Transcript Family / Community Workshop - Connectedness in Youth

Family / Community Workshop
“Connectedness in Youth” Seminar
4th of October
Carla Crespo
Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families - Victoria University of Wellington
Families…
“exist in rich diversity”
“are groups of people who care for and nurture each other”
(Jan Pryor)
Families…
“exist in rich diversity”
Acknowledge and respect the differences
“are groups of people who care for and nurture each
other”
Remember the similarities
Family structure: what matters…
Lone parent
families
Extended
families
Intact families
Step families
Focusing our lenses:
1. Breaking from the deficit approach
Looking beyond outcomes’ mean differences…
Focusing our lenses:
2. Looking at family processes
“What works, under which conditions, for which families”
Young people’s
outcomes
Family
dimensions
Family
structure
Focusing our lenses:
3. Think, act, change…
“Information as a difference that makes the difference…”
(Gregory Bateson)
Workshop discussion groups
Ingredients:
1 “Hot potato”
Young people participants/consultants
Pieces of research/information
Preparation:
Brainstorming
Multi-layered discussion
Interpretation of findings
Synthesise information
Family
Wrapping up…
YCP’ s findings:
Links between family dimensions (Identity, Mutual activities, Conflict, Monitoring
and Supervision) and health outcomes are different for different families.
Family dimensions
Identity
Mutual activities
Conflict
Monitoring and supervision
Health outcomes
Smoking
Drinking
Self-harm
Family Structure
Our thoughts today…
Family
Wrapping up…
YCP’ s findings:
In relation to (less) youth smoking, the following family dimensions (in comparison with
intact families) are especially important:
Lone families
(more) Mutual activities
Step families
(more) Mutual activities
Extended
(more) Monitoring and supervision
Our thoughts today…
Family
Wrapping up…
YCP’ s findings:
In relation to (less) youth drinking, the following family dimensions are especially
important:
Lone families
(less) Conflict
Step families
(more) Mutual activities
(less) Conflict
Our thoughts today…
Family
Wrapping up…
YCP’ s findings:
In relation to (less) youth self-harm, the following family dimensions are especially
important:
Lone families
(less) Conflict
Step families
(more) Identity
(less) Conflict
Our thoughts today…
Wrapping up…
Community
YCP’ s findings:
Young people’s perceptions of community:
Efforts and Youth Voice
• In general, there seems to be a lack of awareness about community attempts to
address needs and engage young people. This unawareness is more
pronounced for girls than boys.
• As they grow older, participants tend to be have a more formed opinion, although
more negative about community’s efforts and youth voice.
• Comparatively, young people recognise more that community is trying to
address their needs than that they have a say in what happens in this life
context.
Wrapping up…
Community
YCP’ s findings:
Belonging to groups outside school is linked to:
√ Higher well-being
√ Life satisfaction
√ Stronger ethnic identity (NZ European and Maori)
√ More positive body image
Although the majority of the sample (60.1%) belongs to groups outside school,
there is a important percentage that does not (39.9%). These participants are not
exposed to the benefits of belonging to a community group.
Our thoughts today…
Community
Wrapping up…
YCP’ s findings:
As they grow older, youth desires progressively…
More:
Money, community places to hang out, better and cheaper transports and
freedom from caregivers
Less:
School and after school activities, time and attention from caregivers
Our thoughts today…
Wrapping up…
Community
YCP’ s findings:
Sense of neighbourhood and Adult attitudes towards young people
Sense of neighbourhood:
Links with overall well-being and happiness with body image
Negative adult attitudes towards young people:
Links with higher cigarette and alcohol consumption and lower
strength of self
Family and community: Bridges
Wrapping up…
Our thoughts today…
Thank you!
For more information on the Youth Connectedness Project,
please visit us at:
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/youthconnectedness/index.aspx