A Refresher on Developmental Theory and Youth Work in The Salvation Army

Yesterday in our Youth Work Leadership class at Railton School for Youth Worker Training, Dr. Dennis VanderWheele was teaching through Erikson's stages of development. I have walked through Developmental theory a hundred and one times, but yesterday, Denny helped me to link this theory to youth work in a way that I had never thought of previously. His insight was brilliant and got me thinking on a train of thought that I haven't been able to get out of my head. For my own sanity, I have recorded it on my blog. I hope this helps others who are interested in this area of study.

In Erikson's stages of development, the logical progression of psychosocial development would transition through these crises:

• Trust
• Autonomy
• Initiative
• Industry
• Identity
• Intimacy

[There's a lot more to Erikson's developmental model, but for the purposes of this post, I will just be dealing with these elements].

To clarify, Erikson, along with other 'ages and stages' theorists would seek to tack on specific ages to chronicle psychosocial development with physical and chronological development. Denny had an important clarification that the development of identity/identities (which is not limited to one moment in life, but is an ongoing process throughout all of life) is largely built upon the foundations of trust, autonomy, initiative and industry.

In a normative environment, traditional microsystems such as parent, sibling, teacher would help a child/teen navigate through these stages of development. In less normative environments - youth who would come from 'communities at-risk'* might not have the psychosocial support systems to help meet these needs through traditional means. What happens to these children and youth? (*note on communities at-risk: this does not necessarily have to be defined geographically or even economically. See the Search Institute's Forty Developmental Assets to explore this in greater depth).

Larry Brendtro, Martin Brokenleg and Steve Van Bockern wrote a wonderful book called Reclaiming Youth At-Risk in which they introduce a wonderful model called the 'Circle of Courage.' In this model, they identify that youth have a significant need for:

• Belonging
• Independence
• Mastery
• Generosity

These needs (or 'assets') might be [a] unfulfilled, [b] negatively fulfilled, or [c] positively fulfilled. Each possibility normally results in a series of emotional and behavioral outcomes - some positive, others negative. A major question which they ask is 'how can we reclaim kids who have a unfulfilled or negatively fulfilled need and create an positive environment which can facilitate a transition towards a positive fulfillment of these needs? Much of the work of the Reclaiming Youth Network has sought to identify strategies to do so.

However, Denny's class yesterday helped me to link the work described above with Erikson's model of psychosocial development.

For example, a young man who is living in an inner-city neighborhood might find a sense of identity in a gang. A gang cultivates trust. It fosters autonomy. Even initiative and industry are a part of this world. So when it comes to identity formation, a gang provides all of the psychosocial scaffolding needed to fulfill 'the needs' of youth at-risk. The problem is that, like in the Circle of Courage model, these needs are being fulfilled in a negative, antisocial way.

In describing this scenario to Denny, I asked him, "How then is it possible for a youth worker to penetrate the microsystem of the gang, help the gang member recognize that the identity embraced places them at-risk and help that person construct an alternative, more positively-fulfilled identity?"

Dr. VanderWheele paused for a moment and then said, it requires that we move to the next stage, intimacy - by cultivating deep, genuine relationships, intimacy helps to provide a bridge to a second, alternative possible world in which trust, autonomy, initiative, industry and identity can be cultivated. Mentoring and the creation of positive peer cultures are critical to reclaiming children and youth.

Often people bifurcate program and relationship - suggesting that this is an either/or choice. However, both are absolutely necessary to help cultivate a positive, psychosocial support system. Programs create a context in which intimate relationships can be cultivated, trust can be built, agency can be initiated, where industry can create purpose and ultimately where alternative, positive identities can be forged. Such programs help to constuct an alternative, positive environment or culture which can serve as another possible world to negative influences such as gangs. However, there needs to be an intentionality behind these programs that requires creativity, commitment and continuous assessment. Such programs need to continually evaluate whether they are aiding the the positive psychosocial development of youth. [For more on this, I would recommend reading Milbrey McLaughlin's brilliant report and strategy outlined in Commuity Counts.]

