Considering the seeds of discouragement when assessing young people.

Introduction

In order to consider and analyse the seeds of discouragement when assessing young people, this essay will examine and discuss a number of factors that relate to the discouragement felt by young people which can leave them with unmet needs. The first objective of this essay is to describe what can lead to “climates of futility” by examining negative expectations and professional pessimism. The essay will then go on to explain how the response from professionals to problem behaviour can become a contributing factor to a child’s sense of futility, through discussing positive and negative theories of behaviour. The second objective of this essay is to examine the concept of “learned irresponsibility” and to understand how youth cultures are able to contribute to such learned helplessness and rebellion through things like social exclusion and street gangs. Next, nearing the end of this essay I will offer my opinion as to how the child and youth care worker should approach the young person differently during the assessment as to avoid the young person becoming discouraged during the transaction. Before the conclusion I shall offer my self reflection as well as sharing the impact that this topic of “the seeds of discouragement” has had on me. Climates of Futility

The climates of futility refers to those environments which may cause young people to experience feelings of deficiencies and that are able to contribute to their fears of failure. The negative transactions between the young person and others within these hostile environments can become “an ecological hazard in the lives of youth at risk” (Brendtro, Brokenleg and Van Bockern 2002, p. 8). There are a number of factors that can lead to climates of futility, one such important factor to investigate is that of negative expectations. The expectations that teachers have about a young persons level of ability, performance and normative behaviour has huge implications on the child (Jussim and Eccles 1992, p. 950). Negative expectations held by teachers within the school milieu has been shown to be able to produce underachievement as well as futility in the youth of today (Brophy 1983, p. 633).The negative expectations that can come from teachers within the school environment is also able to lead to the phenomenon of self fulfilling prophecies, also known as the “Pygmalion effect” in some young people. Self-fulfilling prophecies can occur in young people only when the original expectation was inaccurate, thereafter brining about a change in the young persons behaviour as a result of the false expectation (Jussim and Harber 2005, p. 133). A teachers negative expectation of a child is able to lead to its own fulfilment, this happens when the teacher behaves differently towards high and low expectancy pupils and when the students' achievements alters to support the teachers expectation (Jussim 1986, p. 432). This therefore causes students who had high expectations from teachers to preform at a higher level and low expectancy students to preform at a lower level. This can lead to the creation of a climate of futility for those young people who have experienced negative expectations from others, namely teachers. Professional pessimism is also able to lead to and cause climates of futility. The literature that can be found on problem youth is often negative and pessimistic, written by professionals who might selectively provide information which reinforces their own views, thereby creating bias (Brendtro, Brokenleg & Van Bockern 2002, p. 17). Various theories tend to attribute difficulties to the young person and lay on blame solely on the individual. An example of one such theory is the correctional theory which may view the problem child as delinquent and respond harshly with punishment. The negative views of problem youth held by professionals may cause the young person to begin to feel inadequate and cause them to see themselves as failures. By the young person perceiving that their efforts have gone unnoticed, they are left with a deep sense of disappointment, creating a climate of futility.

The response from professionals to problem behaviour is critical and can become a contributing factor to a child's sense of futility. A professionals response to problem behaviour can be a contributing factor to the young persons sense of futility when they apply negative personal theories of behaviour to their clients. The attribution theory relates to the process of attributing meaning to problem or social behaviour and this will have an effect on the response of the professional (Malle 2011, p. 80). The attribution theory helps to show that negative personal theories of behaviour employed by child and youth care workers tend to use demeaning or blaming labels, which can lead to negative feelings and actions towards their client, the young person. These negative thoughts, feelings and actions felt by the professional can most certainly contribute to the young persons sense of futility.

Learned Irresponsibility, Learned Helplessness and Rebellion

According to Mysliwiec (2007, p. 8) learned irresponsibility causes the young person to “mask (their) feelings with a sense of machismo or defiant behaviour”. It is often the fault of adults who teach irresponsibility unintentionally through demanding strict obedience and employing punitive measures as a response to things like rebellion. Learned irresponsibility also has the ability to leave the youth of today with a strong sense of powerlessness, this is caused by the many forms learned irresponsibility can take. Manifestations of learned irresponsibility include the learned helplessness (Seligman,1975) of youth who perceive themselves to be used by others as well as in the insubordinate rebellion of young people fighting against authority figures.

