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Positive Effects of Participation in Youth Organizations (From Psychosocial Disturbances in Young People: Challenges for Prevention, P 274-304, 1995, Michael Rutter, ed. - See NCJ-167699)

NCJ Number
167703
Author(s)
J Quinn
Date Published
1995
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This chapter reports specific findings of a 3-year study of American youth organizations conducted by the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development.
Abstract
America's youth organizations rank second only to the public schools in the number of young people reached by their services each year, yet little is known about their current activities. The Carnegie study sought to document and assess the current work on a broad array of services for adolescents, with a view toward recommending constructive change in program, funding, and policy. The Carnegie Task Force also commissioned a paper on cross-national perspectives in an effort to learn from the experience of selected other countries. This chapter focuses on four sets of issues examined in the Carnegie study: (1) a brief descriptive overview of contemporary American youth organizations; (2) a summary of what is known about the effects of participation in these organizations; (3) an analysis, drawn from both research and practice, of the characteristics of effective programs and organizations; and (4) the implication of these findings for the formulation of youth-friendly public and social policy. References