2 pp. / This is a series of 6 fact sheets related to identifying high quality youth programs from several perspectives: middle/high school youth, parents, youth development professionals and identifying resources in the community. It also includes a check list that will be included with each of the fact sheets.

4 pp. / This is a series of 6 fact sheets related to identifying high quality youth programs from several perspectives: middle/high school youth, parents, youth development professionals and identifying resources in the community. It also includes a check list that will be included with each of the fact sheets.

According to the 2008 Statistics Canada report on the extracurricular activities of Canadian children and youth, approximate 76% of Canadians under the age of 17 participate in sport. As such, sport represents a significant developmental experience in many young peoples’ lives. Whether this experience is positive or negative depends on a number of factors related to the specific context in which sport participation occurs. In particular, interpersonal interactions are known to be a significant influence on athlete development and may vary greatly across sport contexts. In youth sport, there are two primary contexts of participation: coach-driven organized sport and youth-driven informal sport play. The purpose of the present program of research was to examine the predominant interpersonal interactions occurring in organized sport and informal sport play contexts and their relationship to athlete development. Study 1 was methodological and presents the development and validation of an observational coding system designed to capture the motivational tone of youth sport coaches’ interactions with their athletes. Motivational tone represents a theoretically relevant but previously unexplored dimension of coaches’ interactive behaviour. Study 2 used the newly developed coding system from study 1 to examine the motivational tone of coach-athlete interactions in competitive youth volleyball, an organized sport context. Using a person-centred analysis approach, these coach-athlete interaction were then linked to athletes’ longitudinal development trajectories over the course of the competitive season. Results revealed significant differences in the coach-athlete interaction profiles of athletes on a negative developmental trajectory compared to athletes on a positive developmental trajectory. Study 3 was an exploratory observational examination of peer interactive behaviour in an informal sport play context. These interactive behaviours were examined with respect to athletes’ developmental outcomes. Results pointed to the social nature of participation in informal sport play contexts and the critical relationship between athlete competence and peer interaction tendencies. Overall, the results of the three studies comprising this program of research offered new information to further our understanding of interpersonal interactions and athlete development in different youth sport contexts but also identified several avenues requiring further research. / Thesis (Ph.D, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-27 14:27:49.668

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This study seeks to identify successful youth development programs and the reasons for their success; to describe the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) and its achievements; to compare JROTC with successful youth development programs; and to explore the impact of JROTC on military recruiting. The descriptive analysis and comparison of programs are based on an extensive review of previous research. The effects of JROTC on recruiting were examined through longitudinal data files, covering military enlistments from 1990 through 2001, obtained from the Defense Manpower Data Center. The results show that JROTC is similar to a number of other programs in successfully promoting youth development. Nevertheless, no single program can match JROTC in its size, level of funding, and scope of accomplishments. Further, information on enlistments suggests that JROTC assists military recruiting in several ways: 85,000 graduates of JROTC joined the military in the period studied; the first-term attrition rates of JROTC graduates were consistently lower than those of all recruits; and the positive effects of JROTC were most noticeable among certain demographic groups. Further research is recommended to study added dimensions of youth development, various other effects of JROTC on recruiting, and the economic implications of the program. / Major, United States Marine Corps

Thesis (M.M. (Public Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, 2013. / The South African population comprises largely of young people who make up 41.2% of the population (NYDA, 2011). The youth of the country are faced with many challenges such as unemployment; poverty; lack of skills to access the job market; limited access to education and social challenges related to HIV/AIDS; teenage pregnancies; substance abuse and crime. Since the new democratic government youth development has been a key priority for the country. The government made a concerted effort to respond to youth development by establishing the National Youth Commission (NYC) in 1996, the Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF) in 2001, and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) in 2009 which resulted as a merger of the NYC and UYF. The focus of the study was to assess youth development from the NYC to NYDA and whether the NYDA will be more effective in advancing youth development in the country. The study was of a qualitative nature and used semi-structured face to face and telephonic interviews to gather data. Secondary data was also gathered from policy documents, reports, and articles related to the topic. The key findings of the research indicated that the majority of the respondents or participants felt it was the right policy decision by government to merge the NYC and UYF to form the NYDA. It was also indicated that the funding allocated to support the NYDA was not sufficient for it to fulfil its mandate according to the NYDA Act of 2008 to facilitate, coordinate and implement youth development programmes. The majority of the respondents also felt that the NYDA needed to play a more active role to better coordinate and mainstream youth development in all spheres of government.

