Developmental Assets and Academic Performance of Adolescents in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa

Byron Gregory Adams,Nora Wiium,Amina Abubakar

doi:10.1007/s10566-018-9480-z

Abstract

BackgroundOverall, youth well-being is crucial, particularly in developmental contexts, such as sub-Saharan Africa, which is experiencing the largest growth in the youth population internationally. The Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework considers the importance of positive experiences, positive relationships and positive environments regarding developmental (further distinguished as internal and external) assets. These assets are important for promoting positive outcomes among youth.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to examine the importance of developmental assets for academic performance in three sub-Saharan African contexts, represented by Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa.MethodIn a cross-sectional study, youth from these three countries completed a questionnaire on sociodemographic measures, such as age, gender, parental education (as a proxy for socioeconomic status), measures of developmental assets and academic performance. We used Analysis of Variance to examine mean differences in developmental assets across countries and academic performance.ResultsResults indicated that Ghanaian students reported fewer assets than Kenyan and South African students and that across all countries, adolescents who perform academically better reported more developmental assets, in particular, internal assets.ConclusionThis is one of the few studies, which consider developmental assets within the PYD framework beyond the Western context. While we found that mainly internal assets were associated with academic performance, it is important to reiterate that both internal and external assets are theoretically associated with positive outcomes, such as academic performance. Future research may benefit from testing interventions to improve academic performance in the sub-Saharan African contexts by fostering both types of assets. Research is needed to extend the framework to consider more culturally appropriate and contextually relevant assets.

Highlights

A third of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa is youth, and this is estimated to continue increasing in the several years (Kabiru et al 2014)
While most research on Positive Youth Development (PYD) is primarily considered within Western (North American and Western European) contexts, the objective of the present study is to examine how developmental assets would contribute towards academic performance in three sub-Saharan African contexts: Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa
The objective of this study is to examine how developmental assets contribute towards academic performance as a proxy for school success of youth across the three sub-Saharan African countries: Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa

Summary

Introduction

A third of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa is youth, and this is estimated to continue increasing in the several years (Kabiru et al 2014) Adolescents within these contexts face several socioeconomic difficulties including chronic poverty, HIV/ AIDS, social conflict, and difficulties in education (Denison et al 2017; Fox et al 2017; Kabiru et al 2014). The Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework considers the importance of positive experiences, positive relationships and positive environments regarding developmental (further distinguished as internal and external) assets. These assets are important for promoting positive outcomes among youth. Objective The objective of this study is to examine the importance of developmental assets for academic performance in three sub-Saharan African contexts, represented by Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. Research is needed to extend the framework to consider more culturally appropriate and contextually relevant assets

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion