Collaboratively Promoting Character Strengths in African American Adolescent Girls

James, AG (Anthony)¹, Harper, EA (Erin)², Ramey, D (Demoni)¹, Smith, C (Chamina)^1
1Miami University
²Texas A&M University-Commerce

 

Submission type

Poster only

Scheduled

Hallway, 10-07-2019, 15:30 - 17:00

Keywords

Positive Youth Development, PYD, Urban, African American, Adolescent, Girls, Ethnic, Minority, Collaboration, Character, Programs, Programming

Summary

A gap in the positive youth development (PYD) literature includes a need for more research to understand features of PYD that emerge as a result of individual <--> context relations, particularly regarding ethnic minority youth (Lerner, 2017). Using qualitative data (e.g., field notes and critical reflective journal entries) from a community-based, out-of-school-time (OST) multi-generational group mentoring program designed to empower PYD qualities in urban African American adolescent girls, we investigate how program processes promote girls’ character strengths. Program participants during the 2017-2018 school year included seven Black/African American adolescent girls, ages 12 to 15 and six African American women mentors, ages 19 to 69. Program Participants during the 2018-2019 school year included 13 African American adolescent girls, ages 12 to 16 and five African American women mentors. We situate our study in a relational developmental systems metatheoretical framework (Overton, 2015) and the 5 C’s perspective (Lerner et al., 2015). Specifically, we examine how planning, conducting, and reflecting on collaborative youth-led activities helped to promote participants’ character strengths. We explain our findings by marrying program processes with the “Big Three” (i.e., positive and sustained adult-youth relations, life-skill building, and opportunities for participating in leadership roles) of PYD programs.

Auteurs