Promoting Healthy Adolescents: Synthesis of Youth Development Program Evaluations

Youth development programs are gaining prominence as a way to help adolescents become competent, engaged, and responsible adults. However, the definition of youth development programs is elusive. Most simply, youth development programs are programs that provide opportunities and support to help youth gain the competencies and knowledge they need to meet the increasing challenges they will face as they mature. Typically, they are community based, rather than school based. In this article, we evaluate the usefulness of the youth development framework based on 15 program evaluations. The results of the evaluations are discussed and 3 general themes emerge. First, programs incorporating more elements of the youth development framework seem to show more positive outcomes. Second, the evaluations support the importance of a caring adult-adolescent relationship, although these relationships need not be limited to 1-on-1 mentoring. And 3rd, longer-term programs that engage youth throughout adolescence appear to be the most effective. The policy and programmatic implications of these findings are discussed.