Category: Youth

Introduction

Incorporating physical activities into the daily routine of young generation is regarded as a contribution to a positive health outcome. Sports participation leads to health enhancement for the physical development of the young population, namely the adolescents (10 to 19 years old), including teenagers (13 to 19 years old) (Becker et al. 940). With a rapid increase of physical achievement requirements and the variety of sports activities, adolescents become involved in sports and disregard the adverse effects of intensity they encounter. Many of them risk “serious injuries, lifelong health problems, and unwanted consequences” that pose challenges for their health and cause them to reconsider the physical limits of the human body to incorporate new mindful regulations in sports (Friesen et al. 152). Parents and coaches should recognize the general health concerns affecting the youth in sports; however, evolving health concerns in youth sports have to be brought up to the governmental level to make a significant change. Despite the anticipated health benefits achieved through physical activities, some youth sports have reached a level of severe intensity that impedes adolescents from balanced physical development and cultivates abnormal addiction to competitive power.

Modern Sports Became an Obligation for the Youth

The main reason to introduce sports activities into a teenager’s life, between 13 and 19 years of age, have been shifted towards competitiveness and rivalry. The process of playing sports has increased its presence in the lives of the young generation and, thus, has become an obligation. It is becoming clearer that the underlying intense competition for early success in life exerts much pressure on teens and eliminates the overall fun side of youth sports (Bubar 4). Modern adolescents are chasing the dream to become professionals in sports since early years; however, they miss childhood and arguably the most carefree time in their lives.

For instance, ten-year-old Rogan Miller is one of the many children across the United States who is passionate about sports activity, particularly basketball. As described by Bubar, his daily schedule consists of hours of practice and tournaments on the weekends that include a minimum of five games. For this reason, Miller is known as “the 24th-best basketball player in the country among fifth-graders” (Bubar 4). By nurturing the strong drive for becoming the NBA player, a ten-year-old Miller might never experience the childhood and teenage years as they are meant to be. With a narrow focus on sports, adolescents are forced to quit their hobbies and, sometimes, education. Most importantly, children that are actively involved in sports lose the most crucial time with their family and friends.

Intense Sport Activates Promote Injuries and Risk of Concussions

In pursuit of professional success and high scores, young adolescents are working too hard, which means they might get severely injured. According to Lankhorst et al., sports-related injuries and illnesses among healthy youth have a significant impact on their “participation and performance in subsequent activities” (2). Moreover, long-term injuries can limit any physical training and an active and healthy lifestyle. For example, youth weightlifting poses some critical health concerns and risks, resulting in the “potential damage to the epiphyseal growth plates and developing the bone structure of a teen” (Woods 54). The main risks of this type of sports include an unsafe environment and sports equipment, the lack of qualified guidance, excessively fatigued training, and limited rest for physical recovery. The health risks in weightlifting are also linked to the level of maturity, given that two-thirds of injuries are noted by youth patients (10 – 13 years old) (Woods 57). A higher training load is associated with the increased chance of getting injured or address the illness. Therefore, intense strength training in youth can pose a substantial risk to the young athletes’ health.

Youth sports-related injuries imply a major public health concern, specifically overuse injuries. They result from the reoccurring microtrauma and the lack of adequate rest, considering the amount of training time. Friesen et al. state that overuse injuries are the most widespread in youth and can lead to lifelong disabilities (151). More specifically, the research claims that the most critical risk factor of injuries among high school athletes is the degree of engagement in physical activity. As such, the risk-benefit ratios in youth sports are controversial. The long-established culture of risk in the sports industry facilitates insufficient public awareness of the overuse injuries among youth. In addition, Tsushima et al. emphasize the youth sports-related risk of concussions, concluding that female youth athletes and older students have a higher risk of concussions. Hence, age and gender factors play a fundamental role in establishing the intensity limits in youth sports.

Apophyseal Injuries in Youth Sports

There is a dramatic increase in the number of young athletes participating in competitive sports in Western nations, which is also characterized by the players’ younger age. Despite the beneficial impact of physical exercise on the health of teenagers and adolescents in general, it is still a matter of concern how sports affect the biological maturation of young athletes. It is important to note that nearly “40% of injuries among the youth” are reported during sports practices (Longo et al. 140). These are complex incidents that are hard to prevent, and the primary issue implies the tolerance rates of the apophysis.

The apophysis is sensitive to the repetitive intensity and pressure of the physical activity in a variety of sports, including distance running, baseball, gymnastics. It is also susceptible to the mechanical stresses of high-demand sports, such as hockey or football (Longo et al. 140). Most importantly, apophyseal injuries can transform into life-long disabilities if they remain unnoticed for a long time. With regard to the constant training and strong focus on physical achievements, this can be a prevalent issue regarding the apophyseal injury and its timely treatment. Young athletes are exposed to the increased risk of acute apophyseal avulsion injuries, specifically during the forceful or aggressive contractions, because of the innate weakness of the apophyseal growth plate. This problem is becoming even more prevalent in the current youth sports activities. Also, growth deficit may occur due to intensive physical practices of sport among the adolescents following apophysis. The chronic nature of such injury is the central health concern regarding the physical intensity in sports among the young generation, which might result in the necessary surgical interventions.

Acute Effects of Warm-Up Routines

To augment the physical capacity of the young sports professionals, they are regularly subjected to intense warm-up routines, including aerobic activity, stretching and strengthening exercises, and high-intensity drills (Šarabon et al. 706). The scientific research examines the acute effects of warm-up training on muscle function, physical performance, and high injury risk among young soccer players. The longer duration static stretching might also pose some adverse health outcomes. Furthermore, the acute effects of statistic stretching on muscle power is short-term, although it is widespread among young female gymnasts. Such adverse outcome depends on the stretching protocol and the intensity level (Papia et al. 218). With this said, the moderate approach to practicing sports activities and warm-up routines has no negatives effects; however, the intensity has taken the lead in the modern youth sports industry. The latter serves as the reason to be concerned for the physical and mental development of young teens and adolescents.

The Effects on Mental Health in Youth Sports

Any physical activity and sports-related stress inevitably affect the mental state of a young player. More particularly, youth sports participation might pose meaningful risks and detriments to young people’s mental health. The competitive situation occurring in youth sports are generally considered to provoke feelings of stress, anxiety, and an immense amount of pressure (Vella 230). To be more specific, the sport’s intensity forces the young individuals to cultivate an abnormal competitive nature, which is closely intertwined with the acute objective biological markers of stress and enhanced anxiety. Therefore, the contemporary sports environment plays a pivotal role in defining both the physical and phycological development of a young athlete. The student is firmly focused on winning the game and experiencing the competition at a very young age. This way, a young player exposes himself or herself to the risk and severe health outcomes resulting from the psychological stress responses.

The prolonged exposure the stressful factors in youth sports might lead a young sportsman or sportswoman to the risk of mental burnout. Burnout is the bodily reaction to the chronic stress experienced during intense sports activities, games, and competitions. According to Vella, such an issue promotes “reduced athletic accomplishment, emotional and physical exhaustion, and devaluation of sport participation” (230). One should remember that these are the problems occurring at a very young age and might lead to severe health outcomes in the adolescent’s future. Moreover, young athletes noted adverse psychological issues connected with high burnout levels, including feelings of “depression and guilt” (Vella 230). The research states that 1–9% of adolescents at the age of 16–21years experience symptoms of burnout (Vella 230). The leading causes are the high training volumes, demanding expectations of physical achievements, and intense competition. Altogether, these factors result in increased stress and anxiety and the consequent mental and physical burnout.

Hence, aside from the physical damage of intense sports activities, they are dangerous for youth in affecting their mental well-being and general perception of life outside of sports. In addition, maltreatment, harassment, and abuse serve as another crucial detriment of youth physical activities. They are not always evident or deeply perceived by the teenager or adolescent; however, such factors leave a long-lasting mark on the further psychological development of a young athlete. Nonetheless, one should understand that each of the mental issues occurring at a very young age has very complex consequences that are hard to eliminate when the young person grows older. An eating disorder is one such health problem that might stay with the person for the rest of their life. It is an intricate and multidimensional concern in terms of etiology, symptomology, and health outcomes (Vella 231). With the lack of adequate support and overall understanding of such problems from parents, coaches, or governmental structures, youth sports might be too intense and pose a detrimental impact on the proper development of the younger population.

