Humanist approaches to youth development in the Summer Youth Program of Hong Kong

Promoting social integration and meaning derived from activities can be effective approaches to facilitating basic and advanced development among young participants in the Summer Youth Program of Hong Kong. Its rationale rests on the humanist perspective, which emphasizes the individual's deriving meaning and maintaining affiliation with people. To examine the effects of these experiences in the program, the study employed a pre-post design to survey 799 adolescent participants' experiences with the program and their basic (more emphasis on potential, skill, and social well-being) and advanced (more emphasis on civic responsibility, volunteerism, and transcendence) development. Results reveal that experience of the social integration approach tended to increase young participants' basic development, whereas experience of meaning in program activities appeared to induce advanced development. © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.