title: Youth-Adult Partnerships and Youth Identity Style.
abstract: Youth-adult partnerships (e.g., youth leading programs, participating as members of advisory boards) are a common and widely recommended practice in youth work and youth-serving program settings. Although researchers have suggested that these opportunities contribute to youth's identity development, empirical evidence is lacking. In the current study, we tested associations between identity style and degree of youth voice, collaborative youth-adult relationships, and youth's program engagement in 194 youth participating in youth-adult partnerships (Mage= 17.6, 62 % female). We found that these characteristics of youth-adult partnerships predicted higher informational identity style, although only program engagement emerged as a unique predictor. Furthermore, exploratory analysis indicated that these associations were moderated by the type of organization. The findings suggest the need for more research on the multiple dimensions of youth-adult partnerships and their association with youth functioning, as well as pointing to the importance of the broader organizational context of youth-adult partnerships.
authors.affiliation: School of Social and Community Services, Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, 3199 Lakeshore Blvd. W., Toronto, ON, M8V 1K8, Canada. heather.ramey@humber.ca.|Department of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada. heather.ramey@humber.ca.
authors.forename: Heather L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Ramey
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rose-Krasnor
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada.|Department of Psychology, Bishop's University, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Heather L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Lawford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D010379:Peer Group; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support
keywords: Engagement; Identity; Organizational context; Youth voice; Youth–adult partnerships