Tips for Building the Developmental Assets Most Linked to Common Positive Youth Development Program Outcomes

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Four of the outcomes most commonly sought by youth programs are 1) promoting school success; 2) preventing violence, bullying, and aggression; 3) preventing the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs; and 4) preventing adolescent pregnancy. Search Institute studies repeatedly have shown that the total number of assets young people have is linked to those outcomes, and that asset building works best when it improves young people’s developmental experiences across all parts of their lives. But those studies also shed light on which of the 40 assets may be most critical for influencing each specific outcome. The following paragraphs provide suggestions for how to build the assets that are most connected to these common positive youth development (PYD) outcomes.

Promoting School Success

This assets-outcome connection is the one most theoretically elaborated and empirically supported by Search Institute studies. Multiple studies using multiple indicators of school success, including both self-report and school records such as actual GPA, consistently yield these assets as explanatory variables, in both cross-sectional and longitudinal research. With solid program dosage to build these assets, one could reasonably expect 1- to 3-year effects in the range of .30–.80 standard deviations, i.e., well beyond the usual .10–.20SDs typically seen for educational interventions. In practical terms, the effect we’ve found is equivalent to moving students from a C average to a B+ average over several years.

Preventing Violence, Bullying, and Aggression

This assets-outcome link has been less theoretically elaborated by Search Institute, but reasonable empirical evidence exists, in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, for the contribution of these assets to lower levels of antisocial behavior such as vandalism and getting into trouble with the police, and violence, such as hitting someone, group fighting, or carrying or using weapons. Caveat: Most of these violence

behaviors are relatively infrequent in general samples that are mostly comprised of youth not already identified as being violence-prone or as having committed aggressive acts. That will make it hard for many programs to show program effects unless they have very large numbers of youth in their programs. In addition, aggression, violence, and antisocial behavior are strongly influenced by genetics (50%–85% across studies), so assets may have smaller relative effects than they do in contributing to school success outcomes. Preventing Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use

This assets-outcome link is the one least theoretically elaborated by Search Institute published research, but we have consistently found these associations. In addition, these findings on assets’ likely role in preventing ATOD behaviors are consistent with the large ATOD prevention literature. Caveat: It is uncertain what effects programs are likely to have, and the effect of the assets is likely to be different depending on the drug in question.

Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy

The assets-adolescent pregnancy connection is the least studied of these four outcomes. Our findings come largely from one 1998 SI study looking at the assets-risk behavior link. These were the three assets that best explained avoidance of sexual intercourse. Caveat: Assets may explain less of this outcome than the other three, because research has shown that there is a moderate to strong relation of adolescent pregnancy to demographics such as race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. For the other three common PYD program outcomes, we have found that assets contribute more to the outcomes than do demographics. In addition to our specific research findings on assets and sexual intercourse, we have discussed in the Search Institute book Developmental Assets: A Synthesis of the Scientific Research on Adolescent Development (Scales & Leffert, 2004) the support in the broader literature for a likely causal role for assets in teen pregnancy prevention such as: family support, positive family communication, parent involvement in schooling, family boundaries, safety, service to others, caring, time in youth programs and religious community, achievement motivation, planning and decision making, resistance skills, and positive expectations for the future.

Development Program Outcomes

Peter C. Scales, Ph.D.

Deborah Fisher

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Support: Caring school climate Empowerment: Service to others Support: Parent involvement in schooling

Foster positive relationships among teachers and students, and between students.

Promote explicit encouragement of students by teachers, other school adults, and fellow students. Help parents talk with their children about what goes on at school, ask about homework, and go to events or meetings at school.

Provide opportunities for students to give volunteer services

to others, especially if these opportunities are connected to units in which students learn about a service topic before service and reflect on it afterwards Help parents talk with their children about what goes on at school, ask about homework, go to events or meetings at school

Youth-led mentoring

• Youth to youth—older youth

to younger; youth with special needs as leaders

• Youth to adult—reverse

silent mentoring; intergenerational Ask youth what “youth voice” means to them, and then help make it happen.

Promote and support active parent engagement with schools.

Infuse assets into existing volunteer and service-learning programs. Ask youth what they want to do, then connect them with existing opportunities.

Infuse service-learning into programs. Research shows that involvement in service-learning delays initiation of sexual intercourse or increases use of contraception among youth having sex, both of which reduce teen pregnancy rates.

