Abstract
This study examines differences across gender in eight components of life effectiveness in pre- and post-studies. This study also measures differences in rural youths’ attitudes toward positive youth development (Psy4life) programme across three demographic factors (gender, educational level, and past involvement in youth programmes). We predicted that there would be differences between male and female in life effectiveness and its components and that there would be differences in youths’ attitudes toward Psy4life programme according to the three demographic factors. Twenty rural youths participated in Psy4Life programme (9 male, 45%; 11 female, 55%; mean age: 15.3, SD=1.81). In the post-study, Mann-Whitney U Test results showed significant differences between males and females in life effectiveness and three of its components (achievement motivation, intellectual flexibility, and leadership). In the pre-study, only intellectual flexibility was associated with significant gender differences. There were no significant differences in attitudes toward Psy4life programme across gender, education level, and past involvement in youth programmes. We assumed that female participants might be more motivated, open to new ideas, and capable of leading a group than male youth. Attitudes towards youth programmes might differ based on other factors, such as extrinsic and intrinsic motives, which need to be examined in the future.
Keywords: AttitudePsy4Life Programmeachievement motivationintellectual flexibilityleadershiplife effectiveness
Introduction
In the modern world, youth are exposed to a variety of social problems, such as violence, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, and school dropout. This situation demands implementation of systematic, positive youth development programmes to prevent risk behaviors, tackle social problems, and promote positive development among youth. Young people have their own individual strengths which may help them reach optimum development, and Psy4life programme are designed to engage them in constructive, productive ways to enhance their strengths. Positive youth development refers to the building of the personal skills or assets, including cognitive, social, emotional, and intellectual qualities, necessary for youth to successfully function as members of society (Weiss & Wiese-Bjorns, 2009). Access to programmes and activities that support positive development, helps guide young people towards successful lives as contributing members of society (Benson, Scales, Hamilton, & Sesma, 2006).
Youths are considered important human capital which plays a major role in enabling and enhancing national growth (Economic Planning Unit, 2010). Accordingly, under the Tenth Malaysia Plan 2011–2015, many youth programmes have been implemented to equip youths with specific leadership and entrepreneurial skills or to promote social unity and integration. In all, 2,400 programmes involving more than half a million multi-ethnic participants were conducted, focusing on instilling leadership, patriotism, and volunteerism (Economic Planning Unit, 2010). Therefore, there is a need to design and implement programmes that focus specifically on positive youth development, including life effectiveness and its components (time management, achievement motivation, emotional control, intellectual flexibility, self-confidence, leadership, social competence, and active initiative) and to develop positive attitudes towards youth programmes. Increased positive youth development could improve life satisfaction (Mohamad, Mohamad & Mat Ali, 2014).
Considering the growing number of youth affected by social problems, there is a need for government and non-governmental agencies to design and implement various programmes to promote positive development for youth, increase their well-being and life effectiveness, and prepare them to face challenges in the modern world. Although many youth programmes are conducted by government and non government organization in many counties across the globe , however not all young people are interested in participating in these programmes. This lack of interest in youth programmes could be possibly due to various demographic factors, such education level, gender, and previous involvement in youth programmes. Regarding gender, past studies (e.g., Homan, Dick & Hedrick, 2007; Shekhar & Devi, 2012) found that girls perceived youth programmes more positively than boys. Possible explanations of this difference are that girls are generally more perceptive of their environment (Patel & Buiting, 2013) and that women are more likely to be affected by context (Croson & Gneezy, 2009; Miller & Ubeda, 2012). In addition, many researchers have discussed gender differences pertaining to participation in youth development programmes and its effect on youth (e.g., Bartoszuk & Randall, 2011; Patel & Buiting, 2013). Compared to male participants, females tend to exhibit better life satisfaction and fewer behavior problems. Malaysian female youths have expressed higher satisfaction with life than male youths (Mohamad, Mohamad, & Mat Ali, 2014). This issue, however, need to be explored further to understand the reasons why female participants gain more positive effects from involvement in positive development youth programmes than males.
In addition to gender, education level might affect attitudes toward youth programmes. For instance, high-school students may show high interest in participating in youth programmes because they have the intrinsic motivation to develop skills and strengths in preparation to enter college or the workforce (Hansen & Larson, 2007). Finally, youths frequently involved in youth programmes and activities might hold more positive attitudes towards them. For example, in past studies, youth participants gave positive feedback about programmes (Gobeli, 1995; Strawczynski, Baumgold, & Dolev, 1999). Participation in these programmes may help youths increase their life effectiveness, including their self-confidence, achievement motivation, intellectual flexibility, and leadership skills. These components may help youths adapt to and deal with challenging social environments and prepare them to succeed in life and work.
