There are several factors that affect youth engagement. However, today’s popular forms of youth engagement generally don’t acknowledge those factors. Whether or not a young person is going to become engaged is determined by three things:
- Social and economic environment
- Physical environment, and
- Individual characteristics and behaviors
The ways young people live determine their engagement. Because of this, blaming youth for being disengaged from particular activities or issues or crediting them for being engaged in ways you approve of is inappropriate. Youth are unlikely to be able to directly control many of the factors affecting youth engagement.
- Find out more from my new publication available FREE as a pdf, A Short Introduction to Youth Engagement.
Adam F.C. Fletcher 