So how does this apply to Salvation Army youth work?

Youth work has always been (and always will be) a top priority in the overarching mission of The Salvation Army. [For more on this, see my history of Salvation Army youth work timeline.] From our earliest of days, The Salvation Army has focused on the best strategies to holistically reclaim children and youth for Christ. This can be seen in everything from Corps-based ministries like Junior Soldiers and Corps Cadets; to life-skills programs like Boys Adventure Corps, Sunbeams; to after-school programs, orphanages, schools; to addressing child labor issues, human sex trafficking, etc. While some of the earliest literature in modern psychology was being written, The Salvation Army was working with the last, the lost and the least children and youth. As a result, we have been interested in salvation - being the eternal and temporal well-being of children and youth.

While the ministry of The Salvation Army begins with psychosocial- and moral- development, it also emphasizes the spiritual development of youth. Both are critical parts of our holistic mission. We are called to meet human need as motivated by gospel conviction. Yet ultimately, our desire is to expand temporal redemption to eternal redemption as can be fully realized in the life-transforming grace to be found in relationship with Jesus Christ. Not only do we want to construct an alternative identity which saves youth from prison, economic hardship, abuse, etc. - but we also want to construct the identity which comes from becoming a 'new creation in Christ.' When a relationship with Christ is embraced, this cultivates trust, autonomy, initiative, inspiration and most certainly identity.

With such a large, overarching mission, I would argue that all of the programs that are available through Salvation Army ministries provide some of the most profound opportunities to create these alternative, positive environments that can help to truly reclaim children and youth. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that we do our utmost to, as our slogan says, "do the most good" when it comes to these initiatives. I think that Erikson's framework provides an essential evaluative tool that can aid us in our attempt to achieve that goal.

So, a simple class on a classic developmental theory sent me on a journey to explore youth work through a whole new lens. This is something that I will remember for a long time.

Thank you, Denny for being willing to sacrifice time and energy to train our students.

Growing Up Online - Missiological Reflections on Immigrant and Native Youth Work in a Digital World

I was extremely excited to hear that PBS’s documentary show, Frontline has put together a show on adolescents and the media. It's called, Growing Up Online. This past week, my students and I watched this together as a part of a class which I teach at Railton School for Youth Worker Training. The class is called, Studying the Social Worlds of Children and Youth.

I was very interested to observe my student youth workers watching “Growing Up Online” – as they represent some of the first youth workers that have grown-up as natives of the online world. Most of my students do not remember a world in which the internet did not exist. So while I viewed this as an immigrant to the digital world, they viewed it as natives.

This change has serious implications when considering a missiology of youth work. In mission studies, there is a remarkable difference which takes place in the contextualization of the gospel to a culture when a shift takes place from immigrant to native missionaries. Missiologists Ralph Winter and Bruce Koch refer to this as E-1, -2 & -3, evangelism. E-3 would be evangelism that crosses a cultural and language barriers as well as physical barriers. For example, going to a foreign country would constitute what he would consider E-3 Evangelism. E-2 evangelism would require crossing some sort of barrier, such as a physical barrier. E-1 evangelism would be when a person reaches out to their own people group.

When considering the ‘virtual’ as opposed to physical barrier of the online media world, one could easily perceive of the online world as a new frontier - as it has many similarities to that of an undiscovered tribe or people group. However, the shift from physical to virtual space is only one of many barriers that must be crossed by youth workers. Cultural engagement requires a person to learn new, online languages (whose code is continually changing); operate under new social structures; learn new customs, etc. It actually might be easier to go to a foreign country than it is to continuously be up t speed with the never-ending morphing culture of the online world. When looked at from this perspective, it becomes clear that there is a distinction between those who are completely foreign to the codes and customs of online tribes; those who have become familiar through continuous, intensive study; and those who have grown up in this virtual culture.

