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Youth Empowerment and High School Gay-Straight Alliances

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Abstract

In the field of positive youth development programs, “empowerment” is used interchangeably with youth activism, leadership, civic participation and self-efficacy. However, few studies have captured what empowerment means to young people in diverse contexts. This article explores how youth define and experience empowerment in youth-led organizations characterized by social justice goals: high school Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs). Through focus group interviews, fifteen youth leaders of GSAs from different regions of California explain what they think empowerment means and how they became empowered through their involvement with the GSA. Youth describe three inter-related dimensions of empowerment: personal empowerment, relational empowerment, and strategic empowerment through having and using knowledge. When these three dimensions are experienced in combination, GSA leaders have the potential for individual and collective empowerment as agents of social change at school. By understanding these youth’s perspectives on the meanings of empowerment, this article clarifies the conceptual arena for future studies of socially marginalized youth and of positive youth development.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a William T. Grant Foundation Scholar Award to the first author; the second author was supported by NIA grant AG000117 and the third author by a fellowship from the 4-H Center for Youth Development during the writing of the manuscript. We thank Gil Herdt, Jeffery Sweat, and Michelle Marzullo for their participation in the study design and data collection, Monica Garcia for her help with manuscript preparation, and the participants in the William T Grant Foundation 2006 Scholar Retreat, especially Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, for thoughtful comments during a presentation of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norton School of Family & Consumer Sciences, McClelland Park, University of Arizona, 650 North Park Avenue, Tucson, AZ, 85721-0078, USA

    Stephen T. Russell

  2. LMU Sociology Department, Loyola Marymount University, One LMU Drive, Suite 4314, Los Angeles, CA, 90045-2659, USA

    Anna Muraco

  3. 4-H Center for Youth Development, Department of Human and Community Development, University of California, 3325 Hart Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Aarti Subramaniam

  4. Gay-Straight Alliance Network, 1550 Bryant St, Suite 800, San Francisco, CA, 94103, USA

    Carolyn Laub

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  1. Stephen T. Russell
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  2. Anna Muraco
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  4. Carolyn Laub
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Correspondence to Stephen T. Russell.

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Russell, S.T., Muraco, A., Subramaniam, A. et al. Youth Empowerment and High School Gay-Straight Alliances. J Youth Adolescence 38, 891–903 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9382-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9382-8

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