Trust and Connectedness to Peers in Out-of-school Time Programming: Examining Race and Gender as Moderators

• In Event: 3-023 - Enhancing the Power of Relationships: The Importance of Trust and Connectedness in Education

Integrative Statement

Quality youth development programs build trust among youth by encouraging a sense of belonging and fostering supportive relationships (e.g., Eccles & Gootman, 2003). Youth trust of others in programs increases the likelihood of achieving intended program outcomes (Feenstra, 2015; Griffith & Larson, 2016). Whereas much of this work has been on the development of trust between youth and the adults in these settings (e.g., Hirsh, Deutsch, & DuBois, 2011), there is less research on youth trust in peers even though positive peer relationships are also a key indicator of program quality and impact (Vandell, 2013). Therefore, it is important to investigate what variables might predict peer trust in youth programs as well as how those factors interact to predict positive youth development (PYD). For example, individual characteristics such as gender and race may help in better understanding interpersonal trust (Alesina & Ferrara, 2002) and PYD (Phelps et al., 2007). Therefore, the present study explored trust and connectedness to peers in afterschool college-preparation programs to address the following questions: Do youth-reported levels of trust and connectedness to peers at an out-of-school time program differ by race and gender? Do trust and connectedness between peers predict change in PYD? Do youth race and/or gender moderate the relations between trust and connectedness to peers and PYD?

A sample of 164 adolescents (64.6% female) who participated in an afterschool college preparation program completed questionnaires in the Fall (Time 1) and Spring (Time 2) of the 2017-2018 academic year. Participants ranged in age from 11 to 18 (M = 14.5, SD = 1.9) and were overwhelmingly ethnic minorities, predominantly Latinx (42.1%) or Black (38.4%), with 8.5% being Asian American, 7.9% multiethnic, 1.8% white, and 1.2% other. Trust and connectedness were measured at Time 2 using Rosenthal and Vandell’s (1996) six-item Peer Affiliation scale. PYD was measured at Time 1 and Time 2 using the 34-item PYD-SF, a multidimensional scale of youth thriving based on the Five Cs model of PYD (Geldhof et al., 2014).

Results from a two-way MANOVA on trust and connectedness revealed no significant effects of gender or the interaction of gender and race; however, there was a trend toward significance for race F (2, 138) = 2.864, p = .061. Latinx youth reported slightly lower levels of trust and connection to their peers than non-Black youth. PROCESS software (Hayes, 2018) was used to examine race and gender as potential moderators of the relation between peer trust and connectedness and PYD at Time 2, controlling for PYD at Time 1. Findings indicated that the full model explained 60% of youth PYD at Time 2 (F [12,122] = 15.179, p < .001) with youth-reported trust and connectedness to peers predicting PYD at Time 2 (b = 0.409, p =.043). There were no significant main effects for race and gender or any significant interactions. As PYD is a relatively stable construct, the results suggest that promoting peer trust and connectedness should be a central goal of youth development programs.

Authors

• Alexandra Sandoval, Clemson University
  Presenting Author

• Edmond P. Bowers, Clemson University
  Non-Presenting Author