6: Youth Workers in the Courts

Although mental health workers have long played an active and influential role in the provision of services to youth court, they have, as yet, devoted little effort to establishing standards to guide their procedures. As a result, numerous problems arise which to some extent threaten the credibility of youth court workers. The authors draw upon examples from the literature and the experiences of clinicians at the Metropolitan Toronto Forensic Service (METFORS) in identifying some of the difficulties associated with current practices. Guidelines are proposed.     

Literature and Youth Development:

No abstract available for this article.     

Red Cross Youth Program:

The St. Paul Red Cross has a Youth Services program that involves young people in as many aspects of Red Cross volunteer activities as possible.     

Youth in Crisis: The Well-Being of Middle Eastern Youth and Adolescents During War and Peace

This study reports data of psychological well-being and self-esteem of Gaza Palestinian, Israeli Bedouin Arab, and Israeli Jewish adolescents during the time shortly before and after the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Autonomy Agreement. The study is a partial follow-up to previous research examining the impact of violence, warlike conditions, and extreme social change on the mental health adjustment of adolescents of this region. Results of the Derogatis Symptom Checklist, revised and Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory showed the following: (a) psychopathology was significantly higher among Gaza youth, while Israeli Jewish and Bedouin youth showed lower levels; (b) youth from Gaza had the lowest levels of self-esteem, while there were no differences between Israeli Jewish and Bedouin youth; and (c) despite the long interval that had elapsed between the first (amid the Intifada) and second administrations (subsequent to the Oslo accords) of the measures, and the changing conditions, there was minimal evidence of change in levels of distress.     

最早的青年工人组织——比利时青年近卫军的历史作用

比利时青年近卫军是国际青年工人运动的第一个组织。它的建立改变了青年工人运动以往那种分散斗争的形式,使青年工人运动开始走上有组织的斗争道路。比利时青年近卫军的活动表明,国际青年工人运动已经从不自觉的和不成熟的经济斗争转向自觉的和较为成熟的政治斗争。     

Group Homes for Problem Youth:

No abstract available for this article.     

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.     

Two Systems of Youth Service: Determinants of Voluntary and Required Youth Community Service

Although an increasing number of schools mandate service, this requirement is seen by some as self-contradictory, especially in contrast to voluntary service. Looking closely at the service process, we argue that the categories of required and voluntary, do not in themselves convey the nature of service students might do with implications for the benefits they may derive from service. We report data from students in 2 high schools to support our case. Both schools required service, but one integrated it into the curriculum whereas the other left choice of service to individual students. Students in the former school were more apt to do the kinds of service that engage students cognitively and emotionally and involve them in reflection on politics and morals. Apart from fulfilling their requirement, many of the students also did volunteer service of the kinds that were potentially beneficial. These students were likely to have parents and best friends who also did service and to belong to churches and civic organizations that sponsored or encouraged service as part of an ideological commitment. The data support the idea that required and volunteer service can be usefully viewed as operating according to separate regimens. Nevertheless, both have the potential for yielding benefits when service is viewed as providing youth with opportunities to learn about systems of meaning through participatory action. From the viewpoint of educational policy, schools can help students most when they organize service strategically and integrate service into the academic curriculum.     

Youth in the Media

This article describes Youth Communication, an organization in which youth produce newspapers, radio programs, and other media reports.     

Self-Concept Clarity Across Adolescence: Longitudinal Associations With Open Communication With Parents and Internalizing Symptoms

