LIFE IN PROGRESS
Developing Better Strategies
to Work with Adolescents
Adolescence to Adulthood
• Developing Identity
• Developing Self-Efficacy
Characteristics of Adults
• Accepts responsibility for him/herself
• Makes independent decisions
• Becomes financially independent
(Arnett)
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Adolescents & Emerging Adults
(13-18 & 18-25)
• Develop intimate relationships (adolescents: testing
the water, short-term relationships; emerging adults:
asking themselves who they may want to spend their
life with)
• Develop relationship with world of work (adolescents:
learn good work habits, earn spending money;
emerging adults: what kind of work am I good at, what
work would I find satisfying in the long-run, what are my
chances of finding work in a field that suits me?)
(Arnett)
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Exploration, Risk-Taking,
Resilience
• Developing strategies to address risky situations,
including peer pressure
• Adolescents: importance of family
• Emerging adults: obtaining a broad range of life
experiences
• Emerging adults: making decisions on their own,
facing failure, lonely, optimistic about the future
(Arnett)
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Self-Efficacy
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Cultivating interests
Enabling beliefs
Developing competencies:
Intentionality (intentions with plans, strategies)
Projection into the future (visualizing the future)
Self-regulation (personal standards, monitoring
& regulating one's actions)
• Self-examination (reflecting on personal efficacy
& making adjustments)
(Bandura)
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Efficacy Beliefs
Determine how one views opportunities and
challenges:
• Low efficacy belief leads to pessimism, giving up
easily
• High efficacy belief allows one to stay the course,
handle adversity
(Bandura)
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Paths to Efficacy
• Personal Agency (personal influence on oneself &
circumstances)
• Proxy Agency (ability to call on assistance from
people with influence)
• Collective Agency (pooling resources & skills to
work together to effect change - the power of
teamwork: raises possibilities, commitment,
enhances group achievement, strengthens
resiliency)
(Bandura)
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Developmental Skills Needed by
Adolescents & Emerging Adults
• Personal commitment to something worth doing
• Vision of desired future
• Self-regulated learning (selection of appropriate
strategies, testing one's competence & correcting one's
deficiencies)
• Self-regulated emotional skills (discerning emotions,
effect of expression of emotions, management of
emotional state - especially under duress)
• Information management (access, process, evaluate)
(Bandura)
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Gender Stereotyping
In exploring the world of work, adolescents & emerging adults
fall into gender stereotypes.
To counter these stereotypes:
• Use assessment results to explore youth's confidence in gendertyped occupations
• Ask: "Is there any career that you would find fun among
boys/girls careers?"
• Present adults in non-traditional jobs
• UNISEX ACT Interest Inventory
• Work with parents (adolescents) so they better understand types
of careers available to their children & develop confidence in
their child's ability to master tasks
(Turner)
10
Characteristics of Effective
Developmental Approaches
• Attract & hold youth's interests
• Effective means for achieving developmental
goals
• Works for a variety of youths
(Gabone)
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Factors for Effective
Developmental Approaches
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Sense of safety
Challenging & interesting activities
Sense of belonging
Social support from adults
Input & decision-making
Leadership (formal & informal)
(Gabone)
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Developmental Approaches'
Effect on Self-Efficacy
• Increase youth's ability to successfully
navigate adolescence and emerging adulthood
• Do not stigmatize low-income participants
(Gabone)
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A Regional Workforce Board's
Experience
• Determining critical needs
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A Regional Workforce Board's
Experience
• Researching best practices
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A Regional Workforce Board's
Experience
• Evaluating results
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A Regional Workforce Board's
Experience
Critical elements:
• Engagement
• Outstanding youth provider
• Program outcomes
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A Regional Workforce Board's
Experience
• Entrepreneurial Training
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A Youth Provider's Experience
• Committed staff that develops relationships
with youth (Facebook friends, one on one
intake, cheerleader role)
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A Youth Provider's Experience
• Regular and varied activities
• Youth input into activities
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A Youth Provider's Experience
• Youth feel taken care of (incentives, food)
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A Youth Provider's Experience
• Outside partners (FSU School of Business, UF
Extension Division, business sponsors)
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A Youth Provider's Experience
• Exit strategy for program outcomes
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A Youth Provider's Experience
• Dynamic Workshops
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CONTACTS
Isabelle Potts
(850) 921-3148
[email protected]
Dorcas Washington (850) 464-3985
[email protected]
Danica Mamby
(954) 202-3830
[email protected]
Patina Fuller
(850) 617-4515
[email protected]
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arnett, Jeffrey Jansen, "A Theory of Development from the Late
Teens through the Twenties" American Psychologist, May 2000.
Bandura, Albert, "Adolescent Development from an Agentic
Perspective" Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Adolescents, 2005 (Information
Age Publishing)
Gambone, Michelle Alberti & Amy J.A. Arbreton, Safe Havens--The
Contributions of Youth Organizations to Healthy Adolescent
Development, 1997 (Public/Private Ventures).
Turner, Sherri & Richard T. Lapan, "Career Self-Efficacy and
Perceptions of Parent Support in Adolescent Career Development"
The Career Development Quarterly, 2002.
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