Thesis advisor: Jacqueline V. Lerner / Youth contribution is important to the development of a healthy society (Lerner, Dowling et al., 2003; Schmid & Lopez, 2011). As youth develop on positive trajectories, they engage in higher rates of contribution to self, family, community, and civil society (Lerner, 2004). Many youth believe it is important to participate in contribution-oriented activities, but not many are involved in personally meaningful forms of contribution (Hershberg et al., 2014; Zeldin et al., 2013). In order to engage youth in contribution, and thereby increase the likelihood that they will continue to contribute into adulthood, it is important to understand the processes involved in contribution, the ways in which adolescents experience contribution, and how they conceptualize their role in giving back to the community. In the present research, I addressed the following questions: 1) How do adolescent girls experience contribution in their lives? (a) In which contribution-related activities are they involved? (b) What beliefs do they have about contribution? (2) How do adolescent girls direct their contribution goals or efforts? To whom do they contribute, or want to contribute? (3) What motivations are associated with contribution goals or efforts for adolescent girls? Through in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews, I investigated adolescent contribution in nine adolescent girls in high school. This subsample of participants is drawn from the Connecting Adolescents’ Beliefs and Behaviors (CABB) Study (Lerner & Johnson, 2014), a longitudinal investigation of youth character development in adolescent students in the New England area. I analyzed the interviews using the Listening Guide (Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg, & Bertsch, 2006), a method for analysis of qualitative texts. I derived many themes from these texts to address my research questions. Youth expressed a range of contribution experiences, including how they conceptualize what counts as making a contribution. Participants directed their contributions in accordance with their personal social identifications, their future career goals, and people seen as generally “less fortunate.” Youth expressed multiple intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for contributing and wanting to contribute in the future. Implications for future research, programming and policy will be discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on December 17, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Social capital and self-concept were measured in a sample of 86 primarily African American female adolescents before and after participating in the Cool Girls, Inc. program, and in 89 comparison girls. Two dimensions of social capital (the diversity of girls’ social networks and the number of life domains in which girls were able to access help) were examined. It was hypothesized that participation in Cool Girls would be associated with increases in social capital and that this would mediate the relationship between participation in Cool Girls and increases in self-concept. Cool Girls participants experienced increases in social capital. Cool Girls and comparisons both experienced gains in most domains of self-concept, except for behavioral conduct, that were related to increases in number of help domains. Furthermore, there was a significant indirect effect of participation on social acceptance, global self-worth, and body image mediated through number of help domains. Implications are discussed.

Thesis (M.S. in Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Mark J. Eitelberg, Gail Fann Thomas. Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-94). Also available online.

Social capital and self-concept were measured in a sample of 86 primarily African American female adolescents before and after participating in the Cool Girls, Inc. program, and in 89 comparison girls. Two dimensions of social capital (the diversity of girls’ social networks and the number of life domains in which girls were able to access help) were examined. It was hypothesized that participation in Cool Girls would be associated with increases in social capital and that this would mediate the relationship between participation in Cool Girls and increases in self-concept. Cool Girls participants experienced increases in social capital. Cool Girls and comparisons both experienced gains in most domains of self-concept, except for behavioral conduct, that were related to increases in number of help domains. Furthermore, there was a significant indirect effect of participation on social acceptance, global self-worth, and body image mediated through number of help domains. Implications are discussed.