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How do out-of-school programs affect thriving?

November 25, 2015

Those who study youth development look to both external factors that affect youth (environment) and internal factors within the youth (personal attributes) that contribute to their positive growth. Richard Lerner and his colleagues have also emphasized the importance of examining the interaction of person and environment to understand more completely how youth develop.

One external factor that makes a positive difference in the lives of youth, especially adolescents, is participation in high quality out-of school programs. Lerner has identified three influential elements that positively impact youth in these programs: 1) positive and sustained adult-youth relations, 2) youth life-skill building activities, and 3) youth participation in and leadership of valued community activities.

An internal factor that is a proven asset for youth is self-regulation which is characterized by the ability to select positive goals, optimize the resources needed to make such goals a reality, and then to compensate effectively when goals are blocked.

In a study of positive youth development jointly sponsored by 4-H and the Thrive Foundation for Youth, Mueller, Phelps, Bowers, Angans, Urban and Lerner (2011) examined the relationship between adolescents’ self-regulation skills (selection, optimization and compensation) and their participation in youth development programs across grades 8 and 9 and how these factors predicted positive development in youth in grade 10, including the capacity to make a positive contribution to their communities.

They found that while self-regulation skills alone predicted positive development in youth, self-regulation and participation in a youth development program together predicted contribution to their communities. In addition, they found that participation in a youth development program in grade 8 had a positive impact on youths’ self regulation in grade 9, which, in turn, predicted positive youth development and contribution in grade 10.

This study is a demonstration of how personal attributes and the environment interact and how the alignment of youth strengths and resources within the environment may promote positive youth development.

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About the Author

Thrive Foundation for Youth

The Thrive Foundation for Youth was founded in 2000 by Silicon Valley investor Bob King and his wife Dottie. Along with Bob and Dottie, their three children and their children’s spouses were the founding trustees: Jennifer King and Tim Fredel, Cynthia King-Guffey and Allan Guffey, Brad King and Pam Ebstyne King. Cynthia served as the Foundation’s first Executive Director.

The Thrive Foundation for Youth supports young people during pivotal years of their lives – ages 10 to 18 – in reaching their full potential. Thrive believes in the combined power of applied research and on-the-ground practice to make tangible differences in the lives of young people. Our scientific research is dedicated to answering the question: “What helps a young person to thrive?” Our active partnerships with youth-serving organizations are dedicated to putting that knowledge into practice, and to changing as many lives as possible throughout the country.

We believe that thriving is unique to each individual, that each young person, regardless of circumstances, has the potential to thrive with the support of competent, caring adults in their lives.

For that reason we dedicate our resources to helping disadvantaged young people who may not have these adults consistently in their lives, or the adults may need help to better support the youth in their care. Our youth-serving partners work on the ground with young people throughout the country. Their knowledge and experience guides our investment strategy and our collaborative approach with our grantees.

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The 5 Promises

The 5 Promises represent conditions children need to achieve adult success. The collective work of the Alliance involves keeping these promises to America’s youth. This article relates to the promises highlighted below: