Feature: How MSU is Helping Youths Succeed in Life

FACT

Coalition New MSU efforts for positive child development are making a difference in communities across Michigan

            When the afternoon bell rings at Sutton’s Bay Middle School, sixth and seventh graders eagerly make their way to the Instead Club, an after-school program where kids can learn how to swing dance, take photos, or swim. Unlike many children who go home alone and watch television, these kids find constructive ways to spend the critical hours between 3 and 6 p.m.—a prime time for risky behavior among youth. School officials say the club has helped children in this small, rural community connect more closely with their school, and has encouraged shy loners to blossom.

            The Instead Club is one of many successful community partnerships with Michigan State University that foster positive youth development and build youth assets. Instead of concentrating only on youth problems, MSU research and programs are focusing on the whole child and taking a more holistic, positive approach to children, youth and families. From early childhood and parenting efforts to kinship care and violence prevention initiatives, MSU is helping communities build on the strengths that kids already have and empowering youth to grow and succeed. “It might be a well-worn cliché, but it really does take an entire community to raise a child,” says Barbara Duvall, MSU Extension educator in Leelanau County.

SHIFTING THE PARADIGM

            MSU faculty, extension and outreach staffs are key players in a nationwide paradigm shift from “just say no” programs to community-driven change that supports positive youth development. In the past, well-intentioned efforts have tried to help kids avoid the usual litany of adolescent troubles—teen pregnancy, school drop out, alcohol and drug abuse, juvenile delinquency. This approach, however, was too limited. “In the past, we have done things to youth or for youth thinking that’s what they need or what was missing in our lifetime,” says Chico Villareaull, professor of Family and Child Ecology, “but by mobilizing communities to work with youth, we help youth understand that they can contribute to their own destiny and contribute to their community.” This is why MSU is partnering with rural, urban, and suburban communities and putting its research into practice.

            Although there are distinctions between research models, and different scholars have coined terms like “positive youth development,” “youth assets” and “resiliency,” they all are trying to achieve the same goal—to ensure that every child has the essential building blocks for healthy emotional, social, physical and cognitive development. “We need to support young people,” says Joanne Keith, professor of Family and Child Ecology, “to help them develop an ability to make sound decisions, to have a sense of self-confidence and an internal sense of right and wrong.”

GENERATION NEXT

            Today’s youth, however, live busy, complicated lives and their paths to success are strewn with both opportunities as well as daunting obstacles that cut across lines of class, race or geography. As heirs to a global economy, technological and health care advances and a diverse culture, kids today are a “tribe apart.” Their generation learned to Yahoo! before long division. Girls and boys alike vie for school hockey teams, tote cell phones next to chewing gum, and download the latest N’Sync release from the Internet. At the same time, today’s youth face challenges that can leave many behind. From divorced parents to a pop culture saturated with images of sex and violence, kids today must negotiate family, peer and school pressures that put them at risk for behavioral and emotional problems.

Consider the following facts:

• 21 percent of children in U.S., 14.7 million kids, live in poverty
• he teen birth rate in the U.S. is the highest in the industrialized world
• One in four children live with parents who do not have a steady job
• One in three children lives in a single parent household
• More than 60 percent of married women with children work outside the home
• 15 percent of children go without health insurance

            Americans today share a widespread pessimism about youth. In a series of Public Agenda polls, adults expressed deep-seated anxiety and negative views of youth, describing teens and children as “rude,” “irresponsible” and “wild,” and saying they are disappointed with “kids these days.” They also felt that kids are not learning basic values like “honesty, respect and responsibility.” An overwhelming majority, however, are not willing to write kids off. They believe that with guidance and attention, all kids can succeed, ranking “helping kids get a good start in life” as a number one priority.

AN EARLY START

            A good start begins at birth, and evidence from neuroscience to social work demonstrates that the early years from zero to five build the foundation for a child’s success. This is the time when the building blocks for development, the assets that will foster a child’s growth, are formed. Keith explains, “There are broad opportunities at birth, but if a child is deprived nutritionally or socially, the options begin to narrow.”

            Even by age four, research shows, a child with multiple risk factors can have difficulty concentrating, communicating, and will often be in poor health. And, in later life, he or she is more likely to drop out of school or become a teenage parent. Giving kids a good start means promoting good parenting, ensuring good health care and nutrition, promoting high quality child care, and supporting emerging literacy.

            These were among the recommendations of the Lansing Ready to Succeed Commission, led by President McPherson. MSU offers several research-based programs that bolster parenting skills. MSU Extension’s Building Strong Families Program, for example, reaches parents in 46 counties and has helped over 75 percent of participants improve their child-rearing knowledge and skills. Through one-to-one interaction, trained community members help parents foster their child’s development and independence, and use discipline positively. The goal is to develop a strong bond between parent and child. 'What has proven to be most successful are programs that give guidance to parents and caregivers, changing negative care-giving practices and showing them more effective ways to interact with their child,' says Hiram Fitzgerald, University Distinguished Professor of psychology and director of applied developmental science. 'There are alternative ways to treat that unwanted behavior without spanking, for example,” he adds. “If you don't know how to play with babies or read baby cues, we get down on the floor and show you how. It's not about lecturing, but actually interacting and shaping the behavior right there with the parent.'

            "In addition," says Pat Farrell, researcher in University Outreach and director of Wexford Community School partnership, “It’s the simple things that parents do daily with their children, like reading and playing creative games, that help children be better prepared for school success.”

            Successful parenting also requires managing outside influences, like television viewing skillfully. Televisions are in 99 percent of American homes, and are on an average of seven hours per day. “Families need to tame that beast,” says Beany Tomber, coordinator for MSU’s WKAR-TV’s Ready to Learn program. “Our program gives parents wonderful tools that can extend learning, and encourages them to do other things like read.”

            Ready to Learn helps families become informed, critical television viewers. Through workshops tailored to fit the local community and partnerships with key child serving agencies, like MSU Extension, Ready to Learn reaches 9,000 children in the Lansing area.