A Quick-Start Guide to Building Assets in Your School: Moving from Incidental to Intentional

Assets in Action: A Handbook for Making Communities Better Places to Grow Up, chapter on “Mobilize youth”

Great Places to Learn: Creating Asset-Building Schools That Help Students Succeed. How Was Your Day At School?: Improving Dialogue about Teacher Job Satisfaction

www.search-institute.org/asset-champion/may2009 www.parentfurther.com

Teen Voice 2010: Relationships that Matter to America’s 15-Year-Olds

www.search-institute.org >

We Can Help > Youth Serving Orgs > Service Learning

• Search pubs • Interfaith action • Fact sheets • Recent research

Service to Others: A ‘Gateway Asset’ for School Success and Healthy Development

Emerging Answers 2007, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

www.thenationalcampaign.org/ea2007/

Enhancing Parent and Family Involvement: A Resource Guide for Ohio and District School Leaders

http://www.hamiltoncountyohio.gov/hcfcfc/ParentInvolve.pdf

PrOmOTIng SChOOl SUCCESS

With these asset categories or assets

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PrOmOTIng SChOOl SUCCESS

Boundaries & Expectations: High expectations Commitment to learning: Achievement motivation Constructive Use of Time: Participation in after-school youth programs Commitment to learning: School engagement

Help parents and teachers communicate high standards to students, and that they believe students can reach high-level academic goals.

Encourage students to try as hard as they can to always do their best work at school, and care about how they do.

Ensure that all students participate at least 3 hours a week in sports teams, or non-sport activity clubs, or creative

activities—whether school- or

community-sponsored.

Make sure students have the supplies they need to do well, and provide a variety of academic experiences to keep students from being bored.

Engage parents and other supportive adults by showing the natural connections between assets and diverse cultures.

Find out what youth are interested in doing, and serve as the catalyst for making sure youth get connected with those opportunities.

Use what works to increase the effectiveness of what you are already doing, including “power packing” more assets into your programs.

As much as possible, encourage and involve youth in decision-making, especially when it involves them. Even young children can be part of parent-teacher conferences, for example. Work with staff to ensure

that youth get a variety of

opportunities—large and small—

to make decisions.

Helping Kids Succeed: Alaskan Style

Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition: www.coparentcoalition.org

A Quick-Start Guide to Building Assets in Your Prevention Program The B.A.R.R. program (Building Assets Reducing Risk) describes how this was done in a 9th grade program in St. Louis Park, MN.

Research and Pubs > Insights & Evidence >

Sorting Out What Makes a Difference: Youth Development Findings from Camp Settings

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If you are

PrEVEnTIng VIOlEnCE, BUllyIng, AggrESSIOn

Commitment to learning: Bonding to school Empowerment: Safety Commitment to learning: Reading for pleasure

Provide sufficient doses of both caring and challenge that give students reasons to feel emotionally connected to school.

Adopt and enforce the policies necessary to ensure that young people feel safe at home, in their schools, and in their neighborhoods.

Provide plentiful opportunities for students to read about the things they are interested in, through a variety of media.

Empower young people to:

• Be treated as valued

resources

• Become leaders

• Become trained peer helpers

and tutors

• Tell their stories in written,

visual, musical, or theatrical ways

Have youth organize their own “reading fair” in which they get to share what they like. Keep in mind such things as graphic novels or podcasts for youth who like to listen instead of read.

Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things

We Can Help > Youth-Serving Organizations > Peer Helping OR Creative Activities

Arizona-based Peer Solutions Stand & Serve Program

www.peersolutions.org www.search-institute.org >

Resources > Downloads > Raising Kids Who Read

PrOmOTIng SChOOl SUCCESS

Using these actions Try these strategies And do more research using these resources1

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PrEVEnTIng VIOlEnCE, BUllyIng, AggrESSIOn

Boundaries & Expectations: Positive peer influence Constructive Use of Time: Time at home

Commitment to learning: School engagement

Positive Values: Restraint

Encourage youth people to make friends with those who avoid alcohol and other drugs.

Help young people to have multiple interests & develop their “sparks” so that they are usually busy doing something at home in the evening rather than going out with their friends with nothing special to do.

