Young people and the Community

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Young people and the Community -Year 1 data-
Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families -
June 2007
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Community definitions
Relatively stable network of relationships among
a group of people who have common interests, a
network from which they draw support, friendship
and a sense of identity or connectedness greater
than that provided in a family alone. (In Best
Evidence Synthesis, 2003 Ministry of
Education) Community is a group of people who
do neighbourhood watch, work in groups, go to the
shops and organize events (Focus group 12-13
years old) Its the place where I live! Its a
place...its like a town. Town is like the
buildings community is like the
people. (Focus Group - 14-15 years old)
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• Young peoples perceptions of community Efforts
  and Youth Voice

Table 1 Perceptions of community efforts and
youth voice for the overall sample.
Effort
Yes 32.5 No
14.1 Dont know
51.1 Voice Yes 24.1
No 27.5 Dont know
46.3 __________________________________
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Young peoples perceptions of community Efforts
and Youth Voice In general, there seems to be
a lack of awareness about community attempts to
address needs and engage young people. This
unawareness is more pronounced for girls than
boys. As they grow older, participants tend to
be have a more formed opinion, although more
negative about communitys efforts and youth
voice. Comparatively, young people recognise
more that community is trying to address their
needs than that they have a say in what happens
in this life context.
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2. Sense of neighbourhood and Adult attitudes
towards young people a) Sense of neighbourhood
Gender No gender differences Age Younger
participants (9-11 years old) showed lower levels
of sense of neighbourhood b) Adult attitudes
towards young people Gender and Age Younger
girls (9-11 years old) showed less negative
perceptions of adult attitudes towards young
people
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2. Sense of neighbourhood and Adult attitudes
towards young people (Perceptions)
Sense of neighbourhood Links with overall
well-being and happiness with body image
Negative adult attitudes towards young people
Links with higher cigarette and alcohol
consumption and lower strength of self
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3. What young people want more of

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What young people want more of

As they grow older, youth desires
progressively More Money, community places to
hang out, better and cheaper transports and
freedom from caregivers Less School and after
school activities, time and attention from
caregivers
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4. Community Services

Figure 1. Services participants would use in
case of need
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Community Services The majority of
participants would not use any of the previous
services School services and family doctors
were the two most referred people in these
services are likely to hold rich knowledge about
young peoples common concerns


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5. Community groups

Figure 2. Groups belonged to (frequencies)
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Community groups

• Belonging to groups outside school is linked to
• v Higher well-being
• v Life satisfaction
• v Stronger ethnic identity (NZ European and
  Maori)
• v More positive body image

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Community groups

• The majority of participants agreed that
• Group members look for one another
• Being part of a group helped to make good friends
• Being part of a group has given them more
  confidence
• Feel they were giving something to the community

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Community groupsAlthough the majority
of the sample (60.1) belongs to groups outside
school, there is a important percentage that does
not (39.9). These participants are not exposed
to the benefits of belonging to a community group.