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Toward a Model of Adolescent Empowerment: Theoretical and Empirical Evidence

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Abstract

Empowering adolescents can serve as a preventive intervention for many of the problems that confront this population. While much of the literature on empowerment has focused on adults, this paper offers a model of empowerment for adolescents that draws from appropriate developmental theory, bonding and social control theory, and rolelessness. Literature that supports the adolescent empowerment model is reviewed. Popular interventions and activities are assessed using their “empowerment potential” as a yardstick. Common features that are consistent with the adolescent empowerment model are identified; and future directions for research are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Consultation Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511

    Matthew J. Chinman

  2. University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina

    Jean Ann Linney

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  1. Matthew J. Chinman
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  2. Jean Ann Linney
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Chinman, M.J., Linney, J.A. Toward a Model of Adolescent Empowerment: Theoretical and Empirical Evidence. The Journal of Primary Prevention 18, 393–413 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022691808354

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