Competency in Establishing Positive Relationships With Program Youth: The Impact of Organization and Youth Worker Characteristics

Frontline youth workers’ ability to form strong, positive relationships with program youth is a key element in maximizing the benefits of program participation. A recent National Collaboration of Youth (2006 National Collaboration for Youth. ( 2006 ). Capturing promising practices in recruitment and retention of frontline youth workers. Retrieved from http://www.nydic.org/nydic/documents/CompletePublication.pdf  [Google Scholar]) report identified six elements associated with youth workers’ competency to complete their professional roles: compensation, training opportunities, supportive work environment, clear work roles, sense that work is valued, and networking opportunities. The current study investigated whether having these elements predicted 459 youth workers’ self-reported job competency in forming positive relationships with youth. Regression analyses revealed that job efficacy, clarity of work roles, and benefits significantly predicted competency in forming strong relationships with program youth. Findings are discussed in relation to practice implications for the youth work field.     

Mentoring for Delinquent Children: An Outcome Study with Young Adolescent Children

Examined the outcome of a mentoring program aimed at minimizing conduct problems for young adolescent children at risk for delinquent behavior. The program was designed to give an alternative, prosocial role model for children with a history of rule-breaking and acting out behavior in school. Thirteen mentors attended weekly supervision sessions and were responsible for working with 1 at-risk child for 15 h per week. Both parents and teachers assessed behavior change at 4 intervals. Mentors and mentees also completed several evaluations of the program. The parent-report indicated significant decreases in both internalizing and externalizing behavior in the mentees during and at the end of the program. However, no significant changes were found for teacher-reported behavior. The mentors indicated that participating as a mentor enhanced their learning about children and further directed their educational goals. Implications of the effectiveness of mentoring are discussed.     

浅析欧洲早期青年工人运动的几个问题

欧洲早期的青年运动并非总是反映在反对资产阶级和帝国主义的斗争中,而是首先体现在反对封建势力及其残余的资产阶级民族民主革命斗争中;另一方面,青年工人运动作为无产阶级反对资产阶级斗争的重要组成部分,是随着无产阶级的成熟发展而发展起来的。     

Sense of Community and Positive Adult Beliefs Toward Adolescents and Youth Policy in Urban Neighborhoods and Small Cities

Understanding adult beliefs about adolescents is an emerging issue for researchers and policy-makers. The purposes of this study were to describe adult beliefs regarding the motivation and ability of young people to contribute to their communities, and to test the hypothesis that adults with a strong sense of community would have more positive views of young people and youth policies. Two samples of adults—a race/ethnically diverse population from an urban northeast city (N = 321) and a more homogeneous population from smaller cities in a midwest state (N = 430)—were queried through telephone interviews. Parallel analyses were conducted to compare the pattern of results across the 2 distinct populations. In both samples, upwards to 60% of adults had moderate-to-strong appraisals of adolescents as community resources. Adults from the midwest, however, tended to have more favorable beliefs about adolescents. Adult beliefs about adolescents and youth policy were largely independent of sociodemographic background. In contrast, and as predicted, adult sense of community and safety accounted most significantly for individual variation in beliefs in both populations. The results indicate that society may be receptive to a new frame of reference about young people, and that local efforts to build a sense of community among adults may result in more positive beliefs about adolescents.     

Romantic Relationship Aggression and Attitudes in High School Students: The Role of Gender,Grade, and Attachment and Emotional Styles

Use of aggressive behaviors in adolescent romantic relationships, the endorsement of attitudes that promote such behaviors, and the extent to which attachment and emotional styles are related to these behaviors and attitudes were examined in 254 high school students. In general, aggressive behaviors and attitudes were not common. As expected girls were somewhat more likely to report being the perpetrator of physical aggression and boys were somewhat more likely to endorse the acceptance of aggression and dysfunctional sexual attitudes. For girls, a less secure relationship with best friends and lower levels of shame and guilt were related to the use of aggression in romantic relationships and endorsing less healthy attitudes about these relationships. For boys, externalizing responsibility for harm to others was related to using physical aggression in romantic relationships and lower levels of guilt and shame were related to the justification of sexual aggression. Intervention implications discussed include the need to employ programs that are grounded in the nature of adolescent relationships where aggression is more often mutual between partners, and the potential benefit of targeting emotional styles.     

