Positive Youth Development to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency - Essay Example

Strength of Youth: Positive youth development to prevent juvenile delinquency Introduction The period of adolescence, in particular for boys, is a time of experimentation, risk taking and recklessness that would lead to the arrest of almost everyone, if the law is applied strictly. “Positive youth development (PYD) refers to attitudes about youth, to what youth do and achieve during and at the end of their route to adulthood, and to the informal and formal systems of support that help youth reach adulthood successfully.” (Schwartz, Robert G at al. 1998, p236) Young person with certain skills and other external supports are least to break under pressure when they experience multiple pressures or has to confront a challenging situation. It is essential to promote resilience and develop coping skills in adolescents through active involvement of government agencies, family intervention, schools, and community participation to prevent juvenile delinquency for creating a strong and healthy society. Considering the multiple factors which place teenagers at risk for a variety of personal and social problems stress should be given to development of adolescent focused treatment aimed at increasing the mode of protective elements, proportionate to the negative factors, leading to behavioral incompatibility. Background In an increasingly diverse, often fragmented society, it is difficult for young people to get clear hint about the core positive values important for personal development. As young people are valuable asset of today and the resource of future more investment is needed in youth development. When people feel supported and connected they develop a shared sense of values, and tend to work together in community with commitment paving way to a healthy, harmonious, and skilled future generation. Government agencies could play an important role in encouraging constructive values we share as a society and transmit it to the young people. “During much of the 20th century, public rhetoric about how to respond to juvenile crime incorrectly posited clear, either-or positions from which policy choices should be made: child or adult; punishment or rehabilitation; judicial discretion or rigorous guidelines. The reality has always been more ambiguous. Even though it is heuristically useful to divide this century’s juvenile court experience into opposing epochs—the benign paternalism of the first part of the century versus the get-tough policies of recent decades—the lines between these orientations are less clear. It is a mistake to think of the juvenile justice system as a single, self-contained unit operated as one entity”(Guarino-Ghezzi and Loughra, 1991 as cited by Schwartz) Through the 20th century, the juvenile justice system has sought to save children, nurture them, rehabilitate them, cure them, isolate them and punish them. A requirement of any effective juvenile justice system is treating every youth offender as an individual and providing all with the necessary services. Young offenders have strength and are capable of positive growth. Hence, giving up on them is costly and investing in them makes sense for society. Young people must be encouraged to accept responsibility for their actions and the consequences of those actions. The juvenile justice system is a vital part of society’s collective exercise of its responsibility towards young people. It must do its job effectively. Making the victim whole, involving communities in fashioning of dispositions, and teaching juveniles the skills necessary to make the transition to responsible adulthood has become the new slogan. The problem Lack of positive developmental skill in adolescents lead to reduced resilience and creates juvenile delinquents. “Drug and substance abuse among teenagers, is substantial. Among youth aged 12 to 17, about 1.1 million meet the diagnostic criteria for dependence on drugs, and about one million are treated for alcohol dependency.” (National Youth Network) It is also found that four of every five children and teens (78.4 percent) in juvenile justice system—1.9 million of 2.4 million arrests of 10+ to 17+ year olds—are under the influence of alcohol or drugs while committing their crime, test positive for drugs, are arrested for committing an alcohol or drug offence, admit having substance abuse and addiction problems, or share some combination of these characteristics.”(NCASA October 2004). These data establishes the severity of the problem and it has to be considered as a pointer to mental health disorders lying unexplored in every such adolescent. Researchers identified six independent risk factors for continued adjustment problems into adulthood: family disruption; mental health problems, deviant and antisocial behavior; negative peer influence; poor school adjustment; and history of alcohol or other drug abuse (Wanberg 1992, 2000). An essential first step towards effective intervention understands various factors that place youth at risk for developing problem behavior. Positive Youth development for social change Positive Youth Development (PYD) aims at providing youth with the necessary opportunities for them to acquire a broad range of competencies and to demonstrate a full complement of connections to self, others