Interacting with supportive adults predicts greater same‐day psychosocial functioning among adolescents in a self‐driven learning program

Abstract

Introduction Supportive adults are a critical component of effective out‐of‐school time (OST) youth programs, yet the short‐term dynamics that underlie their role are poorly understood. Within GripTape, a US‐wide self‐driven learning program, we examined if interactions with program‐assigned adults (i.e., Champions) correspond with youths' daily psychosocial functioning (i.e., sense of purpose, self‐concept clarity, and self‐esteem). Method Participants were 204 North American adolescents (M [SD] = 16.42 [1.18] years; female = 70.1%, male = 25.0%) enrolled in GripTape, a remote OST program that empowers under‐resourced teens to pursue their passions for ~10 weeks. During enrollment, youth are given autonomy to structure their learning goals and methods to best match their needs; a stipend of up to 500 USD; and an adult Champion to act as a touchpoint. Data collection consisted of a baseline survey before the program launch and a 5‐min survey on each day of enrollment. Results Across ~70 days, we found that youth reported greater psychosocial functioning on days they reported interacting with their Champion. After controlling for same‐day psychosocial functioning, we failed to find evidence that Champion interactions predicted youths' next‐day psychosocial functioning. Conclusion In addition to being among the first studies to investigate the daily benefits of youth‐adult interactions within OST programming, this study documents the short‐term incremental change that may underlie previous work on OST program outcomes.