Youth violence remains a significant public health problem despite efforts to address it. We describe the evaluation results of Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES), an after-school active learning program implemented by trained local teachers and designed to engage middle school youth in multi-systematic promotive behaviors at the individual-, interpersonal-, and community-level to make lasting positive changes within the context of institutional disadvantages, such as racism. First, we used a modified randomized controlled trial design to examine the direct and indirect influence of YES on prosocial and delinquent behaviors 12 months after the conclusion of the program, through youth empowerment. Next, we evaluated these models by race, to determine if the intervention equitably promotes prosocial outcomes and decreases aggressive behaviors. Among 329 middle school students, YES participation enhanced prosocial behaviors through empowerment, and directly reduced aggressive behaviors a year after the conclusion of the program. This trend was particularly pronounced for African American youth. These effects were found after controlling for age, sex, and behavioral outcomes at baseline, and across different schools and teachers, suggesting that YES can also be sustainable and readily implemented by communities. The implications of the results for youth violence prevention, empowerment theory and intervention development and practice for ethnic minority youth who face structural disenfranchisement are discussed.

中文翻译：

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青年赋权解决方案的纵向影响：防止青年攻击性并增加亲社会行为

尽管努力解决这一问题，但青少年暴力仍然是一个重大的公共卫生问题。我们描述了青年赋权解决方案（YES）的评估结果，这是一项由经过培训的当地教师实施的课后主动学习计划，旨在让中学生在个人、人际和社区层面进行多系统的促进行为在种族主义等制度劣势的背景下做出持久的积极改变。首先，我们使用修改后的随机对照试验设计来检验 YES 通过青年赋权在项目结束 12 个月后对亲社会和犯罪行为的直接和间接影响。接下来，我们按种族评估这些模型，以确定干预措施是否公平地促进亲社会结果并减少攻击行为。在 329 名中学生中，YES 参与通过赋权增强了亲社会行为，并在项目结束一年后直接减少了攻击性行为。这种趋势对于非裔美国青年来说尤其明显。这些影响是在控制不同学校和教师的基线年龄、性别和行为结果后发现的，这表明 YES 也可以是可持续的，并且很容易被社区实施。讨论了这些结果对青年暴力预防、赋权理论以及针对面临结构性剥夺公民权的少数民族青年的干预措施发展和实践的影响。