Measuring Youth Development Outcomes

Authors

Shaina Stewart and Kendra Liddicoat

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p. 35

Abstract

Within the past 40 years, the field of youth development has undergone several major paradigm shifts in an effort to better understand—and provide—what young people need to become happy, healthy, and successful adults (Pittman, Irby, Tolman, Yohalem, & Ferber, 2003). Early strategies that simply focused on minimizing the problematic behaviors that got youth into trouble evolved into later strategies that focused instead on developing the beneficial behaviors that helped youth succeed. Today, the theory of positive youth development broadly represents a social science framework that identifies the external supports, structures, and opportunities that young people need to become successful, contributing adults in society (Witt & Caldwell, 2005). Effective youth development programs can therefore promote positive behaviors that intrinsically reduce negative outcomes (Pittman et al., 2003).

Recommended Citation

Shaina Stewart and Kendra Liddicoat (2014) "Measuring Youth Development Outcomes," Taproot: A Journal of Outdoor Education: Vol. 23: Iss. 1, Article 11.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.cortland.edu/taproot/vol23/iss1/11