TAG Research Reviews 

Opportunities for Teens to Engage as Learners, Leaders, 

Team Members, and Workers 

Office of Adolescent Health | Website: http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/TAG Twitter: @TeenHealthGov Email: TAGTEAM@hhs.gov 

“Active youth involvement with people and programs is important for promoting healthy adolescent 

development. This includes activities at school, at home, or in the community, such as school clubs, 

sports, music, visual and performing arts, or out-of-school time programs, volunteer or paid jobs, 

and activities at places of worship. Adolescents also benefit from opportunities to shape programs 

and activities, which can improve the programs, provide valuable leadership skills and build 

confidence.”1

Adolescent Health: Think, Act, Grow® (TAG) Research Reviews highlight research, evaluation reports, 

and other publications that inform the field about key issues in, and effective practices for, fostering 

improved health, reducing risky behavior, and improving engagement and healthy development in 

young people. This Research Review focuses on the importance of Opportunities for Teens to Engage 

as Learners, Leaders, Team Members, and Workers for healthy adolescent development, one of 

TAG’s Five Essentials for Healthy Adolescence.

An evidence-based practitioner’s model for adolescent leadership development.2

While adult leadership development research has expanded over the past 15 years and now includes 

perspectives from leadership, education, and human development experts, little is known about adolescent 

leadership development. The author proposes a model for youth leadership education based on adolescent 

development and leadership research in an effort to provide practitioners (e.g., school educators) with a guide 

to aid their creation and implementation of high school leadership programs. Three focus areas were selected 

to make the model relevant to secondary school educators: 1) student leader development areas that school 

level educators can affect; 2) domains not generally addressed such as required high school graduate 

competency outcomes; and 3) leadership development specific to adolescence. Given the importance of 

leadership development in adolescence, this model can help educators develop leadership opportunities for all 

students in school settings during the critical adolescent years. Read more

Civic minded: Programs for youths focus on community.

3

Youth have demonstrated a desire to make civic contributions and would like to be involved in decision making 

at the community level. The authors, recognizing this trend, looked at the Youth Leadership for Development 

Initiative (YLDI) to identify core youth development practices. Based on YLDI research, they found several 

benchmarks for supporting youth leadership development programs at the community level: supportive 

relationships with other youth and adults, and opportunities to take on decision making and leadership roles, 

engage actively and holistically in civic life, do work that will have lasting value in their communities, apply 

their leadership skills in real-world settings on issues they care about, and build alliances with like-minded 

youth and adults. Read more
Office of Adolescent Health | Website: http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/TAG Twitter: @TeenHealthGov Email: TAGTEAM@hhs.gov 

Connection between adolescent's exposure to community violence and future civic 

engagement behaviors during their young adulthood.4

Exposure to violence during adolescence may decrease an individual’s subsequent civic engagement in 

adulthood. The study included a sample of 10,298 individuals who were exposed to violence in the community 

during adolescence but were not exposed to violence in young adulthood. The authors found that that longterm effect of exposure to violence in the community decreased the likelihood of adolescents’ involvement 

with community services when they become young adults. The results persisted after controlling for the 

influence of individual demographic characteristics, family socioeconomic background, and the protective 

effects associated with having a good relationship with the primary caregiver. Read more

Developing a paradigm model of youth leadership development and community 

engagement: A grounded theory.5

Previous youth leadership development studies have used a variety of theoretical frameworks to examine 

youth leadership development. The study sought to construct a grounded theory to describe the process of 

how youth leaders develop through community engagement. The authors specifically wanted to understand: 

1) what conditions caused the youth to engage in their community, 2) the strategies used by the youth and the 

adults when working together, 3) the conditions that helped or hindered those strategies, and 4) the resulting 

outcomes. A paradigm model was developed to describe how community engagement influences the 

development of youth leaders. The authors found that individual connections (between youth adults), 

common sentiments, and being asked to engage were identified as the most salient causal conditions for youth 

to engage in their community. Read more

Does it matter if students experience school as a place of community?6

In the United States, school-aged children spend more time at school than anywhere else outside the home. 

This brief looked at whether or not schools served as a place of community and student engagement and the 

relationship between school connectedness and engagement to a sense of community and belonging. 

While the authors note that they believe that school community captures the essence of these relationships 

because members of a community feel that they belong, that they matter to each other, and that their needs 

will be met through their interactions, they also found that a significant portion of school-aged students do not 

feel that they belong, are safe, matter to others, and their needs will be met at school. The authors 

recommend that as schools evaluate current practices, they can improve school-wide and classroom practices 

to help every child experience a true sense of community that enhances their academic, behavioral, social, and 

emotional well-being. Read more

Engagement in school and community civic activities among rural adolescents.7

Involvement in civic and community activities has been shown to be a core part of positive youth development. 

The study examined the civic activities of rural adolescents from small schools (school, community, and 

religious activity involvement) and compared youth involved in civic activities with those who are not in terms 

of psychological well-being, problem behavior, academic engagement, and perceptions of parents. The current 

study included 679 eighth and ninth graders from 13 small schools in rural areas of the Midwestern United 