Positive Effects of Youth Sports on Academic Performance

Physical activities are known to be the necessary contribution to the health and personal well-being of oneself. However, as analyzed above, it is a controversial topic in youth sports that became particularly intense over the past years. Nevertheless, physical training remains the positive aspect incorporated in daily routine as it brings many benefits to health, emotional states and improves educational performance in youth. Following the ideas of Becker et al., physical education classes that empower young population to participate in open-skilled sports greatly assist in the developmental process of the students, particularly in mathematical processing (950). Those adolescents demonstrating strong executive function are more able to concentrate and sustain their attention and, therefore, they show better performance on math-related assignments. As such, encouraging movement during the early stages of a teen’s development is crucial for facilitating connections within brain systems engaged in cognitive and motor skills.

Positive Effects of Youth Sports: A Hard-Working Discipline

While some people believe that physical training and various related practices should remain fun activities, others argue that playing sports requires long-term practice and dedication. Thus, the intensity of sports can also be regarded as a way of manifesting the hard-working culture and a strict discipline among the youth. Bubar provides two opposite views on the youth sports intensity, and one of them asserts that “there is nothing wrong with working hard to reach your goals” (5). One of the prominent examples of such determined vision can be seen in the professional growth of Serena Williams.

The well-known tennis player has been following an intensely cultivated discipline to physical practice and regular activities since childhood to succeed. To become the best player in the field, it is of the utmost importance to keep practicing. Williams is the top athlete who began serious training since she was a kid. Due to such a dedicated practice and sports intensity, she became a professional player at the age of fourteen and reached immense career earnings (nearly $93 million to date) (Bubar). Williams is just one of the many noteworthy examples of young professional athletes who turned the pressure and abnormal intensity into success.

The Benefits of Regular Physical Activities

While the abovementioned research highlighted the negative impact of youth sports and severe health risks for both young teenagers and adolescents, each of the studies also reported the benefits of physical activities. First, regular participation in sports is proved to minimize the risk of injuries and illnesses; however, young players have to follow a well-balanced schedule to avoid adverse outcomes. A variety of warm-up practices and pre-activity stretching are considered beneficial for injury prevention (Papia et al. 221). The low-intensity aerobic activity during the extensive war-up routine can significantly enhance explosive movement performance and flexibility of certain muscle groups (Šarabon et al. 714). Essentially, health risks can be considerably reduced by the presence of qualified supervision and control of the adult coach. With this said, youth sports can positively impact raising healthy youth; however, all these benefits are enabled only due to strict control and regulations. Sports will always remain a risky activity undermining the young players’ health and safety, considering the increased intensity and competitiveness, even among youth.

The Future Impact of Youth Sports

The past year has changed modern-day society due to the unexpected spread of the coronavirus. With life on pause, adolescents involved in intense sports have faced a new reality: they got the chance to rest, and parents had the opportunity to reconsider their kids’ sports participation. People would need to adapt to the changing times and make adequate guidelines to restart the youth sports to alleviate any potential health risks (Sanderson and Brown 318). One of the main concerns implies parents’ unrealistic demands and expectations in terms of physical achievements and success at a young age. The lockdown environment and changed lifestyle have forced the parents to rethink the idea about their kids involved in physical activities. As described by Condran, the reason for the active engagement in youth sports is caused by the parents’ nature to link their values to their children’s accomplishments in life, particularly in sports. The author states that the future vision of sports should be based on the belief in “less is more” and help the young generation enjoy their early years in life.

Conclusion

Youth sports are becoming a controversial issue in modern society because they can affect the healthy physical development of teens and adolescents between the age of 10 and 19. While physical activity is considered a valuable contribution to the health and well-being of a young athlete, it can also pose some critical health concerns and acute effects, including injuries and mental disorders. The increased intensity of youth sports might teach adolescents about the importance of hard work and determination. However, without the proper and qualified guidance of the coach or parents, they are exposed to the great risk of getting a life-long disability and losing valuable moments with their family and friends. As a result, mental and physical burnout can severely damage the overall experience of life at the very young age of the athlete. Therefore, youth’s physical activity needs to be maintained and controlled in a mindful and well-balanced manner to ensure that the young population benefits from the sports.

Works Cited

Becker, Derek, et al. “Open-Skilled Sport, Sport Intensity, Executive Function, and Academic Achievement in Grade School Children.” Early Education and Development, vol. 29, no. 7, 2018. pp. 939–955. Web.

Bubar, Joe. “Are Youth Sports Too Intense?” Scholastic News, Edition 5/6, 2020. Web.

Condran, Ed. “The Future of Youth Sports: Will Less Become More?”The Spokesman-Review, 2020. Web.

Friesen, Phoebe, et al. “Overuse Injuries in Youth Sports: Legal and Social Responsibility.” Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, vol. 28, 2018, pp. 151–169. Web.

Lankhorst, Kristel, et al. “Sports Participation Related to Injuries and Illnesses among Ambulatory Youth with Chronic Diseases: Results of the Health in Adapted Youth Sports Study.” BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation, vol. 11, no. 36, 2019, pp. 1–12. Web.

Longo, Umile Giuseppe, et al. “Apophyseal Injuries in Children’s and Youth Sports.” British Medical Bulletin, vol. 120, 2016, pp. 139–159. Web.

Papia, Konstantina, et al. “Acute Effects of Prolonged Static Stretching on Jumping Performance and Range of Motion in Young Female Gymnasts.” Science of Gymnastics Journal, vol. 10, no. 2, 2018, pp. 217–226.

Sanderson, Jimmy and Katie Brown. “COVID-19 and Youth Sports: Psychological, Developmental, and Economic Impacts.” International Journal of Sport Communication, vol. 13, 2020, pp. 313–323. Web.

Šarabon, Nejc et al. “Acute Effects of Aerobic Activity, Static Stretching, and Explosive Exercises on Muscular Performance and Range of Motion of Young Soccer Players.” International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, vol. 15, no. 5-6, 2020, pp. 706–716. Web.

Tsushima, William, et al. “Incidence and Risk of Concussions in Youth Athletes: Comparisons of Age, Sex, Concussion History, Sport, and Football Position.” Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, vol. 34, 2019, pp. 60–69. Web.

Vella, Stewart. “Mental Health and Organized Youth Sport.” Kinesiology Review, vol. 8., 2019, pp. 229–236. Web.

Woods, Braden A. K. “Youth Weightlifting – A review on the Risks, Benefits, and Long-Term Athlete Development Associated with Weightlifting amongst Youth Athletes.” Journal of Australian Strength and Conditioning, vol. 27, no. 3, 2019, pp. 53–68.

Modern communication is diverse and surrounds youth daily and, therefore, impacts the interpersonal communication of individuals. Today, people are free to access almost anything on social media. While some reckon it is customary to believe in everything they see, others are more cautious about the readily available information. Unfortunately, the modern media is filled with hatred and false claims, which are not filtered and negatively impact youth in Egypt.

To begin with, everyday people see advertisements, famous people’s tweets, and memes, so they are led to believe in everything they encounter. As we know, social media is made to attract users’ attention, and thus, adolescents might notice only the negative aspects which provoke their bad traits and increase their interest. For instance, advertisers might claim that smoking damages your health and, at the same time, insert the clip of a person smoking cigarettes. It is evident that watchers might not focus their attention on the end of the clip, stating, “Quit smoking, live better,” instead, youth happens to be unconsciously manipulated into acquiring this bad habit. (“Mohamed Salah is a Liverpool player and declares he is not smoking”) In fact, it is the main aim of paid promotion since it would increase cigarette distributors’ sales. Furthermore, such advertisements would be discussed among youth and impact a significant amount of people. Such manipulations can be traced in other social media variations like tweets, memes, radio programs, and television.

To sum up, modern communicative means yield only unfavorable impacts on the youth in Egypt since they tend to include damaging implications and undertones. Consequently, it leads to people acquiring bad habits and character traits that considerably affect their well-being on the whole.

Reference

“Mohamed Salah is a Liverpool player and declares he is not smoking”.YouTube. 2019. Web.