Personally, I would consider myself an immigrant to the digital world. As a youth worker committed to the contextualization of the gospel to culture, I have intentionally chosen to work (like an anthropologist) at learning about and engaging these worlds. I have read books on the history of the internet, video-gamming, the psychology and sociology of online activity, I have blogged and read blogs, I have played games, connected with people on FaceBook, etc. All of these are actions that I have intentionally made as a student of these cultures – and I have taken these steps in order to learn more about online virtual worlds and how children and youth live, move and present themselves. However, no matter how much I learn and engage these worlds, I will always be an immigrant to the virtual world – because I was born in a different world. I entered this world as an adult. I will always be something of an outsider.

This is totally different to most of my students – who cannot even fathom a world without cellphones, online social networking sites, instant messaging, YouTube, etc. Even my own daughters are regular participants in the media-sphere through WebKinz and Club Penguin!

So, what was the difference between an immigrant and a native’s perspective on a documentary about growing up online? Well, I would encourage you to interact with my student’s perspectives on this show. I asked them to write about their thoughts on the documentary both as natives to this world and as youth workers that are seeking to reclaim children and youth. These could possibly be two different lenses through which they engage this show - however, it might not be... They can speak for themselves! I am going to attach a link to each of their postings (as they send these to me!):

• Stacy's Thoughts
• Zuheil's Thoughts
• Felipe's Thoughts
• Brennen's Thoughts

As I watched the show, I was very interested to note how my students were reacting to what they were viewing. Often, there was a communal laugh in the room – like an insider’s joke at a member’s only club. I was especially interested in their perspective on the mother who reported to the Principal and parents that her son and all of his friends were drunk on a trip into New York City. Cell phones recorded some anti-social behavior which was immediately uploaded to YouTube and a variety of other web sharing sites. As a parent and an immigrant to the digital world, I found myself empathizing with the Mother (while questioning the wisdom of some of her actions) whereas most of my students reacted with complete horror at what happened. As I viewed the documentary, my personal response was that this culture was somewhat anarchic – a virtual Lord of the Flies! Children and youth who were engaging a no-holds-barred culture without a moral compass. However, I recognized that this was my reaction and perspective as an immigrant. It was at that point that I realized that there was a whole new insider’s perspective that I was completely oblivious to.

Marshall McLuhan has observed that when a new technology is introduced into a culture that there are significant psycho-social shifts which take place in a culture. Often these shifts are not easily perceived of by those who are in the midst of such entropic change. I think that one of the most significant changes in social structure is that those who are considered children and youth are in the position of authority as they are natives to this culture while parents are perceived of as socially and culturally incompetent. This places a great deal of strain on the parent-child relationship. Similarly, those who are in positions of leadership in ministry to youth often find themselves in the vulnerable position of being a cultural outsider. We don’t understand the psyche of youth who are growing up online. We haven’t considered what I would call ‘virtual ethics and moral development.’

As a person deeply committed to sharing the gospel of hope with children and youth and to developing young leaders, I want to empower a generation of natives to the digital world to begin to consider how to communicate the gospel in virtual cultures. I can only engage in Winter and Koch's E-2 and E-3 forms of witness. Whereas my students are able to engage these cultures as digital natives in E-1 evangelism.

I pray that as this world which is a social reality to our youth becomes more and more a cultural norm, that we would have more adults who are willing to cross the threshold to become immigrants to this environment; and that we would be able to develop leaders who are immigrants to this world who would be able to help cultivate a spirit of wisdom, moral reasoning and godliness in the digital world.

Teen-Age: The Creation of Youth Culture - An Interesting Take on 19th Century Youth Organizations

I recently picked up a copy of Jon Savage's monumental book, TeenAge: The creation of youth culture. In his book, he challenges the commonly accepted belief that the social construction of 'the teenager' as a psychological and sociological phenomena did not generate during the post-WW2 '50s and '60s, but that this had been growing as early as the mid-19th century. Exploring a vast array of iconic figures from literature and history along with movements focused particularly on this age-group, Savage's argument is extremely compelling.

