The Longer-Term Psychosocial Development of Adolescents: Child Development Accounts and the Role of Mentoring

Modifiable Factors for the Trajectory of Health-Related Quality of Life among Youth Growing Up in Poverty: A Prospective Cohort Study

Poverty is a decisive risk factor for poor health and well-being, and its negative consequences could be more severe and substantial among children. Understanding the factors associated with improvement in well-being is vital to design interventions. This is a prospective cohort study of 546 youth growing up in families in poverty in Hong Kong. All participants were assessed twice, in 2016 and 2019, in regard to their physical and mental health, as well as for different economic, social, and psychological variables. The results show that approximately 41% experienced an improvement in their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Findings from the logistic regression analyses suggest that the health and development of youth in poverty may be restored by promoting social support, a sense of hope, future orientation, job stability, and money management practices, such as savings, during childhood and adolescence. The findings shed light on future policy making and forms of service development that could help to end the vicious cycle of poverty and hampered health.

A Child Development Fund Program, Emotional Development, and Poverty Reduction

OBJECTIVES

We aim to examine the effects of the Child Development Fund (CDF) program on the long-term psychological, health, social, and financial development of children in poverty.

METHODS

The current study was a 4-year follow-up survey study (the follow-up study) of a nonrandomized controlled trial (the first study), conducted in 2019 and 2015, respectively, in Hong Kong. Subjects were 902 young adults who were from families living in poverty and receiving financial assistance from the government and who had completed the first study. Approximately 61% of the subjects (N = 546) completed the current follow-up study.

RESULTS

Of the 546 subjects (46% male), 335 (61%; CDF participants) completed the CDF program between 2011 and 2015, and 211 (39%; CDF nonparticipants) were matched controls in the first study. The mean age was 20.64 years (SD = 2.72). After adjustments of covariates, the CDF participants reported fewer behavioral problems, higher levels of study motivation, higher levels of hope, and more positive attitudes toward their future education. The CDF participants also perceived greater social support from significant others and reported greater amounts of money saved every month. After further adjustments, CDF participants showed greater improvements in health-related quality of life related to emotional functioning. A considerable number of families of the CDF participants who were working for a living were no longer reliant on financial assistance from the government.

CONCLUSIONS

The positive effects of the CDF program on children in poverty could be sustained throughout adolescence to young adulthood. Findings warrant the promotion of the program to reach more children.

Boys Mentoring, Gender Norms, and Reproductive Health-Potential for Transformation

PURPOSE

Understanding and addressing the unique health and development needs of adolescent boys and young men (ABYM) is critical to achieving positive development outcomes for all genders. While major investments have been historically allocated toward adolescent girls and young women, a handful of approaches designed explicitly to reach ABYM have been successful. This review aims to understand the potential impact of mentoring interventions for ABYM on reproductive health (RH) knowledge and practices; social assets and soft skills; levels of gender-based and interpersonal violence; attitudes around gender equality; and substance use and financial vulnerability.

METHODS

An electronic search of peer-reviewed and gray literature produced a review of 1,178 articles which yielded a total of 29 articles evaluating the 27 interventions included in the final review.

RESULTS

Mentoring approaches demonstrate promise for improving soft skills and social assets among ABYM-two factors that are thought to contribute to positive youth development outcomes-and for reducing violence perpetration. While these findings demonstrate the importance of this approach for ABYM in their own right, evidence regarding impact on gender norm transformation, RH, and substance use is mixed.

CONCLUSIONS

Mentoring programs appear to be a promising practice for ABYM; they have demonstrated the potential to improve soft skills and social assets, as well as to impact rates of violence perpetration. More research is needed to better understand why the evidence for impact on gender norm transformation, RH, and substance use is mixed, and how to build upon those programs that demonstrated positive results.