T HE ROLE OF NEIGHBORHOOD ECOLOGICAL ASSETS AND ACTIVITY INVOLVEMENT IN YOUTH DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES : D IFFERENTIAL IMPACTS OF ASSET POOR AND ASSET RICH NEIGHBORHOODS Dilara Altan

There many factors effect the adolescence development; Individual characteristics Family School Neighborhood Community

Developmental system theories help to understand youth development fully and accurately and help to positive youth development. Bioecological system theory ( BronfenBrenner,1979) Developmental Contextualism ( Lerner,2002) Dynamic System Theory ( Thelen&Smith, 1998) Holistic Person-Context Interaction Theory (Magnusson,1995)

Developmental system theories include the Positive youth development perspective. Positive youth development perspective appeared in 1990s Developmental system theories examine the relationship between youth development and their changing environment.

Positive youth development occurs if there is a good association between individual and ecological asset and most important ecological asset is extracurricular activities which support the youth positive development.

Extracurricular activities as a context for development Extracurriculum defined as extra activities. These activities are not part of the regular and usual schedule and it does not exist in specific location (sportive activities) Extracurriculum activities support the positive youth development. Provide physical and psychological benefit Support interrelationships Help to improve positive social norms Provide an opportunity for skill building Help to integration of family,school and adolescence.

Participation in positive activities has positive effect on college attendance, volunteering, voting,higher school success and it decreases the risk taking behaviors.

Neighborhood as an ecological asset Neighborhood effects occurs at the individual,family and community level. Opportunity to acces extracurricular activities or neighborhood resources can provided by family or by youth’s own ability however, supporting to access extracurrilar acitivities or neighborhood can be vary accordance with social location or individual. Through to parks, sports programs, community centers or social services extra curriculum activities can be increased.

Defining and explaining neighborhood ecological assets Ecological assets divided into four categories which are provide opportunity to access to extracurricular activities 1. Human resources refers the skills, abilities of people and in the neighborhood context is operationalized by the percent of college educated residents, the percent of employed adult males, and the presence of at least one non-parental adult mentor 2. Physical and institutional resources refer to opportunities for recreation, learning, and engaging with the physical and social world. In the neighborhood context, this asset is documented by the presence of a local library, youth facilities

3. Collective activity refers to the relationships and connections among institutions, youth, and community members and is operationalized in the neighborhood context by the presence of community organizations 4. Accessibility refers to opportunities for people to utilize human resources and is operationalized in the neighborhood context by neighborhood stability Previous research examined the positive and negative outcomes between four ecological assets and early adolescence development. Results showed that, ecological assets have a positive impact on youth development.

Bioecological theory of development Bioecological theory help to explain complex interaction between individual, context, and time. Moreover it can help to understand relationship between youth and neighborhood assets. Proximal processes are the basic elements of bioecological theory and Proximal process defined as interaction between environment and organism. This process can occur through chance, design or participation such as extra curriculum activities. Disorganized environment can cause dysfunction.

Current Study aims to assess whether participation in extracurricular activities has a more positive and powerful effect for youth living in asset poor neighborhoods as compared to youth living in asset rich neighborhoods and whether this varies for outcomes of competence versus dysfunction.

 Data analyzed for boys and girls differently. # of boys: 304 # of girls: 322  Questionnaire used for measure the 5 C`s of positive youth development Competence Confidence Connection Character Caring Human resource Physical resource Measured with Questionnaire which is about family Collective activity Accessibility Self-regulation Measured using nine item version of SOC scale Activity involvement Measured with Student questionnaire

Results showed that;  There is a significant differences between boys and girls for activity involvement and neighbor assets.  Extracurrıcular activities have an positive effect on PYD for girls. Increased extracurricular activities can help to decrease depression.  For boys, Increased activity participation was linked with increased levels of PYD and decreased levels of risky behaviors.

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