I am particularly interested in his chapter on the period from 1875 to 1904. He focuses on organizations that utilize militarism as a means of helping navigate youth away from anti-Social behavior. As a person interested in studying the history of Salvation Army youth work, I found this quote particularly fascinating:

"At the same time, new voluntary organizations refined the regimented evangelism of the Young Men's Christian Association (established 1844) and General Booth's Salvation Army (established 1878) into a more specifically youth-directed program. The pioneer was William Smith's Boy's Brigade, formed in Glasgow during 1883. Combining parade-ground discipline with Sunday school teachings, the Boy's Brigade had as its specific aim 'the advancement of Christ's Kingdom among Boys, and the promotion of habits of Reverence. Discipline and Self-Respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian manliness." (Jon Savage, TeenAge (2007): 20).

It is interesting to ponder the significance of the militaristic model of youth work during this period. Shortly after, Baden-Powell would return from the Anglo-Boer War to begin the Boy Scouts Brigade. 

For more on the significance of these expressions of youth work, I have been stimulated by the thoughts of Danny Brierley in Joined-up: An introduction to youth work and ministry. 

Youth Culture 101 Study Guide Introduction

Walt Mueller is the preeminent authority on youth culture in evangelical circles. His books, articles and seminars have been helping to equip youth workers for years. I tip my hat to this humble veteran youth worker and research specialist. He has honorably and gracefully engaged generations of youth culture research novices (like me) - who have sparred with him from different philosophical and theological corners of the dialogue ring. In the end, I find myself returning to the wisdom I find in his words - words that are grounded, well-articulated and holistically missional.

As a result, I have selected his book, Youth Culture 101 as a text for one of my classes. I am developing this blog-based study guide for the youth workers studying on this subject at Railton School for Youth Worker Training. I have created these questions to invite these new sparring partners to enter the ring to wrestle through how we can reclaim children and youth for Christ in a media-saturated culture. To learn more about his ministry and resources for both parents and youth workers, check out his excellent website: http:cpyu.org

This dialogue ring welcomes others (both Christian and non-Christian) who might be interested in engaging with the questions outlined throughout this guide.This isn't intended to be an 'official' study guide of the book - just merely an attempt to help focus readers on identifying the gems that emerge from this text. If you think that there are other questions that might be pertinent to this chapter, email me and let me know.


I will be regularly updating these chapters over the next few weeks. Please check in regularly for updates.

Chapter One: Good News: There's a Teenager in Your Life
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Chapter Two: The Times... They Are a-Changin'
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Chapter Three: Media: The New Face of Nurture
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Chapter Four: The Media How It's Shaping Kids
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Chapter Five: Through the Maze: Teaching Kids Media Discernment
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Chapter Six: It All Ads Up: Marketing's Powerful Influence on Teenagers
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Chapter Seven: Fitting In: The Push and Pull of Peer Pressure
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Chapter Eight: Hooking Up: Understanding Our Sexualized Youth Culture
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Chapter Nine: Living in a Material World
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Chapter Ten: Under the Influence: Teenagers and Substance Abuse
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Chapter Eleven: When Adolescence Hurts: The Dark World of Teenage Depression and Suicide
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Chapter Twelve: Especially for Parents: Helping Your Teenagers Find Their Places in God's Story
[Supplemental Resources and Info]

Youth Culture 101 Study Guide - Chapter Two: The Times... They Are A-Changin'

Past Chapters
Overview
Chapter One: Good News: There's a Teenager in Your Life

Question 1.
For years, culture watchers like Alvin Toeffler, David Elkind, Neil Postman and Douglas Coupland have been predicting the ‘acceleration of culture.’ Yesterday’s prediction is today’s reality. As Walt Mueller states, “The rate of change is gaining momentum. Like a snowball that accelerates and grows during its rapid descent down a steep hill, today’s youth culture is changing at breakneck speed.” (p.33)

In what ways has the world in which children and teens growing up similar and/or different to your own experience of childhood and adolescence?

