Response to Review of Successful Prevention and Youth Development Programs: Across Borders

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments 15(1), 2005 Response to Review of Successful Prevention and Youth Development Programs: Across Borders Laura Ferrer-Wreder Barry University Miami, Florida, U.S.A. Carolyn C. Lorente George Washington University, U.S.A. Jonathan G. Tubman Florida International University, U.S.A. Lena Adamson Stockholm University, Sweden Håkan Stattin Örebro University, Sweden Citation: Ferrer-Wreder, Laura, Carolyn C. Lorente, Jonathan G. Tubman, Lena Adamson and Håkan Stattin. “Response to Review of Successful Prevention and Youth Development Programs: Across Borders.” Children, Youth and Environments 15(1), 2005. We are pleased that our book has come to the attention of Children, Youth and Environments (CYE). Our work shares a common spirit with CYE in that both publications promote an increased understanding, as well as prompt dialogue about the creation of environments in which young people are more likely to overcome adversity and reach their best potentials. Our central aim was to provide clear examples of useful prevention and youth development programs that are science-based, as well as grounded in the current knowledge of developmental and cultural processes. These programs include initiatives that change aspects of individuals and key socialization contexts. It was of the utmost importance that these reviews include but also go beyond the American research literature. The international literature contains many wonderful pieces of scholarship on youth interventions (e.g., Graham and Bennett 1995; Kamerman 2000). Yet, there was no existing work that was as wide-ranging as we hoped to go, particularly in terms of age and program type. As the reviewer noted, 397 we took great pains to amass an accurate evidence base that speaks compellingly to what works. Importantly, this book also offers examples outside of America and deals in a practical way with culture and interventions, as well as the importation/exportation of interventions cross-nationally. We approached this topic by integrating relevant research with interviews of persons involved in crossnational youth intervention work (e.g., Carolyn Webster-Stratton, Scott Henggler, Dan Olweus, Mark Greenberg). In the act of compiling this information, our aim was to celebrate what is possible. Such a celebration, of course, raises many very sensible questions like: If we know which interventions are beneficial, then why are we not offering such programming on a wider basis? What is the best socio-political climate for youth intervention work to flourish? The reviewer is correct to point out that prevention and youth development research and practice, while an interdisciplinary endeavor, is infused with the paradigms, assumptions, methodologies, and biases of psychology (e.g., the historic emphasis on the individual as the key unit of analysis). Due to the nature of the research literatures reviewed, such influences become reflected in the book. Additional attention to the significance of broader social-ecological contexts as key influences in dynamic developmental systems is always warranted. In this book, we summarize some of the best current thinking in field on this issue as well as offer our own ideas on this point. These commentaries are infused throughout the book (see sections on dissemination and sustainability–e.g., pages 41, 70, 211). However, a protracted dialogue1 and research are necessary to truly move us forward in actualizing what is possible. In writing this book, we often took a practical tact and always kept in the forefront our goal of illustrating what is possible. Our hope was that we would make people more aware of what has already been achieved, and to inspire ourselves and others to take this knowledge and go further. Endnote 1. Interested readers are referred to a recent article by Ceci and Papierno (2005) for an example of the many kinds of discussions needed to move the field forward. This article deals with some of the implications of universalizing beneficial targeted interventions. References Ceci, S.J. and P.B. Papierno (2005). “The Rhetoric and Reality of Gap Closing: When the ‘Have-Nots Gain but the ‘Haves’ Gain Even More.” American Psychologist 60(2): 149-160. Forgatch, M. S. (2003). “Implementation as a Second Stage in Prevention Research.” Prevention and Treatment 6, Article 24. Graham, J. and T. Bennett (1995). Crime Prevention Strategies in Europe and North America. Helsinki/London...