and the larger community. Communities have an obligation to safeguard the welfare of children and young people, to support them when in need and to help them to grow into adults. Offering training and employment to help the youth, who commits offenses and delinquent acts, successfully enter the labor market will help reduce the likelihood of recidivism. “A review of efforts at social system changes in 526 universal competence-promotion outcome studies indicated that 64 per cent of the interventions attempted some type of micro systemic or mesosystemic change involving schools, families, or community-base organizations in an attempt to foster development competencies in children and adolescents. Only 24% of the reports provided quantitative data on the change that occurred in targeted systems. These data indicate that attempts to change social systems affecting children and adolescents can be successful.” (Durlak, Joseph et al. June 2007) Developing coping skills Coping skill enable people to be self-reliant solve problems and make informed choices that enhance health. Help to deal with the events, challenges and stress in their day-to-day lives, without resorting to health risk-taking behaviors such as alcohol and drug abuse. Coping skills are acquired primarily in the first few years of live. Ability to cope with stress and negative circumstances are influenced by early childhood experiences and depend on variety of protective and risk factors in the individual, family and community. Gender, temperament, parenting style and family functioning, interaction with peers and significant adults and the nature of community support interact in developing children’s mental health outcomes. Present need is to build communities in which all young people are surrounded with multiple influences that give messages of love, support, control, and positive values. Youth, having caring and supporting families and school with such environment, who are motivated and committed in school and involved in structured activities, and avoid peers with negative behavior are indicators of healthiest communities. Personal support received from family, peers, and school teachers positively affect developing the youth. Similarly involvement in youth organizations and religious activities clearly influence in shaping healthy communities for youth Role of Government agencies Government plays a critical role in ensuring the well-being and healthy development of children and youth through many programs associated with youth education, health, economic assistance, and crime prevention. To ensure the health and vitality of our young people, we require a social commitment to nurturing and strengthening the developmental foundations that positively transform all youth and help them grow up successfully in every aspect of life. The juvenile justice system has defined competency development as “the process by which juvenile offenders acquire the knowledge and skills that make it possible for them to become productive, connected and law abiding members of their communities”(P Torbet and D Thomas. 2005). Major components that play a role in cultivating development assets in youth are relationship building, setting parameter of acceptable social behavior, developing educational commitment, cultivating positive values, building social competencies, and active community participation. Creating positive environment conducive to relationship developments play a key role and house planning that encourage interaction among neighbors, developing interactive programs through community parks and recreation centers, and strong family support programs will help achieve this goal. It is the responsibility of every government agency to identify norms and values of each community through need based evaluation of its citizen and setting boundaries through policy framing and law enforcement as well as informing the community members about their importance and need. Investing resources in education and encouraging civic leaders and business houses for active participation in education activities is a strategic approach to stimulate learning skill in youth and fulfill their dreams of higher education. On the basis of research findings, the earlier approach of concentrating on preventive measures has shifted to focusing on creating positive self-esteem, strong personal skills, and a sense of personal values in individual youth. Parental involvement Effective parenting skills and family functioning are important to young children’s mental health development. When parents have difficulty coping with life, work, family or parenting they may be unable to provide their children with necessary emotional, social, and physical support. Establishing trust and safety through caring relationships, providing guidance and challenge, and ensuring opportunities for meaningful participation in family and community are all protective factors in a child’s environment. Supportive adults in the school, neighborhood and community are important factors helping to offset negative effects of peri-natal stress, chronic poverty, parental psychopathology, and disruption in the family (Werner 1993). Family communication, mother-child interaction, and quality social ties in the lives of children and adolescents inculcate a healthy human bond in their developmental process. Using