Positive Adolescent Development: Effects of a Psychosocial Intervention Program in a Rural Setting

Abstract

The Positive Youth Development (PYD) approach identifies adolescents as resources to be empowered rather than problems to be solved. All adolescents have strengths and will fully develop when these strengths are integrated with healthy resources in the diverse environments where they live and interact. The objective of this study was twofold: (1) to present the Positive Development Program for Adolescents living in rural areas (DPAR Program) and (2) to pilot test the intervention program. The DPAR program was evaluated using a repeated-measures design before and after the intervention, with an intervention group and a control group. The sample consisted of 176 adolescents between 11 and 15 years old (M = 12.89, SD = 0.90) who belonged to two high schools with similar characteristics located in rural settings. A mixed-design analysis of variance was performed for each dependent variable. Results showed a significant increase in most of the study variables (self-esteem, self-efficacy, group identity, empathy, relational skills, assertiveness, and conflict resolution) and a significant decrease in alexithymia, as well as better academic performance. All this evidence indicates that the DPAR program is effective in promoting positive adolescent development and addresses the lack of programs based on the PYD approach in rural areas.

Positive youth development: A brief review of literature with implications for school-based psychological interventions

“…Commonly evaluated outcomes in these programs include psychosocial skills (e.g., self-awareness, emotional management, family relationships) as well as negative and problematic behaviours (e.g., psychological distress, criminality, substance use; Catalano et al, 2004;Curran & Wexler, 2017;Taylor et al, 2017). Prior studies also examined the impacts of PYD programs on diverse outcomes such as grade point average (Benson et al, 2011;Paricio et al, 2020), communication skills (Paricio et al, 2020;Shek & Sun, 2013), critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Johnson et al, 2007;Madsen et al, 2011), teacher-reported goal-setting and social reasoning (Frey et al, 2005), as well as physical activity and meaningful participation in school (Madsen et al, 2011).…”

Impact of group theraplay on the social–emotional assets and resilience in children with hearing loss.

“…Socio-emotional assets make it possible to manage tasks in life, such as controlling impulsivity, problem-solving, and caring about oneself and others (Paricio et al, 2020). Play has a vital role in social skills, self-regulation, and cognitions in children (Hartzell et al, 2020; Savina, 2014).…”

Programa “creciendo juntos”: promoción de relaciones positivas para el alumnado

“…Hemos visto que, a pesar de que en la adolescencia existe una tendencia hacia la disminución de las relaciones sociales y a la implicación y participación en los centros educativos, es posible fomentar un entorno positivo en los centros educativos a través de la implementación de programas de Desarrollo Positivo de la Adolescencia, de acceso universal (Oliva et al, 2011;Paricio et al, 2020;Pertegal et al, 2010) que favorezcan la vinculación del alumnado con el centro y promocione su continuidad escolar. Además, la literatura demuestra la importancia de dotar de competencias a los/las adolescentes para garantizar su tránsito exitoso a la vida adulta.…”