teem and social skills but also provide leadership training.
However, Kleinfeld and Shinkwin do note that some groups/organizations are better than others. In their evaluative study, they observed that those organizations which best fulfill their mission to assist in young people's psychoemotional and social development have certain characteristics in common. These are groups that provide: (1) increased contact with adults, (2) teaching of practical skills, (3) practice in formal leadership and organizational roles, (4) opportunities to practice community responsibility, and (5) increased family involvement in the education of adolescents.
According to Premanath (1990) Urban Bound is a youth group program that was first started in 1967 to develop self-confidence in delinquent adolescent boys. The program typically consists of two phases. Phase one is a wilderness program designed to
build youth-group and youth-instructor relationships, develop self-confidence, provide an acceptable male image, promote communication, and release energy through adventure.
Phase two commonly consists of a three-month individualized follow-up program of support, recreation, and counseling designed to help the youths transfer to the city the lessons they had learned in the mountains. In most groups, youth begin slow; they are at first reluctant to develop group and instructor relationships; also their reactions to stress, the outdoors, and adversity tend to be unpredictable.
In other words, they do not immediately respond to Outward Bound teaching methods. However, over time almost all students involved in the program began to respond and to resolve the problems they initially encountered in the group. As a result, the program is said to be very successful in terms of elevating self-esteem and self-confidence.
Regarding the ability of youth groups to elevate young people's self-esteem, work by Gerstel, Feraios and Herdt (1989) ...