Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 23, 2026

Involving Individuals with Developmental Language Disorder and Their Parents/Carers in Research Priority Setting
Published on: June 6, 2020
Involving youth in program decision-making: how common and what might it do for youth?
Thomas Akiva1, Kai S Cortina, Charles Smith
1Department of Psychology in Education, School of Education, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, tomakiva@pitt.edu.
Sharing program decision-making with youth increases their motivation and skills. Practices like involving youth in activity selection are common and beneficial, especially for older adolescents.
Area of Science:
- Adolescent Development
- Educational Psychology
- Community Psychology
Background:
- Youth-adult partnership is recommended but understudied.
- Empirical data on youth involvement in program decision-making is limited.
- Understanding correlates of shared decision-making in youth programs is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prevalence of youth program decision-making practices.
- To examine associations between these practices and youth outcomes.
- To explore age-related differences in these associations.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study of 979 youth across 63 after-school programs.
- Utilized single-level and multilevel statistical methods.
- Assessed youth motivation, problem-solving efficacy, expression efficacy, and empathy.
Main Results:
- Decision-making practices were prevalent, especially low-power forms like activity selection.
- Shared decision-making positively correlated with youth motivation to attend.
- Positive associations found with youth problem-solving efficacy, expression efficacy, and empathy.
- Age moderated correlations, with stronger effects for older youth on problem-solving and empathy.
Conclusions:
- Involving youth in program decision-making is a promising strategy.
- Shared decision-making promotes youth motivation and skill development.
- Benefits are particularly pronounced for older adolescents (high school-age).
More Related Videos
14:43A Novel Method for Involving Women of Color at High Risk for Preterm Birth in Research Priority Setting
Published on: January 12, 2018
08:53Integrating Computerized Linguistic and Social Network Analyses to Capture Addiction Recovery Capital in an Online Community
Published on: May 31, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Community Based Intervention
Foundations of Community Mental Health Programs
Central to the success of community-based interventions is the...
Influence of Parents and Peers on Identity
Parental Influence on Identity Development
Parents serve as primary guides and managers in an adolescent's life, offering support instrumental in decision-making and personal growth....
Persuasion Strategies
Decision Making: P-value Method
First, a specific claim about the population parameter is proposed. The claim is based on the research question and is stated in a simple form. Further, an opposing statement to the claim is also stated. These statements can act as null and alternative hypotheses: a null hypothesis would be a neutral statement while the alternative hypothesis can...
Decision Making: Traditional Method
First, a specific claim about the population parameter is decided based on the research question and is stated in a simple form. Further, an opposing statement to this claim is also stated. These statements can act as null and alternative hypotheses, out of which a null hypothesis would be a...
Decision Making
Automatic decision-making is fast, intuitive, and relies on gut feelings...