motivational intervention involving teen and family advocates to extract details about the activities parents and teenagers have done well, both in family and individual contexts elicited weaknesses and vulnerabilities that require remediation and also an evaluation of his or her talents that need to be nurtured. When adolescents and families are praised and acknowledged for their accomplishments and abilities they become less resistant and increasingly motivated to actively participate in the treatment program and the treatment alliance becomes strengthened. Role of teachers Teachers and schools have the power to transform lives and enable positive development in youth by meeting their basic needs for safety, love and belonging, respect, power, accomplishment and learning, and ultimately, for meaning (Benard, 1996). Teachers can convey loving support to students by listening to students and validating their feelings, and by demonstrating kindness, compassion, and respect (Higgins, 1994, Meier, 1995). Understanding that youth are doing the best they can, and refraining from prejudiced notions on their adversity and setbacks in life, teachers can help meet the basic survival needs of students from troubled families through provision of supplies and referrals to social service agencies. High expectations of a teacher foster competitive skills in a student and instill personal power to grow from damaged victim to resilient survivor. As an outgrowth of a strength based-perspective, turnaround teachers let students express their opinions and imaginations, make choices, problem solve, work with and help others, and give their gifts back to the community in a physically and psychologically safe and structured environment. They treat students as responsible individuals, allowing them to participate in all aspects of the school’s functioning ( Rutter et al, 1979 adapted from.Benard, B nd ). Developing a caring relationship between educator-student, student-student, educator-educator, and educator parent at schools will go a long way in inculcating resilience in students. Cooperative learning, peer helping, cross-age mentoring and community service also play major role for active student involvement in these developmental relationships. Teachers, administrators, and staff should realize the need for resilience cultivation in students and prepare themselves to overcome the odds in achieving the goal. Cooperation and coordination between school and family and community could help identify the student needs and help involve community agencies for the development of the child as a whole. Classroom approaches Motivating youth to achieve in school is a difficult task, but can become easier as students realize the rewards of their hard work, and begin to enjoy the positive feelings that come as they experience academic success. Schools should give recognition for a job well done, and are ready to include awards for effort, improvement, and achievement in other areas. Teachers should involve students in the learning process, make learning enjoyable, and give individual attention in identifying interests and hobbies of each student. Youth who feel connected to their school with a sense of pride and spirit are more likely to enjoy their learning as well as develop good study skills, hard work, and increase self discipline and perseverance. Teachers should identify the inherent strength in students, rather their deficiencies, paving way to positive attributes of learning to cope with problem situations. Give opportunity to realize their problems and promote a rational analyzing capacity to evolve their own explanations to it in order to help them recognize their innate resilience. Encouraging personal traits of self-reflection, critical thinking and consciousness, providing opportunities for creative expression, involving in community activities, and choosing learning experience will offer growth opportunities for children. Experimenting with live models, like the most challenging student of the school, and explaining the strength of resilience through student participation will help transform the student population. If teachers work from their own innate resilience and show they care, believe in the inherent strength of each student, they are enabling healthy development, successful learning, creating social change, and building a creative and “compassionate citizenry” (Benard, B. nd) Societal involvement Focusing on a young person’s future nurtures hope and possibility for change they look to the future with optimism and also repent for past misdeeds leading to readjustments that make positive contributions to the community. It instills a sense of increased competence through developing personal responsibility for their behavior and its consequences as well as accountability to the community. Youth and adults are endowed with personal power in making positive and lasting impact on the lives of young people in their community. They could help adolescents in understanding what actions and behaviors breed success, why willingness and ideas need to apply that knowledge, and most importantly inculcate a desire to see young people grow up happy, healthy, and confident Helping adolescents understand and recognize their own strength and abilities can contribute towards improving self-esteem, self-awareness and recognition of