Higher self-concept clarity is related to several adjustment indices and may be promoted by open communication with parents, while problems with self-concept clarity development could enhance internalizing problems (i.e., depressive and anxiety symptoms) in adolescence. This longitudinal study examined linkages between self-concept clarity, adolescents’ open communication with parents, and adolescent depressive and anxiety symptoms. Dutch youths (N = 323; 51.1 % girls; mean age Time 1 = 13.3 years) reported on these constructs over four consecutive annual measurements. Concurrent positive links between open communication and self-concept clarity were found at Time 1. Over time, higher levels of open communication with parents predicted higher self-concept clarity only in middle adolescence (mean age between 14 and 15 years). We also found concurrent associations between self-concept clarity and both depressive and anxiety symptoms. Longitudinally, lower self-concept clarity predicted relatively higher levels of depressive symptoms across all waves, and also higher anxiety levels from Time 1 to Time 2. Conversely, higher levels of anxiety also predicted lower levels of self-concept clarity during the first three waves. Self-concept clarity did not mediate the longitudinal associations between open communication and internalizing symptoms. This study is one of the first to investigate self-concept clarity across adolescence. It highlights the possible importance of both anxiety symptoms and communication with parents in understanding the development of a clear self-concept, and demonstrates an association between lower self-concept clarity and higher levels of later depressive and anxiety symptoms.     

Youth-Guided Youth Engagement: Participatory Action Research (PAR) With High-Risk,Marginalized Youth

Engaging youth who live with high-risk, marginalized conditions presents a significant challenge in our society, considering the prevalence of disconnect and distrust they often experience within their social environments/systems. Yet, meaningful youth engagement is a key concept not only for youth development, but also for a systems change to more effectively support high-risk youth and families. This article presents a framework of youth engagement developed over 9 months, using participatory action research (PAR) with 16 youth leaders in a community-based research team. Although this framework has incorporated the youth leaders’ lived experiences, talents, and voices, positive youth development (PYD) and social justice youth development (SJYD) have theoretically contextualized our research. Youth leaders guided the framework's development, including the identification of key themes/dimensions, definitions, and practical examples. The framework's three components—“Basis” (philosophy and principles), “What” (goals/outcomes), and “How” (actions/processes/pathways to change)—are supported by nine themes described in this article.     

13: Professionalizing Child and Youth Care

This chapter proposes that in order to professionalize child and youth care, we must begin with criteria accepted for professional recognition and develop into a unique profession based upon our own well-founded criteria. This chapter presents a brief historical perspective of professions, an assessment of the current situation, and a delineation of tasks essential to professionalize child and youth care.     

Youth Work in Croatia: Collecting Pieces for a Mosaic

This article explores the historical development of youth work in Croatia. By drawing from available data and personal experience, we describe three key phases of youth work development in a post-conflict country: (a) the period of the early 1990s as a “direct peace building" youth work; (b) the rise of nonformal education during the mid and late 1990s; and (c) the growth of a networked youth sector and its focus on youth policy advocacy starting in 2000. In addition, we refer to today's context, particularly because of its project-management orientation. Such categorization highlights various practices that we consider to represent youth work in a specific and contested national framework. Work with young people with fewer opportunities is being presented as a case, building on our observation that contemporary youth work continues to be embedded in civil society development and nonformal education, facing challenges of funding-driven discourse and unsystematic support.     

Chapter XII: Emerging Issues in Children and Youth Care Education:

No abstract available for this article.     

Measuring Alcohol Expectancies in Youth

Beliefs about the consequences of using alcohol, alcohol expectancies, are powerful predictors of underage drinking. The Alcohol Expectancies Questionnaire-Adolescent form (AEQ-A) has been widely used to measure expectancies in youth. Despite its broad use, the factor structure of the AEQ-A has not been firmly established. It is also not known whether it assesses similar constructs (i.e., measurement invariance) between boys and girls. This article reports on a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of a shortened version of the AEQ-A with 310 youth, ages 10–16, to determine whether a two factor, positive and negative expectancy structure held for this sample and to test measurement invariance across gender. The results support evidence of a 2-factor, positive and negative structure for the abbreviated version of the AEQ-A and show that it assesses equivalent alcohol expectancy constructs among males and females. These findings have important implications for cognitive based approaches to alcohol prevention.Florida State University College of Social Work. She received her Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her major research interests are youth at risk, substance use prevention, and family engagement in prevention interventionsFlorida State University College of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University. Her major research interests are women's health, disease prevention, and health communication.Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University at Albany. Her major research interests are family-based prevention strategies for adolescent alcohol, drugs, and sexual risk taking; women's alcohol, and other drug problems; prevention of young adult alcohol and drug abuse, risky sexual behavior, and violence.