Encourage students to try as hard as they can to always do their best work at school, and care about how they do.

Inculcate the values in teens of avoiding alcohol and sexual intercourse while still a teenager.

Promote positive school climate and teach what to avoid. Teach and demonstrate positive relationship-building skills so youth know what to do.

Facilitate conversations in which both youth and adults talk about their sparks. This can happen at home, in church, at school, or in a youth program. Talk about how sparks can be kept going.

Ask young people to describe what a supportive, positive school climate looks like. Then ask them if they think their school has that. If not, then ask them what they think needs to be done to make their school more positive and support them in making changes. Use behavior rehearsal (role play) strategies to help teens identify their values and learn how to protect them in real-life situations.

Great Places to Learn

www.ignitesparks.org > Conversation Starters

Great Places to Learn: Creating Asset-Building Schools That Help Students Succeed; Pass It On! Ready-to-Use Handouts for Asset Builders; and other school success resources from Search Institute

Values and Choices sex education curriculum; Healthy Teen Relationships: Using Values and Choices to Teach Sex Education With these asset

categories or assets

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PrEVEnTIng VIOlEnCE, BUllyIng, AggrESSIOn

Social Competencies: Peaceful conflict resolution Social Competencies: Resistance skills

Teach young people non-physical, non-violent ways of resolving conflicts, then teach it to others. Involve young people in creating and implementing program or organization discipline policies .

Teach young people how to say no to activities that are dangerous or unhealthy for them.

Get involved with an existing youth court or help establish one. Youth courts are programs in which youth ages 11 to 18 are sentenced by their peers for a variety of offenses. Youth courts benefit the youth being sentenced as well as those volunteering as peer attorneys and judges and the larger community. Youth courts also frequently involve lots of positive adult-youth interactions, too.

www.youthcourt.net

Using these actions Try these strategies And do more research using these

resources1

If you are

PrEVEnTIng USE OF AlCOhOl, TOBACCO, AnD OThEr DrUgS

Boundaries & Expectations: Positive peer influence

Encourage young people to make friends with those who avoid alcohol and drugs.

Provide youth with opportunities to:

• Make decisions and help set rules • Govern themselves

• Resolve conflicts through peer mediation • Develop their own initiatives with peers

and other adults for solving school or community problems

• Ensure they have opportunities to serve

others

We Can Help > Research & Publications > Youth-Adult Partnerships Research & Pubs > Insights & Evidence > Tapping the Power of Community: Building Assets to Strengthen Substance Abuse Prevention

The Power of Youth and Adult Partnerships and Change Pathways for Youth Work

A Quick-Start Guide to Building Assets in Your Prevention Program With these asset

categories or assets

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PrEVEnTIng USE OF AlCOhOl, TOBACCO, AnD OThEr DrUgS

Constructive Use of Time: Time at home Commitment to learning: School engagement Positive Values: Restraint Social Competencies: Peaceful conflict resolution

Help young people to have multiple interests and develop their “sparks” so that they are usually busy doing something at home in the evening rather than going out with their friends “with nothing special to do.” Encourage students to try as hard as they can to always do their best work at school, and care about how they do.

Inculcate the values in teens of avoiding alcohol and sexual intercourse while still a teenager.

Help young people to learn peaceful conflict resolution, then teach it to others.

Engage youth in interfaith service-learning.

Create a strong fit between health and youth/after-school programs by promoting nutritious meals, physical activity, and participation in positive alternatives to behaviors like smoking, drinking, and watching too much TV.

Use behavior rehearsal (role play) strategies to help teens identify their values and learn how to protect them in real-life situations.

Promote opportunities for peer-to-peer helping programs to train young people to listen to each other, as well as service-learning and mentoring programs, especially youth-to-youth mentoring.

Exploring Your Community’s Strengths and Hopes: A Step-by-Step Guide for Youth-Led Community Listening Projects.

www.inspiredtoserve.org

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Coordinated School Health Model www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/CSHP/

Values and Choices sex education curriculum; Healthy Teen Relationships: Using Values and Choices to Teach Sex Education

Empowering Youth: How to Encourage Young Leaders to Do Great Things

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PrEVEnTIng ADOlESCEnT PrEgnAnCy

Boundaries & Expectations: Positive peer influence Constructive Use of Time: Time at home

Encourage young people to make friends with others who avoid alcohol and other drugs, and who do well in school.

