Youth-Led Participatory Action Research: Promoting Youth Voice and Adult Support in Afterschool Programs.

Abstract

Afterschool programs often find it challenging to retain participants as they transition from child hood into early adolescence and enter middle school (Deschenes et al., 2010). During this developmental period, many young people, as they experience a growing need for autonomy, begin to disconnect from pro-social institutions (Eccles et al, 1993; Meece, Anderman, & Anderman, 2006).