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Longitudinal effects of Youth Empowerment Solutions: Preventing youth aggression and increasing prosocial behavior
Year Published: 2022
Program Name: Youth Empowerment Solutions
Program Description:
Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES) is a curriculum that includes 30 sessions, 90 minutes each, and is designed to be carried out twice a week over 15 weeks. It is based on Empowerment Theory — which believes that youth can develop the skills to become leaders when they develop confidence in themselves, have the opportunity to take part in community engagement projects, and learn the skills that can help improve responsible decision-making. The curriculum centers around six themes: Youth as Leaders, Learning about Our Community, Improving Our Community, Building Intergenerational Partnerships, Planning for Change, and Action and Reflection. YES also has sessions dedicated to African American culture and pride. In this study, 15 Genessee County, Michigan schools ran YES programming in their afterschool programs.
Scope of the Evaluation: Local
Program Type: Afterschool
Location: Flint, MI, and Genesee County school districts
Community Type: Urban
Grade level: Middle School
Program Demographics:
YES Participants were 45.2 percent African American, 34 percent White, 18.2 percent biracial, and 2.6 percent identified as another race. Participants were 60.4 percent female.
Program Website: https://yes.sph.umich.edu/
Evaluator: Thulin, E. J., Lee, D. B., Eisman, A. B., Reischl, T. M., Hutchison, P., Franzen, S., & Zimmerman, M. A.
Evaluation Methods:
Evaluators recruited 418 middle school youth from participating Flint and Genesee County schools to participate in the study, randomly assigning students to either a combination of YES programming and their usual afterschool activities or only their usual afterschool activities. Afterschool staff carried out the YES program with 33 program cohorts from 15 schools in the area between 2012 and 2016. Youth who participated in YES completed surveys at the start and the end of the program, and approximately a year after the program ended. Evaluators assessed items such as students’ leadership, self-esteem, community engagement, and behavior, using structural equation modeling to examine how YES impacted students’ prosocial behavior and aggression and employed Mplus 8.2 to conduct analyses.
Evaluation Type: Experimental
Summary of Outcomes:
This evaluation found that YES participants experienced statistically significant improvements in prosocial behaviors one year after participating in the program, and reductions in aggression. Evaluators reported that the YES program increased participants’ prosocial behavior by increasing their feelings of empowerment.
The analysis did not find statistically significant differences by age or sex of participants regarding prosocial behaviors. However, regarding reductions in aggressive behaviors, the evaluation found that YES was effective in reducing aggressive behavior among African American youth, although not their White counterparts participating in the program. Evaluators stated that their “…results suggest that the YES curriculum was particularly beneficial for the African American youth in [their] sample.”
Additionally, the study emphasized the significance of fostering empowerment as a critical component of interventions promoting positive youth development. Participants who felt more empowered were more likely to exhibit more prosocial behaviors, emphasizing the role of psychological empowerment in promoting positive behavior change.