The effectiveness of involvement in youth development programmes have been demonstrated by
many researches. However it is also suggested that many demographic factors such as age, gender,
culture and prior positive or negative experiences with youth development programme can play role in
determining whether a programme will be effective or not. Therefore, the program Psy4life was
designed specifically for Malaysian rural youth. It was assumed that programme can address the needs
of young people growing up in these peripheries. The programme was based on the three dimensions of
positive youth development suggested by Neil (2008) and Ryff (1989). All the 13 activities in this
programme was designed based on the Yale attitude change model (Hovland, Janis & Kelly, 1953).
The activities in programme focused on enhancing youth life effectiveness skills and psychological
well-being. Furthermore, it was assumed in the present study that effect of demographic factors
affecting programme implementation and efficacy need to be explored to accommodate it with needs of
youth across age, gender and prior experience with any youth development programme.
Problem Statement
Past studies found demographic differences in attitudes toward youth programmes (e.g., Bartoszuk,
& Randall, 2011) and positive self-concepts (e.g., Mohamad et al., 2014; Shekari & Devi, 2012).
Regarding gender, girls perceived youth programmes more positively than boys (e.g., Bartoszuk, &
Randall, 2011; Homan et al., 2007). However, other past studies have not found any gender differences
(e.g., Jones, 2009). Regarding education level, Hansen and Larson (2007) showed that high school
students indicated that they gained intrinsic motivation and experienced positive development from
youth programmes, in part because the experience they acquired could be used as a preparation to enter
higher education or the workforce.
Rayfield, Compton, Doerfet, and Akers (2008) found that access to on-campus activities is one
factor that affects students’ level of involvement in youth organizations. Participation gives young
people opportunities to assume significant roles in a safe, supportive environment where they can
experiment with roles, tasks, and responsibilities (Gobeli, 1995). Strawczynski, Baumgold, and Dolev
(1999) found that most participants in youth programmes expressed positive feedback, such as feeling
higher confidence and self-esteem, developing their personalities, and acquiring life experience.
Participants in leadership programmes exhibited more positive attitudes toward military service and
emphasized the importance of helping others.
To understand these findings, an empirical study examining gender differences in the eight
components of life effectiveness needs to be conducted. In addition, rural youths’ attitudes toward
Psy4life programme and any differences by three demographic factors (gender, educational level, and
past involvement in youth programmes) need to be investigated.
Research Questions
Are there significant differences between male and female participants in life effectiveness and its eight components in the pre- and post-studies (before and after participants were involved in Psy4life programme)? In addition, are there any differences by demographic factors (gender, education level, past involvement in youth programmes) in attitudes toward Psy4life programme?
Purpose of the Study
The objective of this study is to examine differences between male and female youths’ life effectiveness and its eight components in pre- and post-studies. Differences in attitudes toward the three-day programme based on three demographic factors (male vs. female, lower secondary school vs. higher secondary school education, involved vs. never involved in youth programmes) are also investigated.
Research Methods
Research Participants
Twenty rural youths from the remote Sulit village, Paitan, and socio-economically and educationally challenged backgrounds participated in this study. Participants gave responses following instructions provided in the pre-study questionnaire, which consisted of two sections (demographic profile, life effectiveness scale). For the post-study, a questionnaire with three sections (demographic profile, life effectiveness scale, attitude towards the Psy4life programme scale) was given to participants after they completed three-day Psy4life programme.
Instruments
The questionnaire survey had three sections.
The demographic profile had 18 items which measure age, gender, ethnicity, education level, and
involvement in youth programmes.
The life effectiveness Questionnaire (Neil, 2008) consists of 24 items measuring the eight
components of life effectiveness (time management, social competency, achievement motivation,
intellectual flexibility, leadership, emotional control, active initiative, and self-confidence). Each
component was assessed with three items on a scale of 1 (false, not like me) to 8 (true, like me). Higher
overall scores indicated positive elements of soft skills. The items representing soft skills were time
management (“I plan and use my time efficiently”), social competence (“I am competent in social
situations”), achievement motivation (“I try to get the best results when I do things”), intellectual
flexibility (“I am open to new ideas”), leadership ( “I am a good leader when a task needs to be done”),
emotional control (“I can stay calm in stressful situations”), and self-confidence (“When I apply myself
to something, I am confident I will succeed”).
This scale consisted of 15 items reflecting the three components of attitude (i.e., cognition, emotion
and behavior). The response scale provided ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly Agree).
