Abstract
This study examined the long-term effects of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures project, a community-based early childhood development program, on 18–19 year-old youths’ narratives about turning points in their lives. The sample consisted of youth who participated in Better Beginnings from ages 4–8 (n = 62) and youth from a comparison community who did not participate in Better Beginnings (n = 34). Controlling for covariates, significant differences favoring youth from the Better Beginnings sites were found on several dimensions of the turning point stories: ending resolution, personal growth, meaning-making, coherence, and affect transformation. Effect sizes ranged from .45 to .76 for these outcome dimensions, indicating moderate to large effects. Also, turning point story dimensions were found to be significantly correlated with two standardized measures of well-being: youths’ self-esteem and community involvement. Youths’ self-esteem was directly related to story ending resolution, personal growth, and meaning making, and youths’ community involvement was directly related to story specificity, meaning making, and coherence. Family functioning was also examined in relation to these narrative dimensions but was not found to be significantly related to them. The findings suggest the utility of a narrative approach for the evaluation of the long-term outcomes of early childhood development programs.
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Notes
The variables were: respondent’ sex and year of birth, the research child’s sex, single parenthood, the respondent’s education and labour force status (employed full time, employed part time, seeking employment), the partner’s labour force status (employed full time, employed part time, seeking employment), household income, monthly food expenses, monthly housing expenses, residence in public housing, cultural group (Anglophone, Francophone, Other), and immigrant status.
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Acknowledgment
This research was supported by a grant from the National Crime Prevention Centre, Canadian Ministry of Public Safety. The authors wish to thank Ray DeV. Peters, Research Director, and the staff of the Better Beginning, Better Futures Research Coordination for their assistance with project management, conducting the interviews, transcription of the interviews, and analysis of the data, Mike Pratt for his comments on an earlier draft of this paper, and the reviewers of this paper for their helpful reviews and suggestions.
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Nelson, G., Van Andel, A.K., Curwood, S.E. et al. Exploring Outcomes through Narrative: The Long-term Impacts of Better Beginnings, Better Futures on the Turning Point Stories of Youth at Ages 18–19. Am J Community Psychol 49, 294–306 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-011-9466-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-011-9466-6