Character Development within Youth Development Programs: Exploring Multiple Dimensions of Activity Involvement

Abstract

We examined links among three dimensions of youth involvement (intensity, duration, and engagement) in Boy Scouts of America (BSA), an international out-ofschool time (OST) youth development program designed to promote moral and performance character in boys. Using data from 737 youth and their parents who participated in one of 40 BSA program sites (commonly referred to as "packs"), we first considered how individual-and packlevel measures of program involvement were differentially linked with character development. Next, we examined whether pack-level involvement characteristics moderate individual-level involvement characteristics, hypothesizing that highly involved packs would serve to further enhance the positive effects of high levels of individual involvement. Results indicated engagement was the strongest, most frequent predictor of increases in both moral and performance character. Although there were no direct effects of pack-level intensity, duration, or engagement, the effects of individual-level engagement were moderated by pack-level engagement, suggesting that the largest increases in moral and performance character occurred among highly engaged youth who were enrolled in highly engaged packs. These results highlight the need to examine multiple dimensions of OST program involvement simultaneously, and suggest that strengthening youth engagement in programming may provide a means for enhancing the positive effects of high-quality youth programming.

Towards the Promotion of Positive Development among Boys in Challenging Contexts: A Mixed-Methods Study of Engagement in the Scoutreach Initiative

“…Scouts had high average scores on the dimensions of engagement and moderate to high average scores on character attributes, consistent with prior research with Scouting (Lynch et al, 2016;Wang et al, 2015b). Quantitative data suggested nuanced relations among dimensions of engagement and character attributes.…”

Action Civics for Promoting Civic Development: Main Effects of Program Participation and Differences by Project Characteristics

“…This does not allow us to account for the fact that there are especially influential individuals in each classroom as well as students who are not as invested in civic project decisions. This approach masks variability in the effectiveness of GC across individuals, who likely differ on many dimensions, such as level of engagement, that have been shown to moderate the affect of youth organizational participation on outcomes (e.g., Lynch et al., ). Future work examining how classroom projects get decided on and how individuals invest in project participation would further clarify how the fit between individual interests, classroom project selection, and project characteristics affect civic gains across GC program participation.…”

The Influence of the Scout Movement as a Free Time Option on Improving Academic Performance, Self-Esteem and Social Skills in Adolescents

“…Fulquez [ 24 ] states that relationships with others which are evidenced by self-esteem, intervene decisively and essentially in the optimal social, personal and professional functioning of the person [ 25 ]. Scouting can improve self-esteem and self-concept, as noted by the results of the recent study by Lynch et al [ 26 ]. Youth development programs, such as scouting, develop positive attributes in adolescents and their positive self-perceptions increase significantly in terms of joy, kindness, reliability and future expectations.…”

“…These social skills can be developed in both formal and non-formal education. Within non-formal education, scouting can be seen as a socio-educational strategy to improve social skills, as it provides participation in youth development programs and a unique context in which to promote positive conflict resolution and aid the relational development of youth [ 26 ].…”