ABSTRACT This study examined the long-term impacts of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures proje... more ABSTRACT This study examined the long-term impacts of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a universal, community-based prevention program. Generativity was studied as an indicator of positive mental health, using a narrative analysis of youths' stories about turning points in their lives. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare youths aged 18-19 who participated in Better Beginnings when they were 4-8 (n = 62) and with youths from comparison communities who did not participate in Better Beginnings (n = 34). Significant differences between the 2 groups were found on 2 measures of generativity. The findings suggest the utility of adopting a narrative approach to evaluate the long-term outcomes of prevention programs for children and youth.
This comparative study examined how participation in an early childhood development (ECD) program... more This comparative study examined how participation in an early childhood development (ECD) program, Better Beginnings, Better Futures, for children (ages 4-8) relates to sense of community (SOC) in later adolescence (ages 18-19). Youths' stories (N = 96) about community experiences, collected by semistructured, open-ended interviews, were quantitatively coded for several narrative dimensions (specificity, positivity, prosocial content, and meaning-making) and for elements of SOC (membership, influence, needs fulfillment, and shared emotional connection). Findings show a significant positive relationship between all narrative dimensions and the total SOC score. Better Beginnings youths' stories (n = 64) were significantly higher on specificity and shared emotional connection than comparison youth (n = 32). Findings have implications for community-based ECD programs to impact later adolescence SOC and for using narratives to study these effects.
This study examined the long-term effects of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a com... more This study examined the long-term effects of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a community-based early childhood development program, on 18–19 year-old youths’ narratives about turning points in their lives. The sample consisted of youth who participated in Better Beginnings from ages 4–8 (n = 62) and youth from a comparison community who did not participate in Better Beginnings (n = 34). Controlling for covariates, significant differences favoring youth from the Better Beginnings sites were found on several dimensions of the turning point stories: ending resolution, personal growth, meaning-making, coherence, and affect transformation. Effect sizes ranged from .45 to .76 for these outcome dimensions, indicating moderate to large effects. Also, turning point story dimensions were found to be significantly correlated with two standardized measures of well-being: youths’ self-esteem and community involvement. Youths’ self-esteem was directly related to story ending resolution, personal growth, and meaning making, and youths’ community involvement was directly related to story specificity, meaning making, and coherence. Family functioning was also examined in relation to these narrative dimensions but was not found to be significantly related to them. The findings suggest the utility of a narrative approach for the evaluation of the long-term outcomes of early childhood development programs.
ABSTRACT This study examined the long-term impacts of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures proje... more ABSTRACT This study examined the long-term impacts of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a universal, community-based prevention program. Generativity was studied as an indicator of positive mental health, using a narrative analysis of youths' stories about turning points in their lives. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare youths aged 18-19 who participated in Better Beginnings when they were 4-8 (n = 62) and with youths from comparison communities who did not participate in Better Beginnings (n = 34). Significant differences between the 2 groups were found on 2 measures of generativity. The findings suggest the utility of adopting a narrative approach to evaluate the long-term outcomes of prevention programs for children and youth.
This comparative study examined how participation in an early childhood development (ECD) program... more This comparative study examined how participation in an early childhood development (ECD) program, Better Beginnings, Better Futures, for children (ages 4-8) relates to sense of community (SOC) in later adolescence (ages 18-19). Youths' stories (N = 96) about community experiences, collected by semistructured, open-ended interviews, were quantitatively coded for several narrative dimensions (specificity, positivity, prosocial content, and meaning-making) and for elements of SOC (membership, influence, needs fulfillment, and shared emotional connection). Findings show a significant positive relationship between all narrative dimensions and the total SOC score. Better Beginnings youths' stories (n = 64) were significantly higher on specificity and shared emotional connection than comparison youth (n = 32). Findings have implications for community-based ECD programs to impact later adolescence SOC and for using narratives to study these effects.
This study examined the long-term effects of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a com... more This study examined the long-term effects of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a community-based early childhood development program, on 18–19 year-old youths’ narratives about turning points in their lives. The sample consisted of youth who participated in Better Beginnings from ages 4–8 (n = 62) and youth from a comparison community who did not participate in Better Beginnings (n = 34). Controlling for covariates, significant differences favoring youth from the Better Beginnings sites were found on several dimensions of the turning point stories: ending resolution, personal growth, meaning-making, coherence, and affect transformation. Effect sizes ranged from .45 to .76 for these outcome dimensions, indicating moderate to large effects. Also, turning point story dimensions were found to be significantly correlated with two standardized measures of well-being: youths’ self-esteem and community involvement. Youths’ self-esteem was directly related to story ending resolution, personal growth, and meaning making, and youths’ community involvement was directly related to story specificity, meaning making, and coherence. Family functioning was also examined in relation to these narrative dimensions but was not found to be significantly related to them. The findings suggest the utility of a narrative approach for the evaluation of the long-term outcomes of early childhood development programs.
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