Youth Connectedness:

Social Connectedness, Transitions and Wellbeing.

In December 2003 we heard the exciting news that our project on youth connectedness had been successful in the FRST funding round. The Research has been carried out by the Roy McKenzie Centre and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

The overall aim of this project was to optimise the chances of youth having positive experiences in adolescence and of overcoming the inevitable challenges of this life stage to become healthy and productive adults.

We have focussed on youth feeling connected to key institutions, on their positive participation in these domains, and on the measurable benefits of positive connection. The main focus has been on young people's connectedness to: communities and wider society; families and whanau; and schools.

The project's two major objectives - to examine how connectedness supports youth in negotiating the challenges of adolescence, and to identify modifiable factors that foster and enhance connectedness.

The research approach is a mixed-method, cross-lagged longitudinal design. Measures of connectedness, which are sensitive to NZ’s unique social and cultural context, will be developed with youth. We have quantitatively and qualitatively followed three cohorts of youth starting at ages 10, 12, and 14, for three years. We have provided snapshots of NZ youth each year, and will analyse the causal links across time among potentially protective factors and positive outcomes.

The development of a body of local contemporary knowledge about youth in their social context, and the identification of specific areas where practice and policy can be changed in order to enhance optimal development will be the basis for informing end-users of this research.

This research will be completed in September 2009.

Presentations and Papers from the Youth Connectedness Research:

Family

Youth Connectedness Project
Families and Whanau
Auckland University, 6 July 2009
Dr Carla Crespo

Tea Time! Family rituals and their links to family functioning and youth wellbeing

How Do I Look?
Links amongst body image, family functioning and parent-child relationships in teenage girls.

Families/Whanau

Family Data

Family & Community Workshop Presentation

Schools

School, Bullying & Technology

Community

Young people and the community

Family/Community Workshop

General

Introduction to the Youth Connectedness Project

Stress and Coping by adolescents in the
Youth Connectedness Project

The prediction of well-being in early adolescents by four domains of social connectedness

Adolescent Wellbeing and Connectedness to
School, Family, Peers, and Community over Time

Methodology & Dissemination

Methodology - what we did and what we learned

A selection of results from Year 1 Data

Kaupapa Maori Research Group Presentation

Conference Presentations