On the path to solving at-risk behavior among youth.

Recent National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) research has indicated that drug use among teens is rising. The rate of murder among those 14 to 17 years of age has more than doubled since 1986; and nationally, on average, six teens die violently each day. "During the past six years, there has been a significant increase in juvenile crime in the most serious categories: murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault; homicide arrests of kids ages 10 through 14 rose from 194 to 301 between 1988 and 1992" (Gibbs, 1994, p.61).

These data, although alarming, are not new events, in fact, devastating conditions confronting youth -- child labor laws, a failing educational system, molestation, parental abuse, and suicide, for example -- have filled the airwaves and printed news for decades.

Webster's Dictionary defines children as innocent, immature, and lacking in complexity; clearly that is not the case in today's society. Popular magazines, newspapers, and television commentaries characterize children as "killers," "drug dealers," and "gang bangers." Early literature referred to this phenomenon as "juvenile delinquency," then "at risk," and presently "high at risk," suggesting that the problems with youth are worsening.

Southwick and Zahorodnyj (1992) defined at-risk youth as those who meet one or more of the following criteria: incidence of previous drug use, history of family violence, previous runaway, have attempted suicide, "high risk" neighborhood of residence, truancy, and criminal history. Coleman and Sarmanian included economically disadvantaged, physically disabled, throwaway/homeless (as opposed to runaway), teenaged parent, and psychiatric hospitalized (1992, p.64).

The need for research is often gauged by the intensity of the phenomenon in question. The intensity of youth as "at risk" of alcoholism, drug abuse, academic delinquency, and death has led to a nation-wide search for answers and solutions. Whyte (1992), in a survey of park and recreation professionals and educators, identified a number of key issues and trends impacting local recreation and park agencies in the 1990s. That study concluded that park and recreation services would be called on to play a greater social services role with special emphasis on disadvantaged populations.

At the 1994 NRPA Congress, practitioners, researchers, and educators came together for the first Research Roundtable discussion regarding recreation's impact on various social problems. From that discussion, issues relating to at-risk youth and recreation's approach to addressing those issues were examined. Suren (1994) revealed the need for a more in-depth approach to practical application of existing theoretical models, establishing recreation's role in the areas of prevention and intervention, and developing human service partnerships.

The 1980s' Approach to Researching Youth At Risk: A Decade of Awareness

Since Luther Gulick stated that "the playground is cheaper than the reformatory," the field of recreation has made attempts to positively impact the problem of delinquent behavior exemplified by youth. The 1980s, in particular, brought a proliferation of literature -- book chapters, anecdotal articles, and research studies -- to investigate leisure behavior and the social competence of at-risk populations. Kanters and Anderson (1989) addressed the prevalence of negative leisure pursuits among youth through an examination of cognitive structures of leisure behavior, and determined that an understanding of the foundations of adolescent leisure behavior may assist practitioners in identifying alternative opportunities for leisure satisfaction.

Kleiber and Rickards (1985) postulated that although traditional social activities may improve social skills and positive associations with legitimate activities, they generally fail to substitute for the pleasures found in some illegitimate activities, indicating the need for effective recreation programs for the treatment and prevention of delinquency. Perdue and Rainwater (1984), in an investigation of alcohol consumption and adolescent recreation, indicated that alcohol consumption is an integral part of adolescent recreational behavior, and that leisure education is a critical element of an adolescent alcohol abuse prevention program.

In 1987, the United Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit (UCS) conducted a community analysis of the negative uses of leisure on community and personal safety. The researchers concluded that youth who are raised in single-parent homes, are high school dropouts, are heavy drug users, or become pregnant are more likely to earn less, become welfare recipients, experience poor health, or be convicted of a crime. UCS recommended that youth should be encouraged to participate in activities that promote positive leisure time for themselves and society.

