Self-Reflection through Journaling: Promoting Social Skills for the Healthy Development of Youth

Background

Positive youth development (PYD) programs promote social skill development, ensuring the Grand Challenge of healthy development for all youth. Social skill development decreases the onset of behavioral health problems such as youth violence and delinquent behavior (Gould & Carson, 2008). Still, one in five youth lack age-appropriate social skills, primarily among urban youth of color (Blumberg et al., 2008; Kann et al., 2016). Social skill development involves observing, practicing, and reflecting upon new behaviors (Tucker, 2009). Notably, self-reflection is thought to play a vital role in developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Colley et al., 2012). Research has yet to examine the impact of self-reflection on understanding, developing, and transferring social skills. This study examines how youth understand and transfer social skills through journaling and explores the degree to which self-reflection predicts key social skill outcomes.

Methods

This mixed-methods study used self-reflection journals and longitudinal survey data collected from youth attending LiFEsports Summer Camp, a sport-based PYD program focused on teaching social skills. Ten youth from each camp group were randomly selected to participate, resulting in 234 youth (34% of all campers). Many youths were African American/Black (85.8%), 61.1% male; averaged 11.4 years old (SD=1.67) and lived within 200% of the poverty line (83.2%).

To explore how youth understand and transfer social skills, a content analysis of camp journals was done to code, categorize, and abstract key themes/subthemes (Elo & Kyngas, 2007). The degree of self-reflection within youth journals was coded based on Mezirow’s (1991) model of reflective thinking. Pre-and post-camp surveys assessing two key social skills targeted in the program, social competence and social responsibility, were retrieved. Separate hierarchical linear regressions examined the influence of self-reflection on youth social skill outcomes. Specifically, to assess the independent effect of degree of self-reflection, youth pretest measures of social skills were entered on Step 1 and degree of reflection was entered on Step 2. To increase trustworthiness of the findings, several techniques (i.e. peer debriefing and external review) were used to establish validity of emergent codes, themes, and self-reflection ratings (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

Results

The qualitative analysis of youth journals revealed six emergent themes relating to youth social skill development. Journal content reflected the following themes: examples of learning specific social skills, outcomes when using social skills, external incentives for demonstrating social skills, contexts of transfer, key social agents influencing youth transfer of learning, and feelings while using social skills.

Quantitative analyses revealed that degree of reflection was a significant predictor of posttest measures of social responsibility (b=.13; sr²=.02). Similarly, analysis revealed degree of reflection was a significant predictor of posttest measures of social competence (b=.14; sr²=.02).

 

Implications

Findings showcase how youth understand and transfer social skills as documented in youth journals and demonstrate the significance of self-reflection in promoting social skill development. Overall, journaling may serve as a viable program feature for ensuring the healthy development of all youth. By better understanding the impact of self-reflection, PYD programs can more effectively meet the needs of youth participants, especially those who are most vulnerable.