, and many others. They need organizations and institutions that provide positive, supportive environments.
- Empowerment - Young people need to be valued by their community and have opportunities to contribute to others. For this to occur, they must be safe and feel secure.
- Boundaries and expectations - Young people need to know what is expected of them and whether activities and behaviors are “in bounds” or “out of bounds.”
- Constructive use of time - Young people need constructive, enriching opportunities for growth through creative activities, youth programs, congregational involvement, and quality time at home.
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Implications for programming: moving towards a youth development approachYouth development programs break from traditional programming through integration of this new line of thinking about youth development into practice.
Instead of stressing programming aimed at preventing specific problem behaviors, skill and competency development are the focal point of youth programming. While not completely exclusive of preventive programs, it is realized that such programming does not supply youth with the tools necessary for positive youth development.
Roth and Brooks-Gunn suggest that “youth development programs are best characterized by their approach to youth as resources to be developed, rather than problems to be managed, and their efforts to help youth become healthy, happy, and productive by increasing their exposure to external assets, opportunities, and supports” (p. 4).
The importance of youth programming that encourages positive youth development cannot be stressed enough.
The Laidlaw Foundation assert that “it is primarily in arts and recreation that youth can relate to their peers, experience increased self-esteem, connect with positive role models and other like-minded youth, expand their imagination, acquire skills, and interact socially. Through arts and recreation youth also give back to their community by using their time well, avoiding anti-social behavior, learning teamwork and collaboration, and having the freedom to explore individual strengths, weaknesses, and likes” (p. 25).
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Youth programming must not only direct a focus towards fostering developmental assets of youth, but be diverse in their approach in order to engage all segments of youth, especially those disconnected from mainstream community centre programming.
Building resilience through building
community during National Youth Week
arts events at the Roundhouse Community Centre.
Photo: Juan Gabriel Solorzano, 2005
A youth development approach to arts, sport, culture and recreational programming is growing in Vancouver and throughout the Lower Mainland. In Richmond, the Developmental Assets framework has been formally adopted as the basis of the City’s youth recreation programming policy. One of the studies that contributed to Richmond adopting its policy, its “Best Practices” survey, highlights a number of such youth positive programming throughout North America.
Calgary is featured for the infrastructure and programming provided for the city’s youth. This community boasts having the world’s largest free outdoor skatepark overseen by youth ‘hosts’ who provide quasi-supervision in the park. Another innovative program in this city is “Youth Doing It Right”, whose intent is to create an atmosphere that values and recognizes the contributions of youth in the community center. Staff hand out cards for free passes or french fries in order to show appreciation whenever they see a “youth doing it right”.
Based on the 40 developmental assets, the program is seen both as a way to foster a youth positive environment and used as an opportunity to develop meaningful relationships between youth and adults that are important for healthy growth and development.
Many other communities throughout North America are drawing on the insights provided by the Search Institute and initiating programming that encourages and fosters healthy adolescent development.
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works cited- City of Richmond. “Best Practices in Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services”. Richmond, BC: City of Richmond Parks & Recreation, June 2003.
- Laidlaw Foundation. “Action Speaks Louder! Making The Case For Youth Recreation: A Report On The Laidlaw Foundation Forum”. Ideas That Matter. 6.3 (2003).
- Roth, Jodie and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. “What Do Adolescents Need for Healthy Development? Implications for Youth Policy”. Social Policy Report: Giving Child and Youth Development Knowledge Away. XIV. 1 (2000).
- The Search Institute: www.search-institute.org.
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