Youth cultures are able to contribute to such learned helplessness and rebellion in a variety of ways. Rebellion is a typical aspect of adolescence and can be channelled into various routes, one way in which youth cultures are able to contribute to rebellion is through groups like street gangs. Coleman (1963, p. 64) explains that the distinctive aspects of youth culture is loyalty to one's peers and the contrasting of the accountable behaviour of adults. These aspects mentioned can be associated with street gangs and reflects the group rebellion of gangs and their young delinquent members through their defiant behaviour and disregard for authority or the law (Hagedorn 2005, p.155).

Learned helplessness causes a young person to believe that no matter how much effort they put into something, they will fail and so they may end up not even attempting a simple task (Weiner 1985, p. 550). Learned helplessness causes the young person to perceive that they have no control over their environment or the situations that surround them. Youth culture can contribute to such learned helplessness through the exclusion of certain young individuals. This can cause those excluded young people to learn helplessness as to avoid and detach themselves from unpleasant social settings and situations.

Suggestions

In my opinion the child and youth care worker should approach the young person differently during the assessment as to avoid the young person becoming discouraged during the transaction with the professional by instead opting to use more positive theories of behaviour in relation to their client. As I mentioned above when professionals use negative theories of behaviour they employ demeaning and blaming labels to describe the child. These negative thoughts and feelings turn into actions, which can then contribute to the young persons sense of futility, causing them to feel discouraged. The child and youth care worker should rather approach the child with positive theories of behaviour in mind, which instead attribute esteeming and empathising labels to the young person. This would likely lead to more positive feelings and actions which is crucial to the helping process (Sapin 2009, p.45). Therefore by using positive theories of behaviour, the professional would help to avoid the risk of contributing to the young persons sense of futility as well as to their sense of discouragement.

Self Reflection

On reflection I have come to find that I was in fact a teenager who was affected by the “Pygmalion effect” or self-fulfilling prophecy. During my earlier high school years I acted out, and as a result I believe my teachers started to view me as a bad student which was then reflected in my grades. I began to think of myself as “useless” and “stupid” causing me to stop putting effort into my school work, sadly this only gave my teachers a real reason to score me below average. Eventually I moved schools, to a more open environment where I flourished. Looking back, I should not have regarded myself as less than and I should have never have stopped trying. My own self-fulfilling prophecy also relates to learned helplessness. This is because I began to see my attempts at work as futile and I assumed that no matter how hard I tried, I would still do poorly. This caused me to no longer attempt to try my best, resulting only in further unnecessary failure. The topic of the seeds of discouragement has had an impacted me as it has helped me to gain insight into the discouragement that I felt when I was a high school student, this will help me to be able to relate with youth who are also faced with discouragement.

Conclusion

In conclusion, climates of futility cause the young person to feel inadequate and contributes to their fears of failure. There are various factors that can lead to climates of futility in the young person. Negative expectations, held by adults such as teachers can lead to underachievement in students and can cause the young person to feel discouraged. Professional pessimism is another factor that can cause climates of futility in the young persons life, by using theories that attribute problem behaviour to solely the young person. The response from professionals to difficult behaviour is vital and can contribute to a child's sense of futility, this can happen when professionals apply negative personal theories of behaviour to their clients. Learned irresponsibility can cause the young person to experience feelings of powerlessness and can manifest itself in many ways, ranging from helplessness to rebellion. Youth cultures are able to contribute to learned helplessness and rebellion through things like social exclusion and street gangs. I suggest that in order for the young person to avoid becoming discouraged during their transaction with the child and youth care worker during assessment, the professional should opt to apply positive theories of behaviour.

Index

Attribution Theory .................................................................................................... Page
Climates of Futility …................................................................................................ Page
Learned Helplessness ….......................................................................................... Page
Learned Irresponsibility …........................................................................................ Page
Pygmalion Effect ….................................................................................................. Page
Rebellion ….............................................................................................................. Page
Youth Culture …....................................................................................................... Page

Word Count: 1765
References

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