Modern communicative means that have become available to many people with the development of the Internet allow users to integrate into the international information space. In particular, this process has led to the transformation of interpersonal communication, which is now increasingly dependent on technology. Currently, residents of different parts of the world can instantly contact each other, which was previously impossible. In my opinion, modern means of communication have more positive than negative effects on youth in Egypt.

The most important advantage of modern global and instant communication is the availability of any information. For example, users in Egypt can access content that was created in other countries. Such a global exchange of information has a significant positive effect on the development of all spheres of society, allowing one to learn from the experience and knowledge of other societies and cultures. This is especially important for young people who strive for freedom and self-expression, as well as for the acquisition of versatile knowledge. However, in this regard, it is also becoming more difficult to protect the youth from the potentially negative impact of dangerous content, as well as cultural and ideological impacts. Nevertheless, in my opinion, this aspect largely depends on the general level of education and awareness of the population.

For the young people of Egypt, modern communication methods open the opportunity for global integration, which is a key factor in the development of societies at the present stage. Despite the potential negative effects, the same tools can be used to expand knowledge, interact with other cultures, and adapt valuable foreign experiences in the homeland. For young people, new communication methods play a special role, as they allow them to express themselves and look for like-minded people around the world.

Introduction

Modern technology in the world today is an essential part on which every aspect of people’s life is based. It is hard to imagine that there is a direction in the world today that does not involve modern technology. In that sense, in sense it could be said that this total conversion to digital era has affected people’s personalities, and the way they communicate with each other. The most influenced category of the population could be considered the young generation, and there are various reasons that could be listed for that statement. This study presents an analysis of the impacts of the modern technology on the communication skills, personalities and social behaviors of the youth in the technological context that characterizes the network society. It argues that modern technology despite having some negative aspects; in general, they have a positive effect on the youth. This paper is an outline of the main ideas that will be thoroughly analyzed in the study.

Overview of Technology

The technological development implemented a lot of innovations that are used in almost every branch in the society. However, the technology considered in this study covers merely some directions of these innovations. Thus, the first direction is informational, which includes the following:

• Online Media – That covers all sources of media information available in the internet, such as TV, radio, journals and etc.
• Online libraries – That include the available online storage of information, that include the private libraries and libraries of educational institutions.
• Online blogs – Somewhat a mix between personal diary and informational portals.

The second direction is communicational, where it might include the following innovations:

• Mobile communications – this covers mobile phones, communicators and text messaging tools.
• Online messengers – This all the available online clients that allow quick exchange of text messages.
• E-mail – A substitution of the post services, which allows receiving the mail to electronic address.

Some innovations might include a combination of the two directions such as social networks where it could be used as a communicative tool and a personal informational resource. Other directions could into the category of entertainment where it might include communicational aspects, such as video games, and specifically online video games.

Youth as a Category

The selection of the youth as the most influenced by modern technology lies in several considerations. First, the youth, unlike the elder generation, are raised on these technologies, looking at them as life essentials by default, where as the older generation, had to adapt to these innovations, and thus their influence is weaker. In 1997, university of Tampere carried out a research on the communication cultures among the Finnish youth and later extended their research to intercultural comparisons on the domestication of modern communication technology on the youth. It emerged that youth have been devising communication paths and shortcuts of their own that which have changed their communication cultures (Eija, 2003). Researching various statistical data, it becomes obvious that the scale on which the youth is using modern technologies is enormous, in way that it could be considered as phenomenon that requires a thorough study.

Drawbacks

As with anything in life, long-term addiction and excessive misusage might result in visible changes that can be considered negative in general. The drawbacks could be related to the following issues:

• Long-term addiction on online communication could result in the rejection of live communication and accordingly the confidence and loss of the social abilities.
• The total amount of information and its availability in the internet could result in forming loss of the appreciation of the information values and accordingly forming laziness in the young generation.
• Creating profiles in social networks could result in the young generation, especially with confidence problem to hide behind these profiles and living the lives of their created alter egos.
• Shift in the values where such criteria as education, behavior are replaced by profile personalization to make a good impression on other people.
• Real physical activities are replaced with their online analogues, which can result in health problems.
• Worsening of the students’ literary writing, if getting used to the internet instant messaging slang.

Benefits

Despite, the fact that the drawbacks of the modern technology are related to communicational and social issues, the benefits can be related to these issues as well. The benefits of the modern technology on the youth can be related to the following:

• The formation of interest groups in social networks can influence young generation in a way that they can find support in any direction they choose. This can form strong attachment and responsibility that later can transform into work relations.
• The internet conditional anonymity, allow young people to express themselves more freely, by posting their blogs, creative works, and thoughts. This factor can result in awakening of talents that in earlier times would have been missed, resulting in people living with a feel of lost opportunities.
• Despite the online communication being impersonal, the world of internet that are free of boundaries allow the people to be more minded and more politically and socially active and responsible. This factor can find its proof in the analyzing the number of young voters in the last election, especially, with the wide usage of political campaigns through social networks.

Conclusion

As no innovation resulted from development can be without “side effects”, it can be seen that, mostly the drawbacks are the result of any addictive usage. Accordingly, it can be stated that modern technology, if taken with control and responsibility, can be a serious aid in developing the personality of the youth and the way they communicate with each other.

References

Eija-Liisa, 2002” mobile culture of children and teenagers in Finland” Cambridge University press, New York.

Doring, N., 2001”language and the internet”, New York, NY.

The positive behavior support dictionary glossary-online. Definition of communication technology: 2008. Web.

Curcio, S. (1995). Finding Modern Ways to Teach Today’s Youth. Corrections Today, 57, 28+.

A New Youth Culture Forms around Video Games. (2003). The Washington Times, p. A02.

Farrelly, R.. (2005). In Youth culture – formation, communication and justification. Web.

Harrell, L.. (2008). In Negative effects of the Internet. (Internet issues: Helium).

Marquez, J.. In The Effect of Instant Messaging on the Social Lives of Students Within a College Dorm. 2008.

O’Connor, A.. (2005). In Instant Messaging: Friend or Foe of Student Writing? Web.

Establish parameters for the decision-making process. How will the decision be made (consensus, vote, etc)?

The process of decision-making remains crucial to any project that is aimed at making positive changes to the learning environment and increasing people’s awareness of problems that often remain unnoticed or are underestimated. Within the frame of the project, the process of character development and the way that it can be impacted by the presence of regular physical exercise and the necessity to deal with interpersonal conflicts to become an effective member of a sports team were studied.

To ensure that the decision-making process related to the project is able to bring positive results and contribute to the knowledge in the field, it is pivotal to set the key parameters that will make the process more effective. In order to make an effective decision that will involve the opportunity to improve the current sports education strategy used in the district, it is extremely important to include the following steps:

• Define the particular goal that the decision is supposed to fulfill (in the given case, the decision-making process is aimed at summarizing the key tendencies, indicating the connection between character development and the presence of regular physical exercise);
• Evaluate the data collected with the help of the survey and define the perspective (the research paper under consideration includes analyzing the results, giving the pride of place to the perceptions and opinions of coaches who are more objective and independent);
• Describe the importance of the chosen perspective, using the results of previous researchers in the field (the necessity to look at the problem of character formation through sports from the perspective of coaches instead of focusing on parents’ and students’ opinions);
• Compare the results of self-assessment reported by students with the results reported by their coaches in order to find the most important similarities and differences between them and make a final decision.

When it comes to the perspective that has been chosen for the research paper under consideration, special attention is to be given to the key features that make professional coaches different from the participants’ parents or the participants themselves. Among the reasons that encouraged the researcher to include coaches in the representative group, there is the impact of the current state of knowledge on their work. The lack of knowledge related to the interplay between youth sports and character development can reduce interest in sports activities demonstrated by children and adolescents who would like sports to have a positive impact in terms of physical and psychological health. In other words, there are children who would like to use sports activities as a method of character improvement, involving positive results for their physical health and making them more mature in terms of behavior, emotions, and interpersonal communication. Also, the presence of gender stereotypes can limit children’s opportunities to choose sports activities that they like (Chalabaev et al. 136). Nevertheless, as there is a knowledge gap, coaches are unable to give recommendations based on evidence and research results. Unfortunately, the interest of parents in choosing sports clubs for their children to increase their chances of success in the future may decrease due to a lack of research. Children can also demonstrate a decreased interest in sports education as they see sports as useless muscle loading (Kondakov et al. 22). The immediate consequences of this tendency for coaches and other professionals in sports education are rather negative. In fact, many kinds of sports whose positive contribution to character development has not been proved can lose popularity.