There were seven negative items (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, 14). The items measuring cognitive were items no.
5–8, 12, and 10; affective items no. 1–3, 14 and behavior items no. 4, 9, 11, 13, 15.
Data Analysis
The data were analysed by using IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0. (Statistical Package for Social
Sciences) and descriptive and inference analyses. The hypotheses were analysed using a Mann-
Whitney U Test to examine the differences between male and female participants in life effectiveness
and its eight components in the pre and post-studies. Mann-Whitney U test was also used to examine
the differences in attitude towards the Psy4Life Programme according to gender, education level and
past involvement in youth programmes.
Findings
Reliability of the Scales and Subscales
The results show that the effectiveness scale had a reliability of 0.95 for the pre-study and 0.92 for
the post-study. All subscales in the pre- and post-studies had acceptable reliability. Cronbach’s alpha
coefficients ranged from 0.63 to 0.86, excluding the emotional control subscale (Cronbach’s alpha =
0.31) and active initiative subscale (Cronbach’s alpha = .38) which showed low reliability in the post-
study. In the final analysis, these two subscales were excluded, and only six subscales were included
(time management, social competency, achievement motivation, intellectual flexibility, leadership, and
self-confidence) (see Table
The attitude toward the Psy4Life scale and each subscale measuring the three components of
attitude (affective, cognitive, and psychomotor) also had acceptable Cronbach’s alpha coefficients,
ranging from 0.61 to 0.86. Twenty participants completed the pre- and post-studies: 9 male (45%), 11
female (55%), mean age of 15.3 (SD=1.81).
Demographic Profile
Table
Psy4life programme and were asked whether they had participated in any other organized programmes,
clubs, or activities. Eleven participants had been involved in youth programmes, such as Islamic and
spiritual youth camps, sports programmes, and a National Training Youth Programme. As well, most
participants were Christian and of Dusun Sungai ethnicity.
In the post-study, Mann-Whitney U Test results presented in Table
between male and female participants in three components of life effectiveness: achievement
motivation (z = -2.25, p< 0.05), intellectual flexibility (z = -2.79, p< 0.05), and leadership (z = -2.25,
p< 0.05). However, in the pre-study, only one component showed significant gender differences
(intellectual flexibility, z = -2.05, p < 0.05). In our study, female youths displayed better life
effectiveness, particularly in their achievement motivation, intellectual flexibility, and leadership, than
male youths after participating in the Psy4life programme.
Mann-Whitney U Test results showed no significant differences in male and female participants’
attitude towards the Psy4life programme and its components. The Mann-Whitney U Test also found no
differences in attitude toward the Psy4life programme according to education level or past involvement
in youth programmes.
Discussion
Life Effectiveness
In this study, female participants earned higher scores for three components of life effectiveness
(achievement motivation, intellectual flexibility, & leadership) in the post-study. These findings
conflict with those of the pre-study when only intellectual flexibility exhibited significant differences
between males and females. Our findings related to achievement motivation are in line with those of
past studies demonstrating significant differences between male and female college students (Martin,
2004; Salili, 1996; Shekhar & Devi, 2012). Female students scored significantly higher than males in
the area of achievement motivation, possibly because females tended to view themselves as achieving
in academics and having a good attitude toward school. Male students might be more susceptible to
underachievement and were less likely to perceive achievement in general as valued outcome (Shekhar
& Devi, 2012). In this study, achievement motivation refers to participants’ intention to do their best
and get the best results if given a project.
Similar results concerning gender differences have also been found for intellectual flexibility (Patel
& Buiting, 2013). In this study, intellectual flexibility refers to the willingness to be open towards new
ideas and to change one’s way of thinking and opinions if there is a better idea. Male participants might
be less affected by new stimuli (the message in each activity) than females as, according to Patel and
Buiting (2013), women react to their environment in a more emotional manner and are generally more
perceptive to the environment. In addition, women are more likely to be affected by context (Croson &
Gneezy, 2009; Miller & Ubeda, 2012).
In addition, we found that female participants had higher leadership scores than males. In this
study, leadership refers to the ability to accomplish any task and motivate other people to work
together. We believe that girls might have scored higher in leadership because they like to learn in a
new environment which gives them opportunities to lead. Similarly, Hansen, Walker, and Flom (1995)
claimed that girls are more likely to thrive in a learning environment that provides opportunities for
leadership, exploration of new ideas, and active, intelligent engagement with concerned adults and
other students. In addition, we believe that girls scored higher in leadership because they are more
mature than males and more likely to have some responsibilities. During the three-day Psy4life
programme, we observed that female participants were more proactive at giving volunteers feedback
during each activity.
