Indicator 78: Youth Who Feel Cared For in Their Community 

 

Why This Is Important

Bonding to the community is a significant protective factor for young people, helping them
to avoid risky behavior. Communities that keep children at the heart of all decisions can
demonstrate to young people that adults in their community care for people their age.

 

Where We Stand

This is another youth level indicator on which there has been little change over the time periods.
For 2005, 60% of all youth respondents stated that they “agree” or “strongly agree” with that
statement that they feel cared for by adults in their communities.

The Search Institute examines this issue with the developmental assets, “Caring Neighborhood.”
In 2003 the Institute surveyed 6th to12th grade youth throughout the United States and found
that 37% of the respondents experienced caring neighbors.

 

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 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: “Do you
agree or disagree with the following statement: Adults in my town or city care about people
my age.” 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.