Continuing on the topic of reasons that justify the use of the chosen perspective, it is important to note that focusing on coaches’ opinions involves a lot of advantages that improve the credibility of survey results. Assessing the results of the survey based on parents’ answers would be an extremely difficult task due to the presence of stereotypes and biases that would encourage parents to overestimate or underestimate the success of their children. In fact, adults who had communication problems at school are likely to transfer their dreams of being popular among peers onto their children, and it becomes the primary reason why they want their children to attend sports classes on a regular basis (Brummelman et al. 1). Another factor related to parents’ lack of objectivity lies in the tendency to associate themselves with their children and idealize them (Correa et al. 1291).

Seeing their children as a continuation of themselves, many parents tend to overstate their children’s talents and pay almost no attention to their weaknesses that other people may notice, and the existence of this tendency is supported by modern researchers (Johnston et al. 52). Unlike parents, coaches who were included in the representative group were not interested in overestimating or underestimating children due to the fact that they knew that their anonymity was protected. All children were provided with unique random codes as four surveys concerning each child needed to be gathered together. Also, it is pivotal to note that coaches and children got to know each other only prior to the experiment that was conducted. Each coach had to train two children (there were ten coaches and twenty children), and coaches were unable to choose students based on their own preferences. Instead, a random number generator was used to assign coaches.

Gather information and establish criteria or standards against which to measure possible solutions

Having analyzed the results of the survey, the researcher is to evaluate the results and define the extent to which they would help to achieve the stated goals and support the values accepted by the community. Prior to completing the step under consideration, it is pivotal to set criteria or standards against which possible solutions will be measured. The previous part of the research paper pays focused attention to particular groups impacted by the present state of knowledge concerning the interconnection between youth sports and character development. Apart from children and adolescents themselves (the impact that the knowledge gap has on them is rather evident), the representative group included coaches. The necessity to give consideration to the opinions and observations related to the participants’ character development can be listed among the key components of the decision-making process.

Within the frame of the research, the character development of each of the twenty participants was assessed with the help of four surveys (both students and coaches completed two surveys). The given chapter of the research paper presents the most interesting tendencies that were identified during the survey analysis and sets criteria that will be used to evaluate and discuss results.

A. The first question that students and coaches needed to answer was related to the adjectives associated with children. The chart below shows the results that indicate the tendency to use positive and negative adjectives to describe students. The chart is based only on the analysis of surveys filled in by students (coaches were always positive when answering this question). As the results indicate, the majority of children were more likely to perceive themselves in a negative way prior to the experiment (see Fig. 1). Thus, it can be supposed that sports activities make students more self-assured and positive.

B. The next tendency that needs to be included is related to the perceived number of participants who have communication problems. Prior to the experiment, coaches were given a list of signs that could indicate the presence of communication problems; for instance, they included a lack of empathy, the inability to receive constructive criticism, etc. According to coaches, the manifestation of these problems in children decreased after four months of training (see Fig. 2). In general, this tendency indicates the positive impact of sports on socio-environmental adaptation.

C. Another important tendency relates to the manifestation of leadership qualities (such as responsibility, motivation, and the ability to be flexible under constantly changing conditions) during the final game that was preceded by four months of training (Cotterill and Fransen 120). As is clear from coaches’ answers, about 25% of children demonstrated leadership qualities prior to the experiment (see Fig. 3). This number increased during the final game, and many coaches confirm that the intensive training program helped to make students more motivated, goal-oriented, and flexible.

D. Aggressiveness is regarded as one of the negative consequences of regular sports training, but the given research indicates that the average level of aggressiveness did not increase significantly. Moreover, aggressiveness is seen as a pivotal component of sports culture (Naylor and Yeager 213). Prior to the experiment, about 40% of children were seen as aggressive due to different reasons. Many coaches indicate that their students’ aggressiveness decreased – students became friendlier in everyday life, but they could demonstrate the so-called “passion to win” during the final game.

E. When asked about significant changes related to their character and behavior, the majority of students indicated the presence of positive changes related to their character and behavior. Students were expected to single out one key change, either positive or negative, and their answers were summarized. The majority of students indicated that their self-confidence had increased due to the experiment (see Fig. 4). Other popular answers include improvements related to self-discipline and communication skills. At the same time, some students indicated negative changes (impatience) or the absence of significant changes.

Criteria or standards that will allow analyzing the retrieved results include the degree to which they correspond with the findings of previous researchers and their expected practical usefulness. The final decision related to the research project under consideration should allow the researcher to answer a few questions. To begin with, the survey results should help the researcher to make evidence-based conclusions concerning the key tendencies that indicate the impact of regular physical training on the character development of adolescents. Apart from that, the analysis and summary of survey results are expected to define whether the retrieved results can provide the basis for a new sports education strategy that will help to improve children’s physical and mental health at the same time. In particular, the creation of such a strategy would allow using psychological testing in order to define children’s weaknesses and potential areas of development (such as improving self-awareness, becoming more independent, overcoming their own laziness, conquering their fears, or making their personalities more competitive).

The key tendencies identified during the research are to be compared with the findings indicated by other researchers. When it comes to the key findings related to the topic, it needs to be said that the opinions of researchers are quite different; for instance, the research group headed by Rees was unable to find any connection between sports and character development (Huang and Hong 2). Also, some studies report that there are no individual benefits for athletes related to character. In other words, other researchers’ results demonstrate that high school athletics participation does not guarantee future success related to education and career development (Ransom and Ransom 2). The difference between the findings of the research under consideration and other studies can be attributed to the fact that the latter measure long-term outcomes of sports participation and pay little attention to subjective statements of adolescents concerning their character development and the opinions of their coaches who often see the potential in people and can motivate them.

Generate alternate solutions

Can solutions be supported by research and effective practices?

As is clear from the results of the survey analysis, the majority of students indicate that the experiment has helped them to reduce certain problems related to character development that are quite common in children and adolescents. Among these problems, there is the inability to communicate with other people in an effective manner and take their opinions into account, a lack of self-belief that often makes people unmotivated, and problems related to self-discipline. The alternate solution that can help students at schools to become more prepared to live after school and improve their character involves the creation of a new approach to sports education. The approach will be based on the use of psychological testing to choose sports sections. Students will be able to indicate weaknesses that they would like to conquer with the help of sports or their personal barriers to successful character development will be identified by psychologists. Based on this information, students will be provided with individual recommendations concerning the kinds of sports that can be helpful to them.

In terms of research and effective practices that support the solution, it needs to be said that similar tests present entertaining content and the recommendations are not based on scientific knowledge (Which Sport Are You Made for? Take Our 60-Second Test). Nevertheless, further research can be conducted to establish links between different sports that can be played by school students. The given research focuses on basketball, and the results indicate that basketball training has helped the participants to become more self-assured and improve their communication skills. Having defined the particular traits that can be developed through other kinds of sports, modern researchers will be able to design one strategy that will help children with different problems to become more mature and successful. There is a lack of information concerning the use of such strategies, but they will be extremely effective for society as a whole.

Do solutions support the district’s vision and goals?

The vision of the school system is inextricably connected with using any resources to contribute to the future success of students. The key goals that the school system pursues include preparing all children for further education and providing the conditions to make new generations more successful and goal-oriented. The alternate solution discussed in the paper fully supports the district’s vision and goals as it is aimed at contributing to the success of every single student with the help of sports.

How do solutions impact the district curriculum, policies, other schools, departments, etc?

The solution under consideration would have an impact on the district curriculum and policies. In fact, the use of the approach including psychological testing to choose sports classes would involve introducing changes to the curriculum to provide children with the opportunity to play at least seven kinds of sport. Children would not be urged to attend only those classes listed in the recommendations. Instead, these recommendations would be used to guide only those children who do not have specific preferences concerning sports activities. The strategy is expected to have a positive impact on the curriculum as the majority of children will be able to improve their communication skills. Therefore, teachers will have to spend less time explaining to children how to work in a team. Children will be able to use their experience related to sports in order to work in a more effective manner in academic settings.