Adolescents' Perceptions of the Relevance of Domains of Identity Formation: A South African Cross-Cultural Study

This study investigated South African Afrikaans-, English-, and Xhosa-speaking secondary school adolescents' (N = 1217) perceptions of the relative importance of identity-related domains. For this purpose a structured questionnaire consisting of 14 domain-specific items was used. Most of the domains were regarded as very important or fairly important by a significant majority of participants. Four domains were regarded as very important by more than 70% of the total research group, namely, future career, moral values, family relationships, and religious matters. Political and sexual matters were regarded as of least importance. Intercultural differences were evident in most domains. Significant gender differences were also found. Relatively more females than males reported a high priority to domains such as future career, moral values, friendships with same sex peers, gender role, and community matters. The male participants regarded relationships with the opposite sex and sexual matters as more important than the females did. The findings of this study emphasize the importance of carefully considering the domains included in future research on identity formation, depending on variables such as socioeconomic and sociocultural characteristics of the specific research groups to be included in the investigation.     

Gender Differences in the Educational Expectations of Urban,Low-Income African American Youth: The Role of Parents and the School

This study examined how youths’ gender is related to the educational expectations of urban, low-income African American youth, their parents, and their teachers. As predicted, African American boys (ages 9–16) reported lower expectations for future educational attainment than did their female counterparts. Parents and teachers also reported lower expectations for African American boys (ages 6–16) than for girls. These findings held even when controlling for academic achievement. Contrary to predictions, the magnitude of the difference in expectations for males vs. females did not increase as a function of youths’ age. In keeping with our hypotheses, parental expectations fully mediated the relation between youths’ gender and youths’ expectations. Finally, certain school-based factors (i.e., positive teacher expectations and positive youth perceptions of the school environment) appeared to protect youths’ expectations from the deleterious impact of low parental expectations.

Strategies for Supporting Orphans and Vulnerable Children: An Exploratory Study of an Exemplary Model of Care in Kenya

This qualitative study explored the extent to which programs in a religiously affiliated agency in Kenya incorporate 12 internationally sanctioned strategies for supporting orphans and vulnerable children in Sub-Saharan Africa (Olson, Knight, &; Foster, 2006 Olson , K. , Knight , Z. S. , &; Foster , G. ( 2006 ). From faith to action: Strengthening family and community care for orphans and vulnerable children in Sub-Saharan Africa: A resource for faith-based groups and donors seeking to help children and families affected by HIV/AIDS . Santa Cruz , CA : Firelight Foundation . [Google Scholar]). The results indicated that all 12 strategies were being employed, though to varying degrees. The authors describe how each strategy was used by the agency and make recommendations for practice and future research.     

Special Section Introduction: Thriving in Context: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development

The positive youth development perspective, a strength-based relational developmental systems model that focuses on mutually influential relationships between individuals and contexts, has been used to study thriving across the second decade of life. However, more attention has been paid empirically to identifying the features of the individual (e.g., intentional self regulation, hope, or purpose) or to enumerating the role of context-general ecological assets than to the nature of individual-context relationships linked to thriving within specific contexts. The goal of this special section is to provide initial research reports about context-specific instances of the thriving process. The research focuses on two contexts where many youth spend a considerable amount, and often the majority, of their time—school and out-of-school time sports activities.     

Competence, Self-esteem, and Coping Efficacy as Mediators of Ecological Risk and Depressive Symptoms in Urban African American and European American Youth

Structural equation modeling was used to test [Sandler, American Journal of Community Psychology 29: 19–61.] a theoretical model of risk and resilience in an urban sample of African American and European American adolescents. The aims of the present study were to examine whether self-system processes (i.e., competence, self-esteem, and coping efficacy) mediated the relations between ecological risk and depressive symptoms and to determine if pathways varied across ethnic/racial groups. Results implicate self-esteem as a putative mediator of the impact of ecological risk on depressive symptoms for both African American and European American youth. In addition, coping efficacy was a mediator of the link between ecological risk and depressive symptoms for African American youth, but not for European American youth. The evidence supporting competence as a significant mediator of the relation between ecological risk and depressive symptoms was less compelling. Findings suggest substantial similarities in the pathways between ecological risk and depressive symptoms across African American and European American youth.