Help young people to have multiple interests and develop their “sparks” so that they are usually busy doing something at home in the evening rather than going out with their friends with nothing special to do.

Facilitate parent programs that involve both parents and adolescents and, in general, seek to improve parent-child communication, particularly on sex and related topics. These programs are usually offered in a community-based setting, and are targeted to moms, dads, or both.

Also facilitate community-wide programs that encourage involvement from the entire community (not just teens and their parents). These programs might include public service announcements, educational activities for the community, or community-wide events such as health fairs.

Encourage participation in service-learning programs whose primary focus is keeping young people

constructively engaged in their communities and schools. Particularly effective are such activities as tutoring, working in nursing homes, or helping fix up recreation areas, which also provide youth with opportunities to reflect on their service through group discussions or writing about their experiences.

Also, youth development programs that have been found to be effective with girls combine health care, academic assistance, sex education, participation in performing arts and individual sports, and employment assistance. All of these activities are designed to encourage participants to think and plan for their future.

www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/pdf/ pubs/WhatWorks.pdf

National Youth Leadership Council, for dozens of ideas on service-learning www.nylc.org

Positive Values: Restraint

Inculcate the values in teens of avoiding alcohol and sexual intercourse while still teenagers.

Recruit and train youth as peer educators in teen pregnancy prevention programs.

www.promisingpractices.net/program. asp?programid=29

Values and Choices sex education curriculum; Healthy Teen Relationships: Using Values and Choices to Teach Sex Education

Using these actions Try these strategies And do more research using

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Benson, P.L., Scales, P.C. , Hamilton, S.H., & Sesma, A., Jr. (2006). Positive youth development: Theory, research, and applications. In W. Damon & R.M. Lerner, eds., Handbook of child psychology, 6th ed. (894–941). New York: Wiley.

Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., Scales, P. C., & Blyth, D. A. (1998). Beyond the ‘village’ rhetoric: creating healthy communities for children and adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 2(3), 138–159.

Blyth, D. A., & Leffert, N. (1995). Communities as contexts for adolescent development: an empirical analysis. Journal of Adolescent Research, 10(1), 64–87.

Roberts, C., & Scales, P.C. (2005). Developmental assets and academic achievement. Mini-plenary session presented at annual Healthy Communities.Healthy Youth Conference, Dallas, Texas, November 2005 (available through www.search-institute. org).

Scales, P.C., Benson, P.L., & Roehlkepartain, E.C. (2010). Adolescent thriving: The role of sparks, relationships, and empowerment. Journal of Youth and Adolescence (in press). Scales, P.C., Roehlkepartain, E.C., & Benson, P.L. (2010). Teen voice 2010: Relationships that matter to America’s 15-year-olds. Minneapolis: Best Buy Children’s Foundation and Search Institute.

Scales, P.C., Roehlkepartain, E.C., & Benson, P.L. (2009). Teen voice 2009: Tapping the hidden strengths of 15 year olds. Minneapolis: Best Buy Children’s Foundation and Search Institute.

Scales, P.C., Benson, P.L., Moore, K.A., Lippman, L., Brown, B,V., & Zaff, J.F. (2008). Promoting equal developmental opportunity and outcomes among America’s children and youth: Results from the National Promises Study. Journal of Primary Prevention, 29, 121–144.

Scales, P.C., Roehlkepartain, E.C., Neal, M, Kielsmeir, J.C., & Benson, P.L. (2006). Reducing academic achievement gaps: The role of community service and service-learning. Journal of Experiential Education, 29, 38–60.

Scales, P.C., Benson, P.L., Roehlkepartain, E.C., Sesma, A., & van Dulmen, M. (2006). The role of developmental assets in predicting academic achievement: A longitudinal study. Journal of Adolescence, 29, 691–708.

Scales, P.C., Foster, K.C., Mannes, M., Horst, M.A., Pinto, K.C., & Rutherford, A. (2005). School-business partnerships, developmental assets, and positive developmental outcomes among urban high school students: A mixed-methods study. Urban Education, 2005, 40, 144–189.