Show how solutions are better than current practices

Nowadays, the school system does not use any specific practices to facilitate positive character development with the help of physical exercise, and the implementation of the discussed solution (that would require additional research) is expected to produce positive changes. To begin with, the absence of an individual approach to the choice of the most appropriate sports clubs leaves students’ specific problems related to character development unnoticed. In addition, practices aimed at positive character formation help coaches and teachers to prepare students for college and work. Encouraging students to discuss their weaknesses and search for ways to overcome them becomes the key task of a new sports education strategy. The latter allows turning children into self-conscious citizens who know a lot about their potential and are able to achieve success in the global world and contribute to the well-being of their nation.

Works Cited

Brummelman, Eddie, et al. “My Child Redeems My Broken Dreams: On Parents Transferring Their Unfulfilled Ambitions Onto Their Child.” PloS ONE, vol. 8, no. 6, 2013, pp. 1-4.

Chalabaev, Aïna, et al. “The Influence of Sex Stereotypes and Gender Roles on Participation and Performance in Sport and Exercise: Review and Future Directions.” Psychology of Sport and Exercise, vol. 14, no. 2, 2013, pp. 136-144.

Correa, Wesley, et al. “Risk Factors for Development of Children with Down Syndrome in Brazil.” Creative Education, vol. 6, no. 12, 2015, pp. 1285-1293.

Cotterill, Stewart T., and Katrien Fransen. “Athlete Leadership in Sport Teams: Current Understanding and Future Directions.” International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, vol. 9, no. 1, 2016, pp. 116-133.

Huang, Sean, and Shane Hong. “Effectiveness of Character and Leadership Development through Sport using Game for Life Framework.” Sports Singapore, 2016, pp. 1-12.

Johnston, Charlotte, et al. “Mothers’ Implicit and Explicit Attitudes and Attributions in Relation to Self-Reported Parenting Behavior.” Parenting, vol. 17, no. 1, 2017, pp. 51-72.

Kondakov, Victor, et al. “Causes of Declining Interest of Students to Employment Physical Education and Sports.” Physical Education of Students, vol. 19, no. 1, 2015, pp. 22-30.

Naylor, Adam H., and John M. Yeager. “A 21st-Century Framework for Character Formation in Sports.” Peabody Journal of Education, vol. 88, no. 2, 2013, pp. 212-224.

Ransom, Michael R., and Tyler Ransom. “Do High School Sports Build or Reveal Character?” Institute for the Study of Labor: Discussion Paper Series, no. 11110, 2017, pp. 2-20.

“Which Sport Are You Made for? Take Our 60-Second Test.”BBC, Web.

In the modern world, with the development of technologies and an increase in sedentary work, an average individual spends more time inactive than earlier. This fact, combined with unhealthy dietary habits, provokes increasing obesity rates and other health problems related to excessive weight and low physical activity. According to Wewege, Berg, Ward, and Keech (2017), physical exercises are “mildly effective for reducing total body weight” (p. 635).

This training program is designed for a particular client, accounting for their physical parameters, lifestyle, and goals. However, it also includes general recommendations for improving health outcomes. Multimodal high-intensity interval training is chosen as the means of achieving combined goals of improving body composition and aerobic fitness.

Client’s Baseline Information and Goals

The client is a healthy 24-year-old female who has prior experience in weight-bearing exercise. The client currently has a sedentary home-based job and spends most of the day without physical activity. Aerobic fitness (VO2max) is measured by resting heart rate method and estimated to be 38 ml/kg/min. The client’s resting heart rate is about 80 beats per minute, with no cardiovascular diseases. The BMI is calculated as 24.8, which is on the higher-margin of the norm.

The percent of body fat is calculated with the measurement method and identified as 26.4%. The client reports dissatisfaction with her body shape and aims and breathing discomfort during physical activity due to the absence of exercising. Thus the goal of the program is to improve body composition and aerobic fitness. The client has also reported low motivation for exercising, caused by time consumption that affects her job and other everyday routines.

Due to the prior weight-bearing exercises, the client reports high muscle strength and volume. That is why the main emphasis in assessing the results will be not on BMI changes but the reduction in body fat percentage. Thus, the positive changes in the waist and hip circumference are the main measurements of exercise efficiency. The aim is to reduce body fat percentage to the rates of 22% – 22.5%. As rapid changes in weight and body composition are stressful for the organism, the client is ready for an extended period of working out with stable long-term results. The training program is developed for four weeks to observe half of the intended body fat reduction, and prolonged for another four weeks when successful.

The Rationale for the Choice of Training Program

Although it is generally believed that any physical activity is beneficial for healthy individuals, the choice of the specific program should be made according to one’s goals. In addition to the aim, the physical parameters and client’s preferences should be taken into account. As Greenlee et al. (2017) note, lack of time is among the most common barriers to physical activity. The time efficiency of the training program is one of the main demands of the client under discussion.

Wewege et al. (2017) claim that high-intensity interval training is 40% more time-efficient in contrast to traditional moderate-intensity training. However, Farland et al. (2015) suggest that apart of time efficiency HIIT programs do not show increased results in terms of weight loss. Concerning the aim of fat percentage reduction, HIIT protocols are effective but not superior to the other training modes.

The main advantages of high-intensity interval training are the facts that they are more time-efficient and have proven to improve health outcomes. Several studies, including Karlsen, Aamot, Haykowsky, and Rognmo (2017) and Schubert, Washburn, Honas, Lee, and Donnelly (2016), suggest that an increase in exercise intensity leads to maximizing health outcomes. Improving aerobic fitness is another client’s goal, which is essential for chronic disease prevention for people with a mostly sedentary lifestyle.

Aerobic capacity is a measurable unit that comprises 38 ml/kg/min for the client. Interval training, according to Milanović, Sporiš, and Weston (2015), has more impact on VO2max increase in comparison to continuous training with equal training volume. MacInnis and Gibala (2017) state that “interval training is clearly a potent stimulus for physiological remodeling” (p. 2916). Taking into account the mentioned ideas, HIIT is the most relevant training strategy for improving aerobic fitness.

High-intensity interval training protocols vary in terms of exercise mode, duration, frequency, and intensity. Taking into account the client’s needs, the training program should be highly intensive, providing high caloric consumption during the limited time, with the frequency of 4 sessions a week. As traditional HIIT protocols do not differ from MICT programs in terms of their effect on weight loss, they should be transformed to maximize caloric consumption without extending the duration of the sessions. Buckley et al. (2015) suggest using multiple modalities of training, including strength exercises that have a positive effect on muscle strength.

Such an approach is reasonable, considering the client’s experience in weight-bearing training. Greenlee et al. (2017) support the idea of multimodal HIIT completed in a circuit. Circuits help to maximize the aerobic capacity of the individual as the intervals can be longer in such training when the person switches between the groups of muscles, giving them rest without stopping the activity.

Four-Week Training Plan

The combined modes of training that include strength exercises were chosen for the program. Each of the four weeks is repeating with a mild increase in weight for strength exercises. The client has to do four sessions each week. There are two types of sessions repeated twice during the week. Each session consists of 4 circuits of 5 exercises with no rest between the exercises and one minute and 30 seconds of rest between the circuits.

Session 1

1. jumping jacks
2. burpees (or squat thrusts if difficult)
3. lunges with dumbbells – 2 dumbbells, 6lb each.
4. squats with a sandbag – 10lb
5. side lunges

Session 2

1. mountain climbers
2. jump squats
3. jumping lunges
4. split squats with dumbbells – 2 dumbbells, 6lb each.
5. deadlift – 20-25lb.

Summary

The client aims at reducing body fat percentage by 2.9% – 3-4%. For achieving long-term sustainable results, the progress should be slow but steady. That is why the four-week training program aims to lose at least half of this percentage and continue for another four weeks when the desired effect is observed. However, according to Wewege et al. (2017), physical activity “has been reported to be relatively ineffective for managing overweight or obesity when not combined with a dietary intervention” (p. 5).

That is why a mild deficit in caloric intake is recommended in the client’s diet. Still, without the possibility of managing the client’s diet, the exercises should be developed to maximize weight loss potential. That is why the emphasis on the muscle strength is made in this program, as muscles increase caloric consumption of the resting body. So, by improving muscle strength and volume, one improves caloric metabolism. Taking into account this fact and general effect on health outcomes, Multimodal HIIT with strength exercises is the most relevant and time-efficient program for the client’s goals.

