About this session

Thursday, 1:40 PM - 3:10 PM

Innovative Approaches That Center Youth’s Experiences in Youth Development Programs

This symposium will present papers from four studies of youth development programs in the US and internationally. A common thread across each study is documenting the importance of youth perspectives in understanding what aspects of their involvement in programs contribute to intended outcomes and on how outcomes are conceptualized. Theories of youth development emphasize the importance of youth as active agents in their development (Lerner et al., 2021); however, studies on program effectiveness often emphasize features such as program practices, observed quality, and staff development without considering youth experiences (Kuperminc et al., 2019). Bowers et al. use data from data from Camp Mariposa, a formalized mentoring camp, serving youth in families impacted by substance abuse, to examine how relationships with peers and adults at camp contributed to changes in life satisfaction, resilience, and coping with stress. Similarly, Moore et al. report on data from the evaluation of Boys and Girls Clubs of America’s (BGCA) SMART Moves program, examining how youths’ engagement and perceived relationship quality with peers and program facilitators contributed to changes in social emotional learning and health attitudes. Warnecke et al. analyze a BGCA youth survey to examine the extent to which youths’ perceptions of the helpfulness of attending an afterschool program are associated with their academic motivation, health attitudes, school grades and healthy behaviors. Finally, Melton and Allison used Photovoice to address cultural variation in the meaning of “Character” – one of the 5 C’s of positive youth development (Geldhof et al., 2015).

Paper #1
Title	Youth Experiences and Program Impact: How Adult Support and Peer Trust Shape Key Outcomes
Presenting author	Edmond P. Bowers, Ph.D., Clemson University, United States

Paper #2
Title	The Role of Peer and Adult Relationships and Program Engagement in Youth Development Programming
Presenting author	Renita Moore, Georgia State University, United States

Paper #3
Title	Academic and Health Outcomes in Afterschool: Youths’ Perceptions of Program Impact
Presenting author	Makayla Warnecke, University of Alabama At Birmingham, United States

Paper #4
Title	Cultural Conceptualizations of Character: Using Photovoice to Examine Youth Perspectives
Presenting author	Dr. Theresa Melton, Clemson University, United States

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Session chairs
Gabriel Paul Kuperminc, Ph.D., Georgia State University, United States; Christopher Henrich, Ph.D., , United States

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