Literature regarding at-risk youth in the 1980s focused primarily on the need to understand leisure behavior of this population, as well as the need for positive influences from the provision of recreation programming--the 1980s was, essentially, a decade of awareness. Its chief success was reaffirming the role of the recreation profession in combating this problem. The literature of the time, however, revealed a lack of a comprehensive approach within the profession that shared the successes and failures of various programs and services. In addition, linking appropriate programs with the social competence of at risk youth was insufficient. Based on this review, it is apparent that there is a need for collaboration between social service agencies, as well as a systemic approach to evaluating which programs and services work and why.

Collaboration: A Key to Future Strategies

Iso-Ahola and Crowley (1991), in a study on adolescent substance abuse and leisure boredom, noted that adolescents who lacked personal leisure skills and who had a personality predisposition toward sensation seeking, combined with restricted recreation opportunities, were likely to experience feelings of boredom in leisure, which in turn gave rise to delinquency and drug use in free time. Robertson (1994) studied leisure in the lives of incarcerated male adolescents who engaged in delinquent activity for excitement and noted a number of constraints blocking access to socially acceptable leisure opportunities. Robertson found that the following constraints existed: skill level, timing, resources, regulations, family status, and degree of leisure education. These constraints can best be alleviat ed by exposure to positive forms of leisure education at home, school, or public recreation services. These find ings suggested that the collaborative efforts of these three institutions were central to future strategies.

Collaboration is imminent due to the fact that the majority of current research concerning at-risk youth is being conducted by researchers outside recreation. Professionals in these disciplines are also noting that to be effective and efficient, prevention efforts require a high degree of community awareness, ongoing networking, sharing of resources and expertise, and the forming of linkages with organizations that deal with or are affected by youth in high-risk environments (Weaver and Young, 1992).

Current Research from Related Fields

A review of recent research from allied health fields, for instance, provides useful information that may assist the field of recreation to better understand the complexities of at-risk behavior. Straus and Kantor (1994) reported individuals who were abused as teens have an increased risk later in life of depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts, alcohol abuse, physical abuse of children, and spousal abuse. Additionally, O'Keefe (1994) reported that the amount of marital violence witnessed by children is significantly related to their behavioral problems.

Evaluating Program for At-Risk Youth

Prevention literature, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1992), is inundated with research articles that provide methods for evaluating programs geared toward the reduction and prevention of youth violence, substance abuse, and other similar forms of antisocial behavior.

Glider, Kressler, and McGrew (1992) and Ungerleider and Caudill (1992) focused on recreation and training programs as forms of prevention. These studies reported utilization of a pretest/posttest evaluation method to determine measures of program success. Secondary results supported the use of collaborative efforts between social service agencies.

Kaskutas, Morgan, and Vaeth (1992) reported on the beneficial role of the formative and process evaluation method in highlighting structural problems among a consortium of agencies formed to address the needs of at-risk youth. A lead agency approach, with a coordination of seven distinct services--tutoring, mentorships, jobs, recreational and community activities, drug counselling and family workshops, was ultimately counter-productive in attaining its goals. The implementation of a formative evaluation method revealed structural conflicts between the relationship of individual service providers and their affiliate groups. Communicating the evaluation results to the service providers was vital for revealing the structural nature of potentially problematic contradictions in goals, values, and operation of services and programs.

J. Crompton and P. Witt (personal communication, February 24, 1995) conducted a national survey of 700 recreation agencies serving at-risk youth. The survey was designed to ascertain their current level of commitment to allocating resources, establishing and attaining goals, and their overall programming efforts to meet the needs of at-risk youth. A second tier to this research endeavor included a national survey, utilizing those agencies who responded (N=350) to the initial study, to determine what forms of evaluation are currently being used to measure program effectiveness. The data have been and will be used to: (a) develop a manual for use by practitioners seeking to evaluate recreation services for at-risk populations; (b) develop evaluation strategies that may be helpful with political mandates; (c) sponsor a colloquium of key individuals to exchange service ideas and strategies; (d) share the research findings at local, state, and national conferences; and (e) publish the research findings in professional journals.