References

Buckley, S., Knapp, K., Lackie, A., Lewry, C., Horvey, K., Benko, C., … Butcher, S. (2015). Multimodal high-intensity interval training increases muscle function and metabolic performance in females. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 40(11), 1157-1162. Web.

Farland, C. V., Schuette, J., Foster, C., Porcari, J. P., Doberstein, S. T., Harbin, M., … Tuuri, A. (2015). The effects of high intensity interval training versus steady state training on aerobic and anaerobic capacity. Journal of Sports Science& Medicine, 14(4), 747-755. Web.

Greenlee, T. A., Greene, D. R., Ward, N. J., Reeser, G. E., Allen, C. M., Baumgartner, N. W., … Barbey, A. K. (2017). Effectiveness of a 16-week high-intensity cardioresistance training program in adults. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 31(9), 2528-2541. Web.

Karlsen, T., Aamot, I.-L., Haykowsky, M., & Rognmo, Ø. (2017). High intensity interval training for maximizing health outcomes. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 60(1), 67-77. Web.

MacInnis, M. J., & Gibala, M. J. (2016). Physiological adaptations to interval training and the role of exercise intensity. The Journal of Physiology, 595(9), 2915-2930. Web.

Milanović, Z., Sporiš, G., & Weston, M. (2015). Effectiveness of high-intensity interval training (HIT) and continuous endurance training for VO2max improvements: A systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled trials. Sports Medicine, 45(10), 1469-1481. Web.

Schubert, M. M., Washburn, R. A., Honas, J. J., Lee, J., & Donnelly, J. E. (2016). Exercise volume and aerobic fitness in young adults: The Midwest Exercise Trial-2. Springer Plus, 5(1), 1-9. Web.

Wewege, M., Berg, R. V. D., Ward, R. E., & Keech, A. (2017). The effects of high-intensity interval training vs. moderate-intensity continuous training on body composition in overweight and obese adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Obesity Reviews, 18(6), 635-646. Web.

The importance of youth sports in educational institutions cannot be underestimated because they allow some teenagers to fulfill their potential or improve their personal qualities. Moreover, appropriate physical development is the goal that any education system sets. However, it also is borne in mind that youth sports may also have rather adverse effects especially on a persons psychological state.

It is not quite possible speak about negative influence of youth sport in particular. Probably it would be more prudent to analyze some stereotypical patterns of our behavior that make youth sports work against teenagers instead of helping them. The underlying cause is that we attach too much importance to competitiveness.

In order to substantiate this statement we should first give definition to such notion as “sport” In its most general sense it can be understood as any kind of competitive activity, which is aimed at achieving certain objective. The word “competitive” becomes crucial in this case because competitiveness may also have its negative side. Naturally, some people may object to this statement, by saying that it is a necessary condition for further growth and development. The main problem is that competitiveness among children may easily result in social exclusion (Odland, 220).

Perhaps, it would be better to trace the geneses of this process and its manifestations. Michael Collins in his book “Sport and Social Exclusion” singles out several types of this phenomenon. First, he focuses on the so-called “gender exclusion” which means that teenagers tend to separate from one another because girls and girls do not always in the same sport activities. The thing is that sport is very often viewed as a symbol of mens superiority over women, and it often leads to alienation between them especially it concerns public schools. In order to avoid that school administration should foster tolerance in students. This type of social exclusion can be ascribed not only to the negative impact of youth sports but also to the inefficiency of educators (Collins, 123).

Additionally the concept of competitiveness implies winning or losing. It stands to reason that winners (those who show good results) are very reluctant to accept losers in their company. This form of exclusion can be very hurtful for children with disunities because they may view themselves as “handicapped or someone who is not able to meet certain standards” Such exclusion may lead to chronic depression in the long term. In this case, it is of the paramount importance that teacher encourage such students, who do not succeed in sport activities. Moreover, parents and educators should explain to their off springs that children with disabilities need their support and such exclusion can only hurt their feelings (Biddle, 66).

While discussing negative impact of youth sports one should pay extra attention to the psychological peculiarities of such age group as teenagers. They are very inclined to go to extremes and adhere to the principle “all or nothing”. For them success is determined by the outcome of the game (victory or defeat). If they lose, they are bound to feel discontented though they may have performed very well. This extremeness of their worldview may also result in low self-esteem or even depression. Naturally, it is not very widespread, but if the person, coaching students, does not encourage them, the situation can follow such a scenario.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, a teenagers self-esteem greatly depends on his or her physical appearance. If it does not meet some standards (or stereotypes to be more exact), he or she is very likely to suffer from an inferiority complex. For instance, very often teenagers want to resemble their peers especially if they are athletic or physically attractive. Anything that deviates from this standard is viewed as a failure (or even catastrophe). Certainly, competitiveness makes students work harder, but for some of them it reminds life-and-death struggle. Teenagers tendency to exaggerate is the thing, which makes sport competitiveness very dangerous.

Furthermore, we cannot disregard such aspect as parental expectations. Some parents demand perfection from their children, people often believe that they child must be unsurpassed in any activity (including sports), whereas every teenager wants to come up to his or her parents expectations. Inability to do it is usually viewed as a failure. Unfortunately, parents do not always understand needs and abilities of their children; they are firmly convinced that they have a right to set standards for their children.

We can observe a very curious paradox: negative effects of youth sport (if any) can be easily reduced to a minimum if certain measures are taken by educators and parents. In itself, competitiveness is a very good stimulus for a person to improve oneself. However if we distort this concept and turn it into all-or-nothing philosophy it can act against us.

Thus having analyzed the effect of youth sport on the behavior of teenagers, we can arrive at the conclusion that their negative aspects can be explained by several stereotypical patterns of our behavior and partly to the inefficiency of school administration.

Bibliography

Jerry Odland. “High-Stakes Sportsmanship” Childhood Education, (91),4 2005

John H. Kerr. “Rethinking Aggression and Violence in Sport” Routledge, 2004.

Micheal F. Collins. “Sport and Social Exclusion” Routledge, 2000.

Stuart J. H. Biddle. “Physical Activity and Psychological Well-Being” Routledge. 2000.

The United Nations came into being on 24 October 1945 after the UN charter was ratified by most of the original 51 Members states. The main objective of the UN is to provide a platform for nations to come together and work for the well-being of the human race.

It is premised on the principles of justice and human dignity and offers countries a chance to establish equilibrium between domestic national interests and international interests. Its headquarters are in New York, United States, and it currently has 192 members who meet in the general assembly.

This report will explain the needs for child rights policies as stipulated in the convection of the rights of the child, analyze the UAE laws, policies, and resources as regards to child’s rights and assess the degree to which the UAE addresses children’s rights as compared to conditions set by the UN Charter.

In the year 1989, the General Assembly adopted the convention on the rights of the child. This came after 10 years of intense discussions, and compromise. It was ratified by many nations with little reservations. The convection gives an ideal avenue for children to know about their rights as human beings.

It also provides an international framework for all stakeholders, adults, children, governments, and society in general, to be aware of and uphold the rights of the child. According to the convection, a child is anyone who has not attained the age of 18. The convection contains 54 articles which provide for protection, provision, and participation of the child.

A child should be protected from all forms of abuse, discrimination, and exploitation. The needs of the child as pertains to food, shelter, education, family, and healthcare should be provided. The child should be allowed to participate in making decisions that affect his or her life.

The convection is guided by four main principles. Article 2 centers on non-discrimination and provides that no child is to be discriminated against based on whichever basis. Article 3 provides that should the interest of a child conflict with those of an adult, be it parents, teachers, or otherwise, the interests of the child should prevail. Article 6 guarantees the right of the child to life, meaningful survival, and full development.

Article 12 affirms that the child’s views should be respected in all matters to do with a decision that will affect the child. The member government has an obligation to publicize those rights under article 42.

In addition, a member government should present a report to the United Nations general assembly as regards to child protection. The UN on its side appoints a special Rapporteur to monitor the observance of the fore stated rights.

United Arab Emirates has ratified several international and regional convections, treaties, and laws. On the 3^rd of January 1997, the country ratified the United Nations Convection on the Rights of the Child. It however expressed reservations to several articles and declined to sign optional protocols on involvement of the child in armed conflict, sale of children, and children prostitution and pornography.