Question 2.
Walt Mueller describes culture as, “…the ‘soup’ in which our teenagers swim around and soak every day. The soup’s ingredients include values, attitudes and behaviors – as well as media, peer group, language, and so on that express them. To know kids, we must lift the lid on the soup pot an see what’s in the mix… if we hope to effectively protect our kids from harm, provide for their well being, and lead them to vital faith in Christ, we must understand their world… a world that’s very different from the world we knew when we were that age.” (p.35)

Identify some aspects from today’s youth culture which you observe and think to yourself, “I don’t get that! I don’t understand why they do that?” How can you begin to understand the ‘soup ingredients’ that are shaping the values, attitudes and behaviors of the youth we are working with? Do they differ from your own experience of adolescence? If so, what are the differences that are fueling this shift in culture?

Question 3.
Mueller discusses Chap Clark’s concept of ‘systemic abandonment’ by parents. “In order to survive systemic abandonment and still function, vulnerable and confused young people create a separate and highly structured social system Clark calls ‘the world beneath,’ a safe place where they find connections – with equally confused young and abandoned peers – that help them as they navigate the difficult waters of adolescence… Clark concludes that one of the most vital things those of us who are close to kids… can do is to ‘understand their world.” (p.39)

In what ways can the local church/Corps and community center serve as an alternative safe space where adolescents can come to build meaningful relationships that will help to fulfill this need in a way that is positive and pro-social?

Question 4.
In chapter 2, Mueller identifies six major factors that have contributed to an increased stress on the relationship of parents and youth. These ‘family permutations’ include:

• An increase and acceptance of divorce (p.42)
• The rise in cohabitation and out-of-wedlock births (p.44)
• The crisis of fatherlessness (p.45)
• An increasing number of mothers who work outside the home (p.46)
• A decreasing amount of time parents are spending with their kids (p.46)
• More children are victims of family violence (p.46)

Some would argue that the family is the first ingredient in the cultural soup that shapes youth’s values, beliefs and practices. Would you agree or disagree that the shift in family values and the increase in systemic abandonment has contributed toward a very different social construction of adolescence?

Question 5.
With a decrease in the family as moral compass for today’s children, and a divide between values communicated in church and school, “…the voices of other institutions become more powerful in their ability to educate and socialize teenagers.” (p.49). These voices are largely shaped by the rise in digital, personalized technologies that saturate our youth in a media sphere in which everything in a teen’s world - from peer interaction to savvy consumer advertising becomes an integral part of their everyday lives.

To what extent are personalized technologies (cell phones, iPods) and social networking media (YouTube, MySpace) replacing the local village (parents, school, church, peers) with a ‘electronically-mediated global village’ (celebrities, advertisers, online acquaintances, etc.) to raise our children. What role does technology play in the shift which is taking place in our culture(s)?

Question 6.
Mueller reminds us that, “…we know we can’t guide our kids through the soup of today’s culture until we deal with the inconsistencies in our own lives first. We have two choices. We can take the easy way out (for now) and keep sailing along on the same course, preferring not to rock the boat. Or we can row vigorously into the sea of youth culture and strive to understand it.” (p.69)

What is our own perspective on media? Is this a God-glorifying position? Do we lean to one of the extremes of being either isolationist and reactionary or relativistic and co-opted? How do we overcome fear or apathy in order to begin to seriously engage in today’s youth culture?

Question 7.
How would you go about setting up a meeting with parents to discuss the “principles that bridge the cultural generational gap” that Walt Mueller outlines at the end of this chapter?

• Understanding the world of kids is primarily a parent’s calling
• It’s never too early
• It’s never too late
• It won’t be easy
• Pain is a blessing
• Understanding youth culture equips parents to pass on the torch of faith
• Understanding youth culture fosters relational closeness (pp.70-75)

Youth Culture 101 Study Guide for Youth Workers - Chapter One: Good News: There's a Teenager in Your Life

Walt Mueller is the preeminent authority on youth culture in evangelical circles. His books, articles and seminars have been helping to equip youth workers for years. I tip my hat to this humble veteran youth worker and research specialist. He has honorably and gracefully engaged generations of youth culture research novices (like me) - who have sparred with him from different philosophical and theological corners of the dialogue ring. In the end, I find myself returning to the wisdom I find in his words - words that are grounded, well-articulated and holistically missional.

