Hi Survey Girl,
In looking at our A&B reports and doing some additional reading on the Developmental Assets, it notes that asset levels tend to decrease over time. Why is there an overall decrease in assets for youth as they get older (from 6th to 12th grade)?
Signed,
Clever Acronym
Hi Clever,
To answer your question, I consulted with our Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Peter Scales. Since he puts things so perfectly science-y, here is his exact answer:
That the decrease happens, we have demonstrated. Explaining WHY it happens is more speculative, but still well-empirically-based. Both our cross-sectional (one-time snapshot) studies and longitudinal research following youth over time show that the total number of assets tends to decrease, on the average, among high school students as compared to middle school students. The St. Louis Park study did show an average uptick for some assets later in high school, in the 11th and 12th grades. Using the Me and My World survey with 4th-6th graders, we also found that 4th and 5th graders have higher average asset levels than 6th graders. So the evidence seems to be very consistent that younger children have more assets, on average.
The biggest drop seems to occur in middle school, especially 7th and 8th grades, and continue in the first year of high school, which for most students is 9th grade (which is part of the reason St. Louis Park high introduced their “9th grade program”—Building Assets—Reducing Risks). What seems to be happening is that the quantity and quality of relationships young people have—which are the foundation of the assets approach—seem to deteriorate across those years. Many adults find young adolescents more difficult, changeable, demanding, and provocative than elementary-aged children, and pull back from connecting with them more than superficially, if even that. Of course, some adults flip those adjectives upside down, and find young adolescents lively, flexible, spontaneous, experimental, inquisitive, and curious, and love to be around them. But they appear to be in the minority.
It’s not all about adults, of course. Peer relationships can be tough in those years, with middle-school students reporting far more bullying, fighting, and conflict than high school students. So the safety asset tends to increase in high school.
Note too that we say assets tend to decrease, “on average,” because many youth increase, and many stay relatively stable too: There are multiple “asset paths.” In our St. Louis Park study, for example, we found that the greatest percentage of students, 41%, did decrease, but we also found that 35% of students remained stable in their asset totals from middle school to high school, and 24% increased. The average that is happening to a large group doesn’t necessarily describe the experience of an individual student…
Yes, that’s what I was going to say. To read more about the St. Louis Park study, check out our website
‘til next month,
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