Strategies to Motivate Behavior Change: How Can We Mobilize Adults to Promote Positive Youth Development?

Abstract

There is little doubt that the healthy development of young people is an essential feature of a healthy, well-functioning society and that the adult members of society play a critical role in this process (Lerner, Dowling, & Anderson, 2003; Rhodes, Bogat, Roffman, Edelman,&Galasso, 2002). National surveys have consistently shown that adults recognize the importance of devoting both time and effort to activities that contribute to youth development. For example, an overwhelming majority of adults believe it is very important that they encourage children and youth to succeed in school (90%), teach them shared values (80%), and set boundaries for their behavior (84%) (Scales, 2003). However, there is a stark disconnect between people’s beliefs about what is important and their own actions. Scales (2003) found that only 69% of adults encouraged success in school, only 45% taught shared values, and only 42% set boundaries for behavior. Given the premise that adult involvement in young people’s lives is a critical determinant of healthy development, the observed gap betweenpeople’s beliefs and their behavior is a clear sign that strategies that can enhance adult involvement in activities that promote the development of young people are needed. In this chapter, we examine the challenge of designing initiatives that can effectivelymobilize adults to act on their beliefs andmake an active contribution to the healthy development of young people. This chapter is divided into two sections. First, given the observed dissociation between people’s beliefs and their behavior, we consider what aspects of involvement should be targeted in