Abstract
Youth in conflict with adults often gravitate to friends who support high-risk behavior. Various group treatment programs have sought to reverse this negative peer influence with two different strategies. In peer pressure programs, youth discipline one another to reinforce behavior norms. In peer helping programs such as Positive Peer Culture (PPC), youth support one another by solving problems and building strengths. While both approaches have been shown to improve short-term behavior, peer-helping creates long-term change in prosocial values, thinking, and behavior. This article reviews relevant research on the effectiveness of Positive Peer Culture and reports a study comparing recidivism of a residential PPC program in corrections with matched controls. Differences were apparent after 12 months as PPC groups had significantly lower recidivism at each quarterly interval of the 24-month follow-up period.
Highlights
Youth in conflict with adults often gravitate to friends who support high-risk behavior
Differences were apparent after 12 months as Positive Peer Culture (PPC) groups had significantly lower recidivism at each quarterly interval of the 24-month follow-up period
In the simplest of terms, no program qualifies for the designation Positive Peer Culture unless it creates a caring climate among staff and youth; this is essential if young people are to experience change
Summary
Troubled youth often gravitate to like-minded peers who reinforce one another’s anti-social behavior. Opposed using peer pressure for behavior modification, examples he cites from two studies by prominent GGI believing youth were only empowered to help He researchers: split from GGI to create Positive Peer Culture, Collegefields (Pilnick et al, 1967) was a highlighting this distinction in his initial PPC publication: community-based treatment program using GGI and. The core goals of PPC are expressed in the Circle of Courage resilience model and include the universal growth needs for belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity Research shows that these needs are hard-wired into the human brain (Brendtro, Brokenleg, & Van Bockern, 2019) and are essential in developing resilience to successfully cope with adversity (Werner, 2012). Student and staff safety, bonding to adults, significant positive change on all 14 factors scores on problem-solving skills, reduction in crisis, internal locus of control, increased self-worth, prosocial values, school engagement, positive youth and family evaluation, and the Jesness Behavior Checklist. The experimental group’s recidivism rates were significantly lower at 15 percent while recidivism of controls were 40 percent
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