States. Adolescents who participated in religious youth groups reported more extracurricular activities, less 
Office of Adolescent Health | Website: http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/TAG Twitter: @TeenHealthGov Email: TAGTEAM@hhs.gov 

problem behavior, higher grades and motivation, and more support from parents and friends than adolescents 

who did not participate in such groups. Similarly, adolescents who were involved in school- and communitybased civic activities reported more religiosity, academic engagement, and positive perceptions of parents and 

peers than uninvolved youth. The results highlight the importance of civic activity engagement and its 

association with positive youth development. Read more

Harnessing health information to foster disadvantaged teens' community 

engagement, leadership skills, and career plans: A qualitative evaluation of the 

Teen Health Leadership Program.8

The Teen Health Leadership Program (THLP) is a pilot program that engages at-risk high school students in 

health information advocacy and outreach, and focuses specifically on increasing teens’ 1) health information 

literacy, 2) leadership skills and community engagement, and 3) interest in careers in health care and 

biomedicine. The target population included high school students in a low-income, primarily minority 

community near Charleston, South Carolina. Using semi-structured interviews, the authors found that the 

program had a positive impact on the participants' health information competency, leadership skills, academic 

orientation, and interest in health careers. The study suggests that health information can provide a powerful 

context for increasing disadvantaged students' community engagement, leadership skills, and academic 

success. Read more

Thirty-year trends in U.S. adolescents' civic engagement: A story of changing 

participation and educational differences.9

Using data from Monitoring the Future, a study that has surveyed a nationally representative sample of high 

school seniors each year since 1976, the authors examined trends in high school seniors' current and 

anticipated civic participation and beliefs over a 30-year period. The study looked at trends in conventional, 

alternative, and community service participation and found that in the last 15 years high school seniors, on 

average, have been less likely to endorse alternative political engagement activities, their support for 

conventional political engagement remained considerably lower than in the previous 15 years, and yet they 

were increasingly likely to volunteer in their communities. In addition, youth who planned to graduate from a 

four-year college were more civically inclined than their peers with a two-year college degree or no college 

plans. Read more

Youth as engaged citizens and community change advocates through the Lexington 

Youth Leadership Academy.10

The Lexington Youth Leadership Academy (LYLA) is a leadership development and community change program 

for high school-aged youth. The goal of the program is to develop teens into effective leaders through 

participation in community change and instilling the importance of communal decision making among 

participants. LYLA is a community-based program and activities take place after school, on weekends, and 

during summer months. Youth in this program are called Ambassadors and are required to complete a 

minimum of six trainings per year that focus on development of leadership skills, reduction of prejudice, 

improved self-concept, and civic responsibility. Preliminary findings of the LYLA suggest that the program had a 

positive impact on the youth who participated, and was welcomed by adults in the community, schools, and 

local organizations, but little is known about the long-term impact and whether it is more effective than other 

youth leadership programs such as peer mentoring within schools. Read more
Office of Adolescent Health | Website: http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/TAG Twitter: @TeenHealthGov Email: TAGTEAM@hhs.gov 

Youth development and leadership in programs.11 

The authors of this article state that administrators and policymakers should use the concepts of youth 

development and youth leadership in developing and administering programs that serve all youth and 

activities and in programs specifically geared toward youth with disabilities. They recommend that youth 

development programs strive to provide supports, services, and opportunities that help youth, including 

youth with disabilities, achieve positive outcomes in five specific areas: working, learning, thriving, 

connecting, and leading. The authors suggest that all youth have multiple opportunities to observe, practice, 

and develop leadership skills; experience progressive roles of leadership ranging from leading a small group 

to planning an event; receive education on the values and history of the organization; and learn to assess 

their own strengths and set goals for personal development. Read more
1

 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Adolescent Health. (April, 2016). Adolescent Health: 

Think, Act, Grow® 2016 playbook. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 

 

2

 Rehm, C.J. (2014). An evidence-based practitioner’s model for adolescent leadership development. Journal of 

Leadership Education, 83-97. doi:1012806/V13/I3/T1. 

3

 Yu, H.C., & Lewis-Charp, H. (2006). Civic minded: Programs for youths focus on community. Leadership in 

Action, 26(3), 7-10. 

 

4

 Chen, W.Y., Propp, J., & Lee, Y. (2015). Connection between adolescent's exposure to community violence and 

future civic engagement behaviors during their young adulthood. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 32(1), 

45-55. doi:10.1007/s10560-014-0361-5.

5

 Hastings, L., Barrett, L.A., Barbuto, J.E., & Bell, L.C. (2011). Developing a paradigm model of youth leadership 

development and community engagement: A grounded theory. Journal of Agricultural Education, 52(1), 19-29. 

doi: 10.5032/jae.2011.01019. 

6

 Grover, H.M., Limber, S.P., & Boberiene, L.V. (2015). Does it matter if students experience school as a place of 

community? American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 85(6), 79-85. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ort0000131. 

7

 Ludden, A. (2011). Engagement in school and community civic activities among rural adolescents. Journal of 

Youth & Adolescence, 40(9), 1254-1270. doi:10.3163/1536-5050.103.2.005. 

8

 Keselman, A., Ahmed, E.A., Williamson, D.C., Kelly, J.E., & Dutcher, G.A. (2015). Harnessing health information 

to foster disadvantaged teens' community engagement, leadership skills, and career plans: A qualitative 

evaluation of the Teen Health Leadership Program. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 103(2), 82-86. 

doI:10.3163/1536-5050.103.2.005. 

9

 Syvertsen, A., Wray-Lake, L., Flanagan, C., Osgood, W., & Briddell, L. (2011). Thirty-year trends in U.S. 

adolescents' civic engagement: A story of changing participation and educational differences. Journal of 

Research on Adolescence, 21(3), 586-594. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00706.x. 

10 Otis, M.D. (2006). Youth as engaged citizens and community change advocates through the Lexington Youth 

Leadership Academy. Journal of Community Practice, 14(1/2), 71-88. doi:10.1300/J125v14n01-05. 

11 National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability. (2005). Youth development and leadership in programs. 

Info Brief, 11, 1-8. 

Office of Adolescent Health | Website: http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/TAG Twitter: @TeenHealthGov Email: TAGTEAM@hhs.gov