The only other international convections that UAE has acceded to are the Convection on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2010), the International Convection on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (1974), and the Convection on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (2004).

Regionally, UAE has agreed to Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (1990) and the Amended version of the Arab Charter of Human Rights (2008).

Locally, the UAE constitution contains several articles that are important for protection of the child. Article 16 stipulates that the society should protect the child and provide an enabling environment for realization of the child’s full potential. Article 17 makes education compulsory for all citizens, from the elementally level to University. Article 19 guarantees access to health care.

The Federal Anti-Human Trafficking Act No.51 (2006) provided for the setting up a committee to combat human trafficking. In 2007, the Dubai Women’s and Children’s foundation was established to look after the welfare of violence victims.

By a presidential decree, the Family Development Foundation was set in 2006 to address primarily the rights of children and women. Moreover, Non-Governmental Organizations corroborate the efforts of the government in enhancing the welfare of the children. An example is the Red Crescent and World Health Organization. These organizations receive subsidies from the UAE government.

Have all those resources been harnessed adequately to enhance the well being of the child as stipulated by the United Nations Convection on Child’s rights? In the period between 2004-2006, the UAE government through a contribution of $ 2.7 Million assisted in the repatriation of 1,073 children, emigrants who had been forced into the camel race, a popular game in the country (Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2002).

An additional $ 9 million supported the education and shelter of the emigrants’ children. Schools’ enrollment has drastically increased and the country is on the track to achieve universal education by 2015 (UAE has taken serious measures to protect rights of children, 2005).

In 2007, Polio was totally eradicated from UAE. Infant mortality rates in UAE are among the lowest in that region reducing from 17 in 1990 to 7 by 2009 in every 1,000 children born (Abdul-Hamid, 2011)

In spite of the progress, UAE still falls short in adherence to the letter and spirit of the UN charter. While the UN convection is unequivocal in its proclamation of access to education for all, UAE continues to perpetuate practices that hinder the realization of the vision envisaged by the UN.

Reports from the Committee on the Rights of the Child indicate that children of non-citizens are subjected to rigorous examinations before being admitted to public schools (2002). The pass mark is very high at 90%. Worse still, the language of assessment is Arabic. It is even harder for children who are stateless. Similarly, information on the level of access to education of girls in rural areas is largely unavailable.

The government has also failed to create awareness on the child’s rights as required by the UN convection on Child’s rights. Lack of a framework to protect children exposes them to violence and therefore impacts negatively on their education.

Only 6 % of parents take care of their children directly (94 per cent of Dubai children reared by nannies, 2011). The UAE government has maintained a restricted social and political environment. This stifles the dissemination of information.

In summary, the report has attempted an explanation on the United Nations Convection on Child’s rights. It has given justification of such policies as the need to enhance the well being of the child so that he or she can enjoy full human rights.

It has analyzed the various legislations, policies, and resources at the disposal of UAE. Lastly, it has assessed whether the UAE has lived up to the expectations on the UN convection on Child’s rights it ratified in 1997.Though not fully adhered to, UAE can be hailed as being on the right track.

References

Abdul-Hamid,M. (2011). Situation Analysis Middle East and North Africa August 2011. Save the Children Sweden, 2(1), 197-204. Web.

Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2002). Concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child – United Arab Emirates (CRC/C/15/Add.183), Abu Dhabi,United Arabs Emirate: Author.

94 per cent of Dubai children reared by nannies. Web.

UAE has taken serious measures to protect rights of children. (2005). Web.

The problem of the youth antisocial behaviour in the British society is discussed at several levels. Today definite Antisocial Behaviour Orders are developed by the government as one of the main measures in order to control and correct the facts of antisocial behaviours in community.

Nevertheless, the effectiveness of this practice is argued by the researchers, sociologists, and psychologists because of the complexity of the notion of antisocial behaviour and its connection with the adolescents’ behaviour (Burney 2009; Connell et al. 2011).

That is why the major issues which are discussed in the literature on the topic of reducing youth antisocial behaviour with the help of legislative programmes are associated with the questions of the definition of the term, the problem of the programmes’ effectiveness, the possible success in the usage of the community-related programmes, and the role of the family in the process.

The term ‘antisocial behaviour’ is rather broad and has different variants of its interpretation from the position of the governors, psychologists, and sociologists. There is also a number of associated notions. Thus, Burney states that it is necessary to distinct between the notions which can be discussed by the public as equal ones because they refer to the same field, but are connected with different problems.

These terms are, for instance, ‘disorder’, ‘crime’, and ‘antisocial behaviour’. According to Burney, “‘disorder’ is a term applied collectively to communities; ‘anti-social behaviour’ is something done by individuals who are thereby singled out and blamed for the harm they inflict upon communities” (Burney 2009, p. 2).

Following Burney’s considerations, it is possible to say that antisocial behaviour is predominantly connected with the specific behaviour of a person or a group of person which influences the character of their interactions with other representatives of the community negatively.

Moreover, it is also important to pay attention to the fact that the term of ‘antisocial behaviour’ also involves the problem of the intrusive measures realized against individuals (Burney 2009).

To define the term more clearly, it is significant to focus on the examples or patterns of realizing by the youth their antisocial behaviour in communities. Connell, Cook, Aklin, Vanderplong, and Brex developed the study in which they concentrated on the analysis of the most typical patterns of antisocial behaviour using the results of conducting the survey (latent class analysis) in a nonmetropolitan region of Britain (Connell et al. 2011).

According to their survey, such types or patterns of the youth antisocial behaviour as damaging property, stealing, vandalism, and fighting were determined. Furthermore, the evidences stated that the fact of antisocial behaviour was in the most cases fixed by police (Connell et al. 2011).

Having determined the most frequent patterns of antisocial behaviour typical for the youth in Britain, the researchers analysed the results of the survey and proposed the groups or classes of antisocial behaviours (ASBs) organised according to their severity. These classes are a non-ASB class, a mild ASB, a moderate ASB, and a serious ASB class (Connell et al. 2011).

If Connell and the group of researchers’ classification is based on the level of severity of the definite antisocial behaviour (according to the determined patterns), the types of antisocial behaviour provided by Frick and White depend on such a characteristic as callous-unemotional (CU) traits (Frick & White 2008).

Concentrating on this term, the researchers determine such influential traits as the absence of empathy presented by the adolescents in their personal interactions, the lack of guilt as the determiner of the level of their responsibility and tolerance (Frick & White 2008). Therefore, callous-unemotional traits are important factors for forming the youth model of antisocial behaviour.

The focus on the problem of antisocial behaviour in Britain resulted in the development of the practice of Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) as the measure to realise the antisocial behaviour policy in the country. The project of ASBOs was presented in 1998. It was worked out as the measure to control and regulate the level of antisocial behaviours in society.

Today this order is associated with the antisocial behaviour of adolescents who are inclined to realising different antisocial behaviour patterns. In his research, Donoghue discusses the problem of ASB and ASBO with references to such terms as ‘reflexive modernity’ and ‘risk society’ (Donoghue 2008).

From this point of view ASBOs are considered not only as the ways of the legislative control but also as the facts of the social control. Explaining the aspects of the notion of ‘risk society’, Donoghue states that ‘risk society’ provokes the occurrences of the youth antisocial behaviours (Donoghue 2008).

That is why the effectiveness of realising ASBOs in the context of modern ‘risk societies’ depends on reformatting the main principles of providing ASBOs as the key controlling and regulating measures.

However, there are many categories according to which it is necessary to analyse the aspects of ASBOs. In their research, Flint and Nixon concentrate on the concepts of citizenship, self-regulation, and responsibilities as the basic ones for determining the idea of a socially appropriate behaviour.

The authors of the research focus on the discussion of ASBs from the point of Antisocial Behaviour Orders, Acceptable Behaviour Contracts, and tenancy agreements (Flint & Nixon 2008).

However, along with paying much attention to the government’s role in providing the legislative programmes for controlling the situation and reducing ASBs Flint and Nixon emphasise the role of communities in regulating the youth antisocial behaviour (Flint & Nixon 2008).

They also make accents on the fact that the effectiveness of the governmental measures and legislative programmes significantly depends on the range of the regulatory mechanisms used.

