What combination of training and experience of scoutmasters and other volunteers best builds character in scouts? How can their training be enhanced to strengthen the scouts\u2019 character development? These are some of the questions that Family Science and Human Development professors Jennifer Urban and Miriam Linver are asking in a new research project that seeks to reveal how adults build character in scouts.<\/p>\n
The researchers, who are also co-directors of the Research on Youth Thriving and Evaluation (RYTE) Institute at Montclair State University, will receive $1,868,050 for the first year of a two-year, $5.7 million Boy Scouts of America (BSA) National Character Initiative sub-award funded by the Stephen D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation.<\/p>\n
The grant supports the second phase of an ongoing BSA national character initiative project that is focused on uncovering the role adults play in youth character development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very excited to have this opportunity to study one of the longest-running youth-serving organizations in the nation,\u201d says Urban. \u201cThe RYTE Institute is focused on understanding what goes right with youth. A study of this magnitude could potentially impact hundreds of thousands of young people \u2013 as well as the adults who care about promoting their positive development.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phase I of the project, she says, \u201cconfirmed that BSA offers a distinctive character initiative that is deeply rooted in its culture \u2013 and that is ideal for exploring and documenting the relationship between adult practice and youth character development.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s primary goal with this second phase is to understand more fully the relationship between adult practice and youth outcomes. \u201cWe want to understand how youth development practitioners, or adults in general, foster youth character development in scouts,\u201d Urban explains.<\/p>\n
To do this, Urban and Linver will look at the entire BSA system to pinpoint the existing trainings and other adult experiences that lead to the strongest character outcomes in scouts.<\/p>\n
Developing leadership skills is a key objective of scouting. In general, young people need opportunities for leadership within the context of a sustained, caring youth-adult relationship. \u201cFor BSA, we\u2019ve developed a detailed pathway model that explains how scouts develop character,\u201d Urban notes.<\/p>\n
They will be assisted in all aspects of their study \u2013 from data collection and analysis to disseminating results through reports and articles \u2013 by University undergraduate, master\u2019s and doctoral students, as well as post-doctoral fellows.<\/p>\n
While the name of the scouting program for youth ages 10 1\/2 to 18 was recently changed from Boy Scouts to Scouts BSA to reflect the organization\u2019s inclusion of girls and young women, the team\u2019s initial data will reflect boys. \u201cWe are collecting data at three time points and by the third time point, we expect we will have girls in our study sample,\u201d says Urban.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the data they collect will help BSA develop a strategic professional development plan for all scout leaders, which will, in turn, result in a more efficient and consistent delivery of programming. Project findings can also serve as a blueprint for other youth-serving organizations.<\/p>\n
According to Urban, identifying the pathways that build young people\u2019s character is critically important. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to be cynical about the state of civil society, but we only need to look as far as our youth to see the full potential for a brighter future,\u201d she asserts. \u201cWe aren\u2019t only going to be able to understand more about character development in youth, but we\u2019ll also be able to understand more about how adult character develops through volunteering with BSA.\u201d<\/p>\n