Exploring Outcomes through Narrative: The Long‐term Impacts of Better Beginnings, Better Futures on the Turning Point Stories of Youth at Ages 18–19

Abstract

This study examined the long-term effects of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a community-based early childhood development program, on 18-19year-old youths' narratives about turning points in their lives. The sample consisted of youth who participated in Better Beginnings from ages 4-8 (n=62) and youth from a comparison community who did not participate in Better Beginnings (n=34). Controlling for covariates, significant differences favoring youth from the Better Beginnings sites were found on several dimensions of the turning point stories: ending resolution, personal growth, meaning-making, coherence, and affect transformation. Effect sizes ranged from .45 to .76 for these outcome dimensions, indicating moderate to large effects. Also, turning point story dimensions were found to be significantly correlated with two standardized measures of well-being: youths' self-esteem and community involvement. Youths' self-esteem was directly related to story ending resolution, personal growth, and meaning making, and youths' community involvement was directly related to story specificity, meaning making, and coherence. Family functioning was also examined in relation to these narrative dimensions but was not found to be significantly related to them. The findings suggest the utility of a narrative approach for the evaluation of the long-term outcomes of early childhood development programs.