Indicator 22: Youth With Positive Adults in Their Lives
Why This Is Important
Modeling is a very powerful shaper of behavior for young people, especially when positive
behaviors are reinforced over and over again. Young people who have numerous positive
interactions with different adults in their community can develop close bonds to that community,
which protect them from engaging in risky behaviors. All young people need to be nurtured by
positive, caring adults.
Where We Stand
While the percents for each of these indicators is a slight decrease, overall the majority of
youth report having connections to positive adults in each of these critical areas. Similar to the
2004 report, 20% of these youth in 2005 report that they know three or more adults who could
be negative role models (people who do dangerous things and who are a potentially negative influence).
The Search Institute includes this indicator as one of their developmental assets of young people.
Developmental asset 14 is “Adult Role Models,” and seeks to discover if youth experience parents and
other adults who model positive, responsible behavior. In their 2003 survey, the Institute found that 27%
of 6th to12th grade youth experienced this asset.
Data Sources and Context
This Maine Marks indicator is adapted from the work of the Search Institute
(www.search-institute.org) and their research into developmental assets of young
Why people. The developmental assets framework is popular with many who work in the
field of youth development. The data source for this indicator is a statewide random digit
dial telephone survey of Maine youth in grades 9 – 12 conducted by Critical Insights, a
strategic marketing research firm in Portland, Maine. A total of 402 youth participated in the
interviews for this 2005 report, interviews were completed by January 2006. The youth were
asked the following question: “Tell me how many adults (not including your parents or relatives)
who you have known for at least two years who; (a) give you encouragement whenever they see
you, (b) you look forward to spending time with, (c) spend a lot of time helping other people,
(d) do things that are wrong or dangerous, and (e) talk with you at least once a month”. Due to
funding limitations, surveys were not conducted in 2003.
NOTE: For all years, only the data in the “all” column is statistically representative of
youth in this age group statewide; the gender and grade level breakdowns are provided for
descriptive purposes only and are not representative of all Maine youth in this age group.
National data comes from the Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors
Survey. This 2003 survey reached approximately 150,000 6th to12th grade youth in 202
communities across the United States. Complete results and explanation can be found at
http://www.search-institute.org/research/assets/assetfreqs.html.