Lal’s (2014) study of 200 senior secondary school students from urban and rural backgrounds in
Chandigargh, India, found that female youth exhibited significantly higher emotional maturity and self-
confidence than male students. Urban and rural youth displayed similar levels of emotional maturity,
but rural youth were found to have higher self-confidence. However, Singh, Pant, and Valentina
(2013), working with 277 adolescents in Pantnagar, India, found that no gender differences on the
composite social maturity and emotional maturity scores but a significant difference in social
adequacy: Female youths were observed to be more socially adequate than males. Singh et al. (2013)
suggested that this difference might arise because girls were raised to be submissive, nurturing,
sensitive, and expressive and to act like more mature adults, whereas boys were expected to be active
and aggressive.
Attitudes towards the Psy4Life Programme and Differences by Demographic Factor
Past studies (e.g., Bartoszuk, & Randall, 2011; Homan et al., 2007) demonstrated that girls
perceived youth programmes more positively and reported receiving a higher level of encouragement
to participate in these programmes than boys. Our study, however, did not reveal any significant
differences toward Psy4Life programme across gender, education level, or past involvement in youth
programmes.
We believe that other demographic factors, such as social motives (intrinsic and extrinsic motives),
might affect attitudes toward youth programmes. Some youths, for instance, join youth programmes
because they are attracted by the content of the activities (i.e., personal enjoyment). Other youths may
want to be affiliated with friends (e.g., Patrick et al., 1999; Persson, Kerr, & Stattin, 2007), while
incentives, such as stipends and school service requirements, might also be factors (Herrera &
Arbreton, 2003; McLellan & Youniss, 2003). These phenomena should be examined rather than
relying only on demographic factors for understanding.
In addition, some youths are less likely to be engaged in and, consequently, less likely to benefit
from programme activities (Deschenes et al., 2010; Weiss, Little, & Bouffard, 2005). Our study
showed that past involvement in youth programmes did not make a significant difference in attitudes
towards them. Participants’ demographic profiles showed that 11 of 20 youths had joined and
experienced youth programmes previously.
Regarding education level (lower secondary-school vs. higher secondary-school education), our
study found no significant difference in participants’ attitudes toward Psy4life programme, perhaps
because all participants came from similar backgrounds and were raised in the same community. In
addition, the content of Psy4life programme might meet the interests and needs of male and female
participants because there is a lack of youth programmes in Sulit village, as mentioned by one
participant at the end of the programme. In addition, most programmes in the village organized by a
non-governmental organization focused on school-age children (Dorothy Laudi, kindergarten
coordinator in Paitan, personal communication, August 14, 2014).
Conclusions
In conclusion, we believe that the gender differences we found in three life-effectiveness
components (achievement motivation, intellectual flexibility, & leadership) in the pre and post-studies
confirm the effectiveness of the three-day Psy4life programme. However, other components of
activities should be re-examined to determine how they can also benefit male youth. As stated by Jones
(2009), youth service providers must strategically create opportunities that stimulate and maintain the
interest of males. In the future, challenging, adventurous activities could be added to the programmes
to attract and achieve positive outcomes for male participants. Regarding attitudes toward Psy4life
programmes, our study found no significant differences across three demographic factors (gender,
education level, involvement in youth programmes). This result contrasts with the findings of past that
girls perceived youth programmes more positively than boys studies (e.g., Bartoszuk, & Randall, 2011;
Homan et al., 2007). We believe that attitudes towards programmes might be more affected by other
factors, such as extrinsic motives (e.g., incentives, affiliating with friends) and intrinsic motives (e.g.
personal enjoyment), than demographic factors. In addition, Dawes and Larson (2011) stated that, for
youth to gain positive benefits from organized programmes, they need to not merely attend
programmes but also be psychologically engaged in activities. All these factors need to be further
explored in future research to be better understood.
Acknowledgement
We express our thanks to the participants involved in this study and to University Malaysia Sabah for research grant—SBK 016-SS-2014. Special thanks also go to volunteers who contributed invaluable efforts to conducting the three-day Psy4life programme in Sulit village, Paitan.
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Cite this article as:
Cosmas*, G., Seok, C. B., & Hashmi, S. I. (2016). Life effectiveness and Attitude towards the Psy4life Program. In Z. Bekirogullari, M. Y. Minas, & R. X. Thambusamy (Eds.), Cognitive - Social, and Behavioural Sciences - icCSBs 2016, May, vol 8. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 18-28). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2016.05.3