Scales, P.C., & Leffert, N. (2004). Developmental assets: A synthesis of the scientific research on adolescent development (2nd_{ed.). Minneapolis: Search Institute.}

Scales, P. C., Sesma, A., & Bolstrom, B. (2004). Coming into their own: How developmental assets promote positive growth in middle childhood. Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute. Scales, P. C., & Roehlkepartain, E. C. (2003). Boosting student achievement: New research on the power of developmental assets. Search Institute Insights and Evidence, 1(1), 1–10.

Scales, P.C., Benson, P.L., Leffert, N., & Blyth, D.A. (2000). Contribution of developmental assets to the prediction of thriving in adolescence. Applied Developmental Science, 4, 27–46.

Scales, P.C. (1999). Care and challenge: The sources of student success. Middle Ground—The Magazine of Middle Level Education, 3(2), 21–23.

Starkman, N., Scales, P.C., & Roberts, C. (2006). Great places to learn: Creating asset-building schools that help students succeed (2nd edition). Minneapolis: Search Institute.

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Benson, P. L. (2006) All kids are our kids: What communities must do to raise caring and responsible children and adolescents, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Benson, P.L., & Scales, P.C. (2009). Positive youth development and the prevention of youth aggression and violence. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 3, 218–234.

Benson, P. L., Scales, P. C., & Mannes, M. (2003). Developmental strengths and their sources: Implications for the study and practice of community building. In R. M. Lerner, F. Jacobs, & D. Wertlieb (eds.), Handbook of applied developmental science: Promoting positive child, adolescent, and family development through research, policies and programs; Vol. 1: Applying developmental science for youth and families: Historical and theoretical foundations (369–406). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Benson, P. L., Scales, P., Leffert, N., & Roehlkepartain, E. (1999). The fragile foundation: The state of developmental assets among American youth. Minneapolis: Search Institute. Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., Scales, P. C., & Blyth, D. A. (1998). Beyond the ‘village’ rhetoric: creating healthy communities for children and adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 2(3), 138–159.

Leffert, N., Benson, P. L., Scales, P. C., Sharma, A. R., Drake, D. R., & Blyth, D. A. (1998). Developmental assets: Measurement and prediction of risk behaviors among adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 2(4), 209–230.

Scales, P. C., Sesma, A., & Bolstrom, B. (2004b). Coming into their own: How

developmental assets promote positive growth in middle childhood. Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute.

Scales, P. C., Leffert, N., & Vraa, R. (2003). The relation of community developmental attentiveness to adolescent health. American Journal of Health Behavior,

27(Supplement 1), S22–S34.

Sesma, A., & Roehlkepartain, E. C. (2003). Unique strengths, shared strengths: Developmental assets among youth of color. Search Institute Insights and Evidence, 1(2), 1–13.

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Benson, P. L. (2006) All kids are our kids: What communities must do to raise caring and responsible children and adolescents, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Benson, P. L., & Roehlkepartain, E. C. (2004). Preventing alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use: Rethinking the role of community. Search Institute Insights & Evidence, 2(1). Benson, P. L., Scales, P. C., & Mannes, M. (2003). Developmental strengths and their sources: Implications for the study and practice of community building. In R. M. Lerner, F. Jacobs, & D. Wertlieb (eds.), Handbook of applied developmental science: Promoting positive child, adolescent, and family development through research, policies and programs; Vol. 1: Applying developmental science for youth and families: Historical and theoretical foundations (369–406). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Benson, P. L., Scales, P., Leffert, N., & Roehlkepartain, E. (1999). The fragile foundation: The state of developmental assets among American youth. Minneapolis: Search Institute. Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., Scales, P. C., & Blyth, D. A. (1998). Beyond the ‘village’ rhetoric: creating healthy communities for children and adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 2(3), 138–159.

Scales, P. C., Leffert, N., & Vraa, R. (2003). The relation of community developmental attentiveness to adolescent health. American Journal of Health Behavior,

27(Supplement 1), S22–S34.

Sesma, A., & Roehlkepartain, E. C. (2003). Unique strengths, shared strengths: Developmental assets among youth of color. Search Institute Insights and Evidence, 1(2), 1–13.

PrEVEnTIng USE OF AlCOhOl, TOBACCO, AnD OThEr DrUgS

Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., Scales, P. C., & Blyth, D. A. (1998). Beyond the ‘village’ rhetoric: creating healthy communities for children and adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 2(3), 138–159.