Strengthening Positive Youth Development Environments
Research:
Prevention. Resiliency. Positive Youth Development. Separate concepts for preventing problems in youth? Small and Memmo (2002) have looked at these three models to provide clarification and potential for integration. Prevention programs reduce or eliminate risk factors and increase or promote protective factors. These programs may involve enhancing the strengths, skills, or competencies of youth to be better able to cope with stress or challenges that may result in future problems.
Resiliency is youth experiencing extreme stress and then experiencing successful adaptation or competence despite the stressor. The Positive
Youth Development approach is based on the following assumptions:
 Helping youth achieve their full potential is the best way to prevent them from experiencing problems.
 Youth need to experience a set of supports and opportunities to succeed.
 Communities need to mobilize and build capacity to support the positive development of youth.
 Youth should not be viewed as problems to be fixed, but as partners to be cultivated and developed.
Small and Memmo concluded that a comprehensive, community-based approach that includes aspects of each strategy may be the most effective approach to address the needs of the widest range of individuals.
Pittman, et al. (2001) have also studied these models. They have found common themes in prevention programs: skill building, participation, norms and expectations, adult-youth relationships, information and services. Characteristics of resilient youth include good social skills, problem solving skills, sense of independence and sense of purpose.
Research on resilient youth shows that somewhere in their lives many have a caring adult, high expectations, and opportunities for meaningful participation.
They have concluded that all young people need a full array of basic services, consistent supports and challenging opportunities. They go further to say that all young people have problems in need of fixing, as well as the capacity to contribute and solve problems. Their research of programs has indicated that the best way to help young people solve problems is to engage them as problem-solvers; high-risk youth are perhaps those most in need of opportunities to participate and take action. An emergent approach helps young people take action to fix problems and prevents problems by ensuring access to basic supports and opportunities.
Many programs coordinate prevention efforts across settings to communicate consistent messages through school, work, religious institutions, and the media. Research has shown that programs that reach youth through multiple settings can strongly impact community norms (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2003.)
At least 25 percent of adolescents in the United
States are at serious risk of not achieving
“productive adulthood” and face such risks as substance abuse, adolescent pregnancy, school failure, and involvement with the juvenile justice system.
(Eccles & Gootman,
2002.)
Adolescents who spend time in communities that are rich in developmental opportunities for them experience less risk and show evidence of higher rates of positive development. A diversity of program opportunities in each community is more likely to support broad adolescent development and attract the interest of and meet the needs of a greater number of youth.
(Eccles & Gootman,
2002.)

Practical Application:
Youth-serving organizations can take steps towards creating a positive environment for youth. These include:
 Base new programs and services on current research and outcomes-based program evaluations
 Create opportunities to learn about and celebrate diversity, and involve diverse populations in decision-making processes and program implementation.
 Seek opportunities to learn about and work with other professions or disciplines in order to strengthen comprehensive approaches to youth programming and services.
 Educate decision-makers and community members on the needs of youth by increasing the number of youth advocates and by engaging youth in advocacy.
Parents, youth, and citizens also have a role to play. Steps for them may be:
 Educate decision-makers and communities about the needs of youth and encourage communities to accept the different values and practices of its families.
 Include voices of youth by involving them directly in the decisionmaking processes or by creating a youth advisory board.
 Request that policy makers and youth serving organizations work to create more early intervention initiatives to reduce the need to respond to youth and families only after a crisis has occurred.
 Work with the media to identify and cover the positive contributions youth make to their community.
References and Other Resources:
Eccles, J., & Gootman, J.A., (Eds.). (2002) Community Programs to
Promote Youth Development. Washington, DC: National Academy
Press.
Grantmakers in Health. (2002). Positive Youth Development: A Pathway
to Healthy Teens (Issue Brief No. 15) [electronic version].
Komro, K. A. and Stigler, M (2000). Growing absolutely fantastic youth: A
review of the research on "best practices." [electronic version]
School of Public Health, University of Minnesota; Minneapolis, MN.
Retreived on January 28, 2005 from http://www.allaboutkids.umn.edu/cfahad/GAFY_Science.PDF.
National Institute on Drug Abuse (2003). Preventing Drug Abuse among
Children and Adolescents: A Research-Based Guide for Parents,
Educators, and Community Leaders. [electronic version]. Maryland:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Pittman, K., Irby, M., Tolman, J., Yohalem, N., & Ferber, T. (2001)
Preventing Problems, Promoting Development, Encouraging
Engagement: Competing Priorities or Inseparable Goals? [electronic version]. Forum for Youth Investment.
Small, S. & and Memmo, M. (2004, Vol. 53) Contemporary Models of
Youth Development and Problem Prevention: Toward an Integration of Terms, Concepts, and Models, Family Relations, 3-11.
“The best way to ‘fix problems’ is to engage youth as problemsolvers. And all young people need and deserve access to opportunities to learn, make a difference, and overcome the problems they face.” (Pittman, et al, 2001)
Research Fact Sheet written by: Annette
Bjorklund, Washburn
County 4-H Youth
Development
Educator.
An EEO/AA employer, University of Wisconsin-Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title IX and American with Disabilities (ADA) requirements. © 2004 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Developed by the Wisconsin 4-H Office, 431 Lowell Hall, 610 Langdon St.,
Madison, WI 53703. The 4-H name and emblem are federally protected under Title 18 US Code 707.