Perceived Behavioral and Academic Competence in Middle Childhood : Influences of a Community-Based Youth Development Program / Cynthia Hudley.

This paper reports findings from a longitudinal study that investigated ways in which a comprehensive youth development program could support social and academic competence and reduce aggression in middle childhood for students living in public housing. Children residing in public housing complexes in southern California who participated in a 4H Afterschool Activities Program were compared with another group of resident children who did not participate in 4H. Measures of perceived academic and social competence were completed by the students, their teachers, and their primary caretakers. The results demonstrated the stronger program effects for perceived behavioral competence than for academic competence. Findings are discussed in terms of the need for explicit programmatic emphasis on the development of academic competence in participants, similar to the current program emphasis on school appropriate behavior. (Contains 7 figures and 27 references.) (JDM)

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