How Adolescents Develop Responsibility: What Can Be Learned From Youth Programs

Abstract

This theory-building qualitative study examined how youth develop responsibility within the context of organized youth programs. Interviews were conducted with ethnically diverse youth, parents, and adult leaders from four programs for high school-aged teens. Analysis suggested that youth develop responsibility through a four-step cycle: (1) voluntarily taking on roles and obligations, (2) experiencing challenge and strain, (3) being motivated to fulfill their obligations, and (4) internalizing a self-concept that leads to responsible behavior in other contexts. Leaders support this learning cycle by creating program structures and providing ongoing support that helps youth experience ownership of demanding roles. Peers contribute by providing a sense of solidarity while also imposing mutual accountability.

Explaining the structural model of responsibility based on family function and social competence with the mediator role of adolescent purpose in life

“…Moreover, the relationship between social competence and its constructs and responsibility was significant; this finding is in accordance with the findings of other researchers (4,10,15,20). Social competence determines social bases of a person, and responsibilities are given to people according to their competences.…”

“…Another finding of the study is the significant relationship between purpose of life and responsibility, this finding is in accordance with other findings (4,18,21). In fact, responsible people have some goals in their life and make attempts towards those goals in order to step into better paths.…”

“…Adolescents have the potential to be changed into thoughtful, creative, and happy individuals by accepting responsibility and having effective communication with others. This age group make attempts at identifying and solving problems and do not get disappointed and discouraged (4). The significance of responsibility can be realized from its effects on different dimensions of life such as fostering a sense of adequacy and competence in life, feeling happiness, inner stability, and spiritual vitality, creating and increasing sense of appreciation of life, and preparing for taking on major responsibilities (5).…”

Research, Applications, and Interventions for Children and Adolescents

“…Across programs, youth were taking on complex open-ended tasks and trying to solve problems they had never encountered before (Salusky et al 2012 ). Their work created conditions for emotions to occur.…”

Youth-Adult Partnerships in Work with Youth: An Overview

“…These challenges require that young people use higher-order thinking to appraise the challenges they are facing, that they maintain their motivation in working toward their goals, and manage emotions, such as anger towards others in the partnership, or disappointment when facing setbacks (Larson, 2011). This process of taking on tasks, experiencing challenge, and maintaining motivation, appears to lead to the development of greater responsibility (Salusky et al, 2014). Relatedly, youth's feelings that they are engaged in the youth-adult partnership, in particular, also have been linked to identity development (Ramey et al, 2017).…”