Journal Article

Youth Empowerment Solutions

Miller, Alison L., Zimmerman, Marc A., Rupp, Laney, Hutchison, Pete, Morrel-Samuels, Susan, Franzen, Susan, Eisman, Andria B., Stoddard, Sarah, Reischl, Thomas M.

2018

Overview

We report on an effectiveness evaluation of the Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES) program. YES applies empowerment theory to an after-school program for middle school students. YES is an active learning curriculum designed to help youth gain confidence in themselves, think critically about their community, and work with adults to create positive community change. We employed a modified randomized control group design to test the hypothesis that the curriculum would enhance youth empowerment, increase positive developmental outcomes, and decrease problem behaviors. Our sample included 367 youth from 13 urban and suburban middle schools. Controlling for demographic characteristics and pretest outcome measures, we found that youth who received more components of the curriculum reported more psychological empowerment and prosocial outcomes and less antisocial outcomes than youth who received fewer of the intervention components. The results support both empowerment theory and program effectiveness.

• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc,SAGE Publications,SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subject: Active Learning / Adolescent / Adolescents / Adults / After School Programs / Antisocial Behavior / Behavior problems / Check Lists / Child / Child Behavior / Community / Community Change / Community-Institutional Relations / Control Groups / Curricula / Curriculum Design / Curriculum development / Demographics / Demography / Design modifications / Empowerment / Evaluation research / Female / Humans / Instructional Effectiveness / Learning / Least Squares Statistics / Male / Maximum Likelihood Statistics / Middle School Students / Middle schools / Policy, Environmental, and Structural Approaches / Power, Psychological / Pretests Posttests / Program Effectiveness / Program Evaluation / Program Evaluation - methods / Program Evaluation - statistics & numerical data / Program Implementation / Prosocial Behavior / Psychological empowerment / Randomized Controlled Trials / Schools / Self Concept Measures / Self Esteem / Social behavior / Social Change / Statistical Analysis / Structural Equation Models / Student Empowerment / Students / Students - psychology / Suburban areas / Suburban Schools / Teenagers / Urban Schools / Work / Youth