Growing with youth: A lifewide and lifelong perspective on youth-adult partnership in youth programs

Thomas Akiva and Julie Petrokubi

Children and Youth Services Review, 2016, vol. 69, issue C, 248-258

Abstract: Youth-adult partnership (Y-AP) shows promise for positive youth development, yet research seldom examines how youth programs employ Y-AP as a developmental practice. This paper provides a developmental ecological perspective on Y-AP in programs and communities with data collected across a mid-sized city. In Study 1, interview data suggest adult practitioners hold three distinct goals for Y-AP: voice, decisionmaking, and leadership. We identify program practices for carrying out YAP including building positive adult-youth relationships, engaging youth in first-hand learning, and addressing developmental progression; i.e., gradually increasing opportunities and responsibilities as youth age. In Study 2 we investigate this practice of supporting developmental progression with a case study focused on adolescent opportunities and supports in a multi-age program. Study 2 findings present a picture of YAP opportunities highly integrated into program operations; in particular, integrated into the multiage context. These studies offer insight into strengthening program and community capacity for Y-AP.

Keywords: Youth-adult partnership; Community youth programs; Positive youth development; Adolescence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740916302675
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:69:y:2016:i:c:p:248-258

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.08.019

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().