WITHDRAWN: Youth Participation As Healthy Youth Development: The Impacts of Long-Term Engagement

Background and Purpose

In the wake of the Parkland Shooting, youth organizing and youth advocacy have become salient topics of national discourse. Young people across the country have issued a call to action regarding gun reform, and millions of Americans have been spurred to action by way of nationwide marches and demonstrations. As this form of organizing demonstrates, youth participation is fundamental to ensuring a thriving democracy. Indeed, youth opportunities to organize and participate in political spheres is guaranteed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Although the United States has signed the UNCRC (symbolically endorsing its principles), they have yet to ratify it - limiting advocates of youth rights from fully embracing and claiming its protections. As a result, the knowledge about the potential of youth participation as a tool for healthy development and the necessity of youth participation for healthy democratic participation is still emerging in the US. Most research in the US to date focuses on short-term programmatic intervention outcomes. Few studies track long-term youth engagement and participation, and even fewer conceptualize youth engagement in terms of healthy developmental outcomes.

Methods

This study draws upon in-depth open-ended interviews with a cohort of ten current college students (ages 18-20) who have been involved with various forms of youth participation (youth participatory action research, youth policy work, and youth evaluation) since their early teen years. Interviews aimed at better understanding the factors that promoted initial youth engagement, the factors that sustained youth engagement over time, and the long-terms impacts of sustained youth engagement. Interviews were transcribed and thematically coded.

Results

Themes from the interviews suggest that initial engagement is facilitated by “genuine” adult allies and structured opportunities for involvement; sustained involvement is supported by continued relationships with adult allies and proactive information-seeking behaviors; and long term engagement promotes critical consciousness development, dialogic communication skill development, and the belief in the “responsibility” of social justice.

Conclusions and Implications

Although a pilot study, these themes support some of what we know about youth participation and further suggest the potential for practices and for longitudinal research to track outcomes of youth participation over time. As social workers prioritize the healthy development of all youth, we must deepen our understanding of youth participation and the ways it promotes long-term health for youth and for their communities. Considering current socio-political climate, the involvement of our youth in communities and social systems is more important than ever to ensure a thriving democracy.