Making Every Day Count - Teens

Appendices 49Appendix B:Youth Interview and Survey SampleIn-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with a sampleof ninth graders in Spring 2007 (i.e., eighth graders fromthe originally surveyed seventh- and eighth-grade cohort).Table B.1 provides information comparing demographiccharacteristics, attendance patterns and behaviors betweenthose interviewed and not interviewed. Interviewed youthhad attended the Club longer than non-interviewed youthprior to the current study. In addition, at the time of theinterview, they attended more frequently and were morelikely to receive free or reduced-price lunch at school thannon-interviewed youth.We chose to focus our teen interviews on ninth graders sothat we could hear about their transition to high school. Weinterviewed a total of 56 ninth graders, ranging from one toeight interviews per Club. These ninth graders talked withus about how they initially got involved with the Clubs, whatthey do at the Clubs, what they learn from staff at the Clubsand how they feel about their first year of high school.Table B.2 displays the characteristics of the baseline sampleof youth along with the characteristics of the youth whocompleted the follow-up survey. The samples are similar onall the measures compared, with two exceptions. Mean numberof stressors reported at baseline where followed (4.41)was significantly lower (p=.08) than the mean number ofstressors where not followed (4.92). Also, how long youthhad been coming to the Club at baseline where followedwas significantly (p=.016) higher than the mean where notfollowed.As the table illustrates, the subset of youth who completedthe final survey is similar to those who completed only thebaseline survey, indicating that the follow-up sample is representativeof the baseline sample (that is, no subgroups ofyouth were less likely to have been reached at the follow-upperiod of the study).The 56 youth we interviewed represent 31 percent of thetotal number of ninth graders in our cohort (that is, ninthgraders who completed a follow-up survey). The interviewedgroup is representative of this larger group of ninth gradersin terms of gender, race, academic achievement and participationin risk behaviors. Our interview sample was somewhatmore likely than the overall ninth-grade cohort to haveattended the Club for a longer period of time and to haveattended more frequently in the past four weeks.