As a result, I have selected his book, Youth Culture 101 as a text for one of my classes. I am developing this blog-based study guide for the youth workers studying on this subject at Railton School for Youth Worker Training. I have created these questions to invite these new sparring partners to enter the ring to wrestle through how we can reclaim children and youth for Christ in a media-saturated culture.

This ring welcomes others (both Christian and non-Christian) who might be interested in engaging with the questions outlined throughout this guide.

This isn't intended to be an 'official' study guide of the book - just merely an attempt to help focus readers on identifying the gems that emerge from this text. If you think that there are other questions that might be pertinent to this chapter, email me and let me know.

Chapter One: Good News: There's a Teenager in Your Life

Question 1.
Paul David Tripp states that “It is time for us to reject the wholesale cynicism of our culture regarding adolescence. Rather than years of undirected and unproductive struggle, these are years of unprecedented opportunity…” (p.12) Walt Mueller later states that, “Our widespread cultural cynicism regarding teenagers and these exciting years of their lives in unjustified and must cease.” (p.14)

In what ways can youth workers help the church provide an alternative to the deterministic cynicism that Tripp speaks of when referring to our culture’s stereotypical views regarding adolescence?

Question 2.
The relationship between parent and teenager seems to be increasingly strained. Factors cited include an increase in divorce, busyness of individual schedules and media consumption patterns that fill personal space and time. Mueller presents statistical evidence that advice from Moms and especially Dads is significantly being fulfilled by friends, schools, churches, media, advertising, coaches, etc. (p.15f)

What role do youth workers play in addressing this trend? Is it best to simply focus on working with the teen – standing in the gap of the unfulfilled need? Or is it the responsibility of the youth worker to also work with parents? If so, why would this be?

Question 3.
Walt Mueller states, “Believe it or not, to assume you’ve somehow made kids immune to the influence of culture just by shielding them from culture might just produce the opposite effect. In other words, by not preparing them to engage the culture with minds and hearts saturated by a biblical world- and life view, we actually make them more vulnerable to the negative cultural forces they face both now and for the rest of their lives. Both we (parents and youth workers) and our kids need to be wise to the Scriptures and streetwise about our culture… When it comes to teenagers and their culture, what we don’t know (or don’t want to know or refuse to know) can hurt them.” (p.19)

Do you agree or disagree? Does the desire to protect our kids from culture weaken or strengthen our teenagers?

Question 4.
Walt Mueller speaks about the profound need that teenagers have for relationship with God. He quotes Alistair McGrath’s expansion on Blaise Pascal’s model of, “a God-shaped emptiness within us, which only God can fill. We may try to fill it in other ways and with other things. Yet one of the few certainties in life is that nothing in this world satisfies our longing for something that is ultimately beyond this world.” (p.19)

If this theological statement is true of all human beings – not just believers, in what way do we see this vacuum evidenced within even the most ungodly forms of cultural expression that interacts with teenagers?

'Teenagers' - My Chemical Romance Music Video

Every once in a while, there is a song or a video that captures a sense of where teens are at. This one highlights the 'misfit' teen. Note also the challenge between cultural conformity and violent rejection/celebration of alternative paths.

How do you interpret this video? Is it an attack on contemporary American society? Youth culture? Consumer culture? Teen sub-cultures?

Is this an accurate depiction of the challenges of being a teen in today's world? Or is this a misrepresentation?

How should the Church respond to this?