Research in the 1980s has offered service providers with a strong foundation for the need to understand delinquent behavior and recommendations for application. These recommendations also opened a window for methods to test the current level of service provision in the 1990s.

References

Coleman, G. J., & Sarmanian, J. (1992). Adolescent profile form developed for the Cumberland Day Treatment Program. In C. E. Marcus & J. D. Swisher (Eds.), Working with youth in high-risk environments: Experiences in prevention (OSAP Prevention Monograph-12, DHHS Publication No. ADM92-1815, pp. 61-69). Rockville, MD: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Gibbs, N. R. (1994, September 19). So young to kill, so young to die: Murder in miniature. Time, 144(12), 54-61.

Glider, P., Kressler, H., & McGrew, G. (1992). Prevention and early intervention through peer support retreats. In C. E. Marcus & J. D. Swisher (Eds.), Working with youth in high-risk environments: Experiences in prevention (OSAP Prevention Monograph-12, DHHS Publication No. ADM92-1815, pp. 174-185). Rockville, MD: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Iso-Ahola, S. E., & Crowley, E. D. (1991). Adolescent substance abuse and leisure boredom. Journal of Leisure Research, 23(3), 260-271.

Kanters, M. A., & Anderson, S. C. (1989). Cognitive structures of adolescent leisure behavior. Society and Leisure, 12(2), 431-447.

Kaskutas, L., Morgan, P., & Vaeth, P. (1992). Structural impediments in the development of a community-based drug prevention program for youth: Preliminary analysis from a qualitative formative evaluation study. International Quarterly of Community Health Education, 12(3), 169-182.

Kleiber, D. A., & Rickards, W. H. (1985). Leisure and recreation in adolescence: Limitation and potential. In M. G. Wade (Ed.), Constraints on leisure (pp. 289-317). Springfield, IL: Thomas.

O'Keefe, M. (1994). Linking marital violence, mother--child/father--child aggression, and child behavior problems. Journal of Family Violence, 9(1), 63-78.

Perdue, R. R., & Rainwater, A. (1984). Adolescent recreation and alcohol consumption. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 18(2), 41-51.

Robertson, B. J. (1994). Leisure in the lives of male adolescents who engage in delinquent activity for excitement. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 12(4), 29-46.

Southwick, W., & Zahorodnyj, S. (1992). Lakeview Comprehensive Youth Services Project: Characteristics of youth in high-risk environments. In C. E. Marcus & J. D. Swisher (Eds.), Working with youth in high-risk environments: Experiences in prevention (OSAP Prevention Monograph-12, DHHS Publication No. ADM92-1815, pp. 43-49). Rockville, MD: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Straus, M. A., & Kantor, G. K. (1994). Corporal punishment of adolescents by parents: A risk factor in the epidemiology of depression, suicide, alcohol abuse, child abuse, and wife beating. Adolescence, 29(115), 543-561.

Suren (1994, October). Substance abuse: Youth, teens, & adults. Paper presented at the Research Roundatable of the Annual Congress of the National Recreation and Park Association, Minneapolis, MN.

Ungerleider, S., & Caudill, B. D. (1992). Impact: An early intervention demonstration project. In C. E. Marcus & J. D. Swisher (Eds.), Working with youth in high-risk environments: Experiences in prevention (OSAP Prevention Monograph-12, DHHS Publication No. ADM92-1815, pp. 199-210). Rockville, MD: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.

United Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit. (1987, July). Looking at leisure: A study of the negative aspects. Detroit, MI: Author.

Weaver, S. T., & Young, F. E. (1992). Partnership in prevention: Overcoming barriers and hurdles. In C. E. Marcus & J. D. Swisher (Eds.), Working with youth in high-risk environments: Experiences in prevention (OSAP Prevention Monograph-12, DHHS Publication No. ADM92-1815, pp. 151-161). Rockville, MD: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Whyte, D. N. B. (1992). Key trends and issues impacting local government recreation and park administration in the 1990s: A focus for strategic management and research. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 10(3), 89-106.