personal rights and responsibilities that can propel them out of high-risk situations and drive into those facilitate that reaching their goals. Each community is unique and young people may have diverse experiences and perceptions. Getting the rhythm of the community, identifying unique resources available with them and also the inherent weakness it carries help prioritize program approach aimed at youth development in healthy and constructive way. Suggestion: Developing resilience Adolescence can be a time of high stress because of the rapid physiological changes of puberty interacts with other stress factors, with potentially significant effects on the mental health of adolescents. Common causes of unhappiness are death in the family, parent’s separation, family move, illness or injury of family members, change in household members, and conflict between parents, hospital stay, abuse or fear of abuse, alcoholism or mental health disorder in the family, a stay in the foster home, separation form parents, and death of parent. All children have the innate capacity for “self-righting” meaning that they can develop traits such as social competence and effective problem solving ability. The inborn resilience to stress varies over time as an individual’s circumstances change. Resilience has been defined as “the process of healthy human development – a dynamic process in which personality and environmental influences interact in a reciprocal, transactional relationship.” Resilience is the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and catastrophe. It also indicates a characteristic of resistance to future negative events corresponds to cumulative protective factors. It is found that resilient children do better in school than their IQs would predict, are humane, easy to guide, have realistic plan for future and concept of their abilities, are sympathetic towards others, and able to verbalize their feelings. Resilient adolescents show higher cognitive test scores, academic achievements in both reading and mathematics, more likely to attend colleges, and later childbearing. High quality educational childcares from early infancy are, therefore, of utmost importance. (Benard, B., 1996) Conclusion With the twentieth century’s “discovery” of childhood and adolescence as special periods in which children should be given support to learn and develop, American society has assumed an increased sense of responsibly for the care of its young people. Increases in juvenile crime and concerns about troubled youth led in the 1950’s to the beginning of major federal funding initiatives to address these issues. These tends accelerated during 1960’s, as did national rates of poverty, divorce, out-of-wedlock births, family mobility, and single parenthood.”(Catalano, Richard F et al, 1998). It may be seen that major factors that put an adolescent at risk are low self esteem, personality disorder, low success expectations, alienation, negative peers, and disconnection with conventional institutions, growing up in a subculture of violence, relative economic deprivation and lack of school success. Protective elements like positive relationship with adults, conventional friends, good school attitudes and results, involvement in pro-social activities, religious faith are shown to mitigate this problem. Research findings support the moderating function of protective factors to offset risk. Through developing program activities aimed at developing resilience in the domain of pro-social skills, moral reasoning skill, academic skill, workforce development skills and independent living skills the goal of ‘positive youth development’ be achieved. Reference list Benard, B. Turning it around for all youth: From risk to resilience. New York: ERIC Clearing house on Urban Education Digest. Nd http://resilnet.uiuc.edu/library/dig126.html Benard B. (1996). From Research to Practice: Resiliency in Action (Vol.1 (1) (Winter 1996) Catalano, Richard F et al. Positive youth development in the United States: Research findings on evaluations of positive youth development programs. Washington: University of Washington. November 13, 1998) Durlak, Joseph et al. Effects of positive youth development programs on school, family and community systems: American Journal of Community Psychology. Vol. 39, 3-4, pp 269-286. June 2007. Retrieved from http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search/article;jsessionid=1925l4g7l0c7j.alexandra?title=positive+youth+development&title_type=tka&year_from=1998&year_to=2007&database=1&pageSize=20&index=5 P Torbet & D Thomas. 2005. Advancing Competency Development: A White paper for Pennsylvania. Juvenile Probation Report. Retrieved from http://www.alleghenycourts.us/downloads/family/juvenile%20section/Brochures/2006_juvenile_probation_report_card.pdf (National Youth Network: Teenage substance abuse) retrieved from http://www.nationalyouth.com/substanceabuse.html NCASA at Columbia University. Criminal Neglect: Substance abuse, juvenile justice and the children left behind. (New York: The National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, October 2004) Schwartz, Robert G. Juvenile Justice and positive youth development: Juvenile Law Centre. Youth development issues retrieved from http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/74_sup/ydv_7.pdf on November 6, 2007. Read More