They're gonna clean up your looks
With all the lies in the books
To make a citizen out of you
Because they sleep with a gun
And keep an eye on you, son
So they can watch all the things you do

Because the drugs never work
They're gonna give you a smirk
'Cause they got methods of keeping you clean
They're gonna rip up your heads,
Your aspirations to shreds
Another cog in the murder machine

They said all teenagers scare the living s*** out of me
They could care less as long as someone'll bleed
So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me

The boys and girls in the clique
The awful names that they stick
You're never gonna fit in much, kid
But if you're troubled and hurt
What you got under your shirt
Will make them pay for the things that they did

They said all teenagers scare the living s*** out of me
They could care less as long as someone'll bleed
So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me

Ohhh yeah!

All together now!

The Myth of the Teen Brain:

The Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale: A Validation Study

The Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale: A Validation Study

Daniel T L Shek, Andrew Siu, & Tak Yan Lee

Objective: This article describes the development and initial validation of the 90-item Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale (CPYDS), which contains items related to 15 aspects of positive youth development. Method: Adolescents with well adjustment ( N = 162) and poor adjustment (N = 160) responded to the CPYDS. Results: The findings showed that the CPYDS measures possess acceptable internal consistency and were able to discriminate the two groups. Although the CPYDS measures were positively related to thriving, life satisfaction, and perceived academic achievement, they were negatively related to substance abuse, delinquency, and behavioral intention to engage in problem behavior. Conclusions: The CPYDS can be used as a global measure of positive youth development in Chinese adolescents, but its dimensionality and subscales should be further examined.

Frontline: Juvenile Justice

Should teenagers who commit serious crimes be tried as juveniles or adults? What happens to young offenders who reach the 'end of the line' in the juvenile court system - and how do you rehabilitate these young people to prevent future criminal behavior? FRONTLINE explores these questions as it follows four juvenile offenders - one white, two Hispanic, and one African American - through the Santa Clara, California, juvenile courts, observing how the criminal justice system treats their cases and determines their fates.

Frontline: Medicating Kids

A report on parents, educators and doctors trying to make sense of a mysterious and controversial mental diagnosis: ADHD

Frontline: Inside the Teenage Brain

Making a Difference in the Lives of Youth: An Urgent Agenda

This is a presentation from the White House's Helping America's Youth program. This presentation, called Making a Difference in the Lives of Youth: An Urgent Agenda is by Larke Huang. It was presented on April 11, 2007 at the Regional Conference.

Preventing Drug Use Among Children and Adolescents

Preventing Drug Use Among Children and Adolescents presents the updated prevention principles, an overview of program planning, and critical first steps for those learning about prevention. Thus, this shortened edition can serve as an introduction to research-based prevention for those new to the field of drug abuse prevention. Selected resources and references are also provided.

Will Teenagers Disappear?

Will Teenagers Disappear? is an interesting document that came out in 2000. It proposes that within the next 20 years, the social construction that we know as "adolescence" will change dramatically.

William Kirn elaborates:

"What will a world without teenagers look like? Like the adult world does now. Adolescents will feel the same pressures as their parents do: to succeed financially, to maintain their health, to stay on society's good side. What's more, adolescents will field these pressures using their elders' traditional techniques: spending money, taking medication, contracting for professional advice. The carefree years will become the prudent years, and the prudent years will continue throughout life. That's how it used to be, in the 19th century, and that's how it will be again in the 21st. The age of James Dean, the Ford Mustang and making out will seem, in retrospect, like what it was: a summer vacation from larger human history."

While I would deem this a tad deterministic, I think that it is important to stop and reflect on how what we understand as "the traditional teenager" is in the midst of a fantastic transformation.

The question I pose is, what are the implications for youth work?

What are your thoughts?

My Future - Tools to Help Adolescents Figure Out Their Future

I recently came across this website: My Future. This site is designed for teens who are considering what they wish to become and provides them a load of resources on career options, financial aid, scholarships, building a resume, managing their money, and so much more.

As youthworkers, this could serve as a great year to help teens think about something beyond just the present... a means to dreaming about possibilities - while providing the scaffolding to attain such.

Check it out!