Perceived Peer Behavior and the Timing of Sexual Debut in Rwanda: A Survival Analysis of Youth Data

This paper uses survival methods to assess the relationship between perceived peer behavior and the timing of first sex among Rwandan youth. The data derive from a 2001 survey among youth aged 15–24 years in four provinces: Kigali Ville, Butare, Kibuye, and Umutara. A total of 1327 male and female youth were interviewed through a structured questionnaire that includes questions on sexual attitudes and behaviors. The findings showed that the perception that peers are sexually active is associated with increased likelihood of experiencing early sexual debut. For both sexes, the relationship between perceived peer behavior and the timing of first sex is stronger in young adulthood than in late adolescence. Among female youth, the presence of the father appears to weaken the role of perceived peer behavior. A similar tendency is not found for male youth.     

It Takes a Village: Protecting Rural African American Youth in the Context of Racism

Prior research demonstrates negative consequences of racism, however, little is known about community, parenting, and intrapersonal mechanisms that protect youth. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study illuminated linkages between positive and negative contextual influences on rural African American adolescent outcomes. Quantitative results provide support for Structural Ecosystems Theory, in that the influence of discrimination and collective socialization on adolescent outcomes was mediated by racial socialization and positive parenting. Parenting and community influences contributed to adolescent racial identity and self image, which protected against common negative responses to racism; including academic underachievement, succumbing to peer pressure, and aggressive tendencies. Qualitative results indicate that current measures of discrimination may underestimate adolescents’ experiences. Adolescents reported racist experiences in the domains of school, peers, and with the police (males only). Moreover, qualitative findings echoed and expanded quantitative results with respect to the importance of the protective nature of parents and communities.

Examining Resource and Protective Factors in the Adjustment of Latino Youth in Low Income Families: What Role Does Maternal Acculturation Play?

This longitudinal study examined whether the risk and positive factors contributing to the delinquent behaviors and internalizing problems of 454 Latino adolescents varied across maternal linguistic acculturation and adolescent gender. Although the level of cumulative risk to which the 10-to-14-year old adolescents were exposed did not vary by maternal linguistic acculturation, the factors contributing to their subsequent adjustment 16 months later varied substantially. Multiple regression analyses showed that for boys, maternal monitoring offset cumulative risk effects in the high acculturation group, but was unrelated to adjustment in the low acculturation group. Social competence served a protective function for boys in the high acculturation group, but was detrimental for boys in the low acculturation group and mother-son relationship quality directly predicted more subsequent delinquent behaviors among boys in the low acculturation group. Maternal monitoring was the only positive factor contributing to girls’ adjustment, directly predicting fewer delinquent behaviors for all girls. Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology & Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Michigan State University. Research interests focus on the development of problem behaviors in children and adolescents, with a particular focus on externalizing and internalizing problems and alcohol and tobacco use. Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Received her Ed.D. in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University. Research interests focus on parent-child relationships and how they shape children’s development and learning across cultures and ethnic groups Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Texas. Research interests are ecocultural models of risk and resiliency in minority youth and measurement equivalence of risk and resiliency constructs     

Predictors of Psychosocial Well-Being in Urban African American and European American Youth: The Role of Ecological Factors

Hierarchical regression analyses were used to identify factors that functioned as either promotive or protective factors against the impact of ecological risk on the psychological adjustment of 112 African American and 94 European American adolescents (13–19 years of age). Indicators of ecological risk, promotive/protective factors, and adjustment were assessed concurrently via adolescent self-report questionnaires. Supportive parenting emerged as a promotive factor for both African American and European American adolescents for academic achievement, competence, and problem behaviors. Additionally, school connectedness served as a promotive factor for both African American and European American adolescents with competence as the criterion. However, in analyses with problem behaviors as the criterion, school connectedness intensified the effect of ecological risk for European American adolescents. Of the three hypothesized positive factors (supportive parenting, ethnic identity, and school connectedness), only ethnic identity emerged as a protective factor for problem behaviors and this effect was only observed for European American adolescents. An assistant Professor in Psychology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Texas. Major research interests are risk and resiliency processes in ethnic minority youth and measurement equivalence issues. Doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Research interests are risk and protective factors in minority youth Post-doctoral Fellow now at Arizona State University. Received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York. Research interests are risk and protective processes in minority youth and measurement equivalence issues     

