Making Every Day Count - Teens

Club Participation and Teens’ Outcomes 23for a youth who attends the Club 52, 122, 244 and366 days. (We use these numbers of days to displaythe relationship because over the 30-month periodthey correspond roughly to every other week, oncea week, twice a week, and three or more times aweek.) For aggression, the table shows the expectedchange for youth who attend 122 days or more—the level we tested and found significant—comparedwith those who come less frequently.Club PracticesIn our interviews, Club staff described how they tryto contribute to youth’s positive development in allthree outcome areas by paying attention to youth,being there to support them and providing bothformal and informal opportunities for activities andinteractions with peers and other staff. Teens, likethe staff, described the importance of relationshipswith Club staff for learning and positive development.Teens also noted specific Club programmingand informal interactions with staff and peers ashelpful in supporting them over time.Among the outcome areas, helping Club membersdevelop into young adults with good character andvalues was a priority for most Club staff—moreimportant than perhaps any other goal—and theyworked to achieve this goal primarily through informal,unstructured approaches. Staff’s main strategywas to develop strong relationships with youth anduse the opportunities provided by those relationshipsto focus on values and character. “We don’tdo all those character development programs,”explained one Club director. “I think they’re noteffective, but that’s not why we don’t do them.Character development is built into the fabric ofthe Club. When kids do a good job, we tell them.All of our programs have that component.”Formal ProgrammingOnly one Club described formal programmingaimed explicitly at developing strong character:a workshop that meets at the Club and also goeson retreats to discuss issues of character. However,other programs have character development asan important secondary goal. Leadership groupslike Keystone include elements of character development,as do risk-prevention programs such asSmart Moves. Staff and teens also noted that otheractivities, particularly sports, include discussions ofcharacter, such as discussing fairness in the contextof a game. For teens who used the Club primarilyfor sports, this was often their primary sourceof character development there. As one teen said,“At the beginning of the year we have a meeting,you know, [going over] what they expect from youthroughout the season, like being on time and…being a respectful person, a loyal person, someonewho, if the little kids need you, you’re there to talkto. Before a big meet [the coach] will say to theolder kids, ‘I expect you to help the little kids ifthey don’t know where to go or where to line up onthe block. If they’re nervous, can you help them?’Stuff like that.”Informal ApproachesAcross all of the Clubs in the study, both staff andteens reported that the values Clubs try to instillmost frequently deal with how one should treatother people: Respect others, try to collaborate anddemonstrate sportsmanship, listen to others and beopen-minded. Clubs also give teens character messagesabout taking responsibility for oneself, beingtrue to oneself and having self-confidence.In interviews, the teens clearly understood theimportance of character development at the Clubs,noting that expectations about being good citizensand having good character were evident throughoutthe Clubs, from the activities offered, to conversationswith staff, to staff’s own behavior. Manysuggested that it was impossible not to hear themessage of the importance of good character. A fewnoted that they hear the same themes repeatedlyand occasionally feel like the staff go overboardwith their messages. In general, though, they appreciatedthese efforts because they recognized thatmany staff themselves had gone through similarexperiences (perhaps more so than other adults intheir lives, such as teachers), because staff tendedto address them personally and consider their individualexperience, and because, overall, the rulesand messages seemed to be reasonable.The teens noted that staff would discuss charactertraits in the context of conversations about othersubjects or in response to a particular problem theteen was having, such as a lack of self-confidence. Inaddition, teens pointed out that they observed staffbehavior and learned from it. One teen describeda certain staff member who always listened to bothsides of an argument when he had to mediate; this