The Role of Peer Contacts in the Relationship Between Parental Knowledge and Adolescents' Externalizing Behaviors: A Latent Growth Curve Modeling Approach

The purpose of the present study was to examine the direct and indirect effects (through peer contacts) of parental knowledge on adolescents’ delinquent and aggressive problem behavior, using latent growth curve modeling. A sample of 457 13- to 14-year old adolescents at first measurement wave (M=13.27; SD=0.45 years) filled out questionnaires about their parents, peers, and problem behavior three times with 1-year intervals in between. Regarding initial levels of behavior, both direct and indirect effects of parental knowledge were found on aggressive as well as on delinquent behavior. When the rate of change in behaviors was considered, only direct effects were found for both types of problem behavior, whereas indirect effects were absent. Gender differences were also found, with stronger effects of parenting on both aggressive and delinquent problem behavior for boys and stronger effects of peer contacts on aggressive behavior for girls. The present study shows that different behaviors of the externalizing spectrum have different trajectories and diverse relations with parenting and should not be treated as identical.

The Broader Context of Relational Aggression in Adolescent Romantic Relationships: Predictions from Peer Pressure and Links to Psychosocial Functioning

The broader context of relational aggression in adolescent romantic relationships was assessed by considering the ways such aggression emerged from prior experiences of peer pressure and was linked to concurrent difficulties in psychosocial functioning. Longitudinal, multi-reporter data were obtained from 97 adolescents and their best friends at age 15 and from adolescents and their romantic partners at age 18. Teens’ relational aggression and romantic partners’ victimization were predicted from levels of best friends’ pressuring behaviors toward teens in an observed interaction as well as from best friends’ ratings of how much pressure teens experienced from their peer group. Romantic partner relational aggression and teen victimization were predicted by pressure from teens’ peer group only. Adolescents’ romantic relational aggression and victimization were also associated with elevated levels of depressive symptoms and increased alcohol use. Results are discussed in terms of the connection of relational aggression in romantic relationships to the broader task of establishing autonomy with peers in psychosocial development.

Gender Differences in Self-Perceptions and Academic Outcomes: A Study of African American High School Students

There is increasing divergence in the academic outcomes of African American males and females. By most accounts, males are falling behind their female peers educationally as African American females are graduating from high schools at higher rates and are going on to college and graduate school in greater numbers. Some have suggested that school completion and performance is associated with how students feel about themselves. The purpose of this study was to explore gender differences in the relationship between self-perceptions and 2 academic outcomes among a sample of 243 African American high school sophomores. The results suggest that, overall, females are more favorably oriented toward high school completion. Both male and female students with more positive self-perceptions have stronger intentions to complete the current year of high school. Higher grade point averages were more strongly associated with greater self-efficacy for females than for males. Given these findings, increased attention to educational programming, societal messages, and future research is warranted.     

Gender Differences in Rates of Depressive Symptoms Among Low-Income,Urban, African American Youth: A Test of Two Mediational Hypotheses

The present study tested for gender differences in depressive symptoms in a sample of 622 low-income, urban, African American adolescents. Results indicate that adolescent girls in this sample were significantly more likely to endorse depressive symptoms than were boys. To examine possible explanations for this gender difference, 2 variables were tested as mediators of the relation between gender and depressive symptoms: (1) interpersonal stressors and (2) ruminative coping. Results indicate that ruminative coping, but not interpersonal stressors, mediated the relation between gender and depressive symptoms in this sample. Possible explanations for these findings, in light of the common and unique experiences of low-income, urban youth of color, are explored.