In spite of the fact Flint and Nixon discuss the issue with focusing on the character of interactions and antisocial behaviour in definite residential areas, their conclusions can be used for the proper analysis of the situation with the occurrences of antisocial behaviour at individual and community levels (Flint & Nixon 2008).

Thus, legislative programmes can become more effective, if they are implemented with referring to the development of the system of community control. Many researchers agree that the social effect of involving the community in the process of controlling and regulating the youth antisocial behaviour is higher than the effectiveness of such programmes as, for instance, ASBO (Burney 2009; Donoghue 2008; Flint & Nixon 2008).

Moreover, to regulate the issue of antisocial behaviour which is typical for adolescents in Britain, it is necessary to use all the opportunities to predict it (Flint & Nixon 2008). That is why researchers accentuate the role of community and family in forming the individual vision of possible positive interactions in society which do not abuse the interests of the other people (Donoghue 2008).

Psychologists state that antisocial behaviour of adolescents is in many cases a result of reflecting the situation at home, the character of relations between parents and the relations of the individual with his or her parents (Burney 2009; Donoghue 2008).

Analysing the role of the relations between parents and their children, Connell, Cook, Aklin, Vanderplong, and Brex states that positive relations in families which are based on the principles of mutual understanding between the members of the family can be considered as the protective factor or as a key aspect for predicting the further antisocial behaviour of adolescents.

Moreover, this protective factor can be discussed as effective for different levels of antisocial behaviour (Connell et al. 2011). To understand the nature of the adolescents’ possible antisocial behaviour, Ensor, Marks, Jacobs, and Hughes concentrates on the examination of the aspects of the relations between the siblings in the family (Ensor et al. 2010).

The fact of demonstrating aggression, anxiety, and hatred directed toward the other children in the family is typical for many families. Nevertheless, to state that such situation in the family can provoke the adolescents’ further antisocial behaviour, it is necessary to analyse all the aspects of the problem. The researchers determined three factors according to which they examined the siblings’ behaviour.

These factors were the refusal to interact with each other, the frequency of the occurrences of bullying and harming each other (Ensor et al. 2010). The results of the research confirm the psychological visions of the nature of relations between siblings. Moreover, they can be discussed as significant for the development of the possible strategies of predicting the issues of antisocial behaviour in the future (Ensor et al. 2010).

The role of the community and family is also significant with references to the factors which can stimulate children and adolescents’ antisocial behaviour.

Paying much attention to CU traits, Frick and White focus on the connection between the realization of these traits in childhood and adolescence and the role of the community in regulating the development of CU traits which can lead to the formation of the antisocial and aggressive youth. Mahoney, Stattin, and Lord conducted the investigation on the base of the sample from Sweden.

The researchers examined the peculiarities of the unstructured youth recreation centre participation and concluded that the participation in such centres also cannot be considered as the effective measures to regulate the adolescents’ behaviour and predict their further antisocial behaviour (Mahoney, Stattin, & Lord 2004).

Such conclusions are the result of the analysis of the adolescents’ relations between each other and between them and their peers in the centres. Thus, according to the research’s evidences, many peers can provoke, stimulate, and promote the adolescents’ antisocial behaviour (Mahoney, Stattin, & Lord 2004).

The controversial question of the effectiveness of legislative programmes as the measures to control the youth antisocial behaviour is also associated with the problem of predicting and regulating.

In their research, Rutten, Biesta, Dekovic, Stams, Schuengel, and Verweel state that it is possible to use such methods as a forum theatre intervention in order to create the necessary positive atmosphere in the group of adolescents and avoid or correct the issues of antisocial behaviour (Rutten et al. 2010).

Nevertheless, the findings of the research accentuated the fact that the changes in the antisocial behaviour of the youth are not significant in comparison with the other methods to correct the ASBs (Rutten et al. 2010).

To provide the effective research of the problem of reducing youth antisocial behaviour through legislative programmes in Britain, it is important to concentrate on the methods used for conducting the investigation, collecting the necessary data and evidences, and analysing the findings. The issue of antisocial behaviour is closely connected with the aspects of psychology of children and adolescents.

That is why it is effective to use the research methods which are generally utilised while conducting the psychological surveys and investigations (Breakwell 2006). Sekaran proposes a range of research methods which can be successfully used in providing the studies in the field of social sciences (Sekaran 2006).

According to the criteria presented in the book by Sekaran, the research on the topic of reducing youth antisocial behaviour in Britain should be realised with the help of combination of such methods as the elements of the quantitative research and the aspects of the descriptive study (Sekaran 2006).

The priorities of the programmes developed to solve the problem of antisocial behaviour in the British society are generally changed according to the main principles provided by this or that prime-minister.

According to the findings presented in the researched literature, the existing policies should be reformed with references to the new social demands and requirements because of the fact that community control and definite measures provided at the community level can work more effectively in comparison with the effectiveness of the legislative programmes.

There were several stages in discussing the effectiveness of ASBOs which reflected the public and governmental vision of the issue. Thus, the whole campaign has faced a lot of criticism from different sides. It is possible to say that the majority of the British society agrees that the Antisocial Behavior Orders are not really successful in stopping the development of antisocial behavior in Britain (Squires & Stephen 2005).

Reference List

Breakwell, GM 2006, Research methods in psychology. Sage Publications Ltd, London.

Burney, E 2009, Making people behave: anti-social behaviour, politics and policy, Willan Publishing, Cullompton, UK.

Connell, CM, Cook, EC, Aklin, WM, Vanderplong, JJ, & Brex, RA 2011, “Risk and protective factors associated with patterns of antisocial behaviour among nonmetropolitan adolescents”. Aggressive Behaviour, vol. 37 no. 1, pp. 98-106.

Donoghue, J 2008, “Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBO’s) in Britain: contextualizing risk and reflexive modernization”. Sociology, vol. 42 no. 2, pp. 337-355.

Ensor, R, Marks, A, Jacobs, L, & Hughes, C 2010, “Trajectories of antisocial behaviour towards siblings predict antisocial behaviour towards peers”. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, vol. 51 no. 11, pp. 1208-1216.

Flint, J & Nixon, J 2006, “Governing neighbours: Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and new forms of regulating conduct in the UK”. Urban Studies, vol. 43 no. 5-6, pp. 939-955.

Frick, PJ & White, SF 2008, “Research review: the importance of callous-unemotional traits for developmental models of aggressive and antisocial behaviour”. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, vol. 49 no. 4, pp. 359-375.

Mahoney, J, Stattin, H, & Lord, H 2004, “Unstructured youth recreation centre participation and antisocial behaviour development: selection influences and the moderating role of antisocial peers”. International Journal of Behavioural Development, vol. 28 no. 6, pp. 553-560.

Rutten, EA, Biesta, GJJ, Dekovic, M, Stams, GJJM, Schuengel, C, & Verweel, P 2010, “Using forum theatre in organized youth soccer to positively influence antisocial and prosocial behaviour: a pilot study”. Journal of Moral Education, vol. 39 no. 1, pp. 65-78.

Sekaran, U 2006, Research methods for business: a skill building approach. Wiley-India, Mumbai.

Squires, P & Stephen, DE 2005, Rougher justice: anti-social behaviour and young people, Willan Publishing, Cullompton.

You are discussing your career choice with some friends, one of whom is a Social Worker, one is a teacher and one is a psychologist. The Social Worker says: “well, CYC workers just mimic what we do anyways…”. How do you respond to this?

I will probably disagree with your statement. I may be not very knowledgeable about all the nuances that constitute social work, but I would point out that the existence of different terms for different occupations would be expected to be meaningful. During my studies, I was introduced to a gender analysis of the language used to express the two professions. It suggested that the activities which are denoted as “care” are traditionally regarded as feminine ones, which means that in a patriarchal and sexist society, they are valued less than the activities that are denoted as “work,” which is a more “masculine” term. Your statement about CYC workers “mimicking” social work seems to prove some of these considerations. It appears rather derogatory: it could be interpreted to suggest that CYC workers are not as necessary. However, the fact that some of the tools used by the two professions may be similar does not mean that their aims and objectives are the same.

I think that the use of the word “care” in CYC is meaningful without gender analysis as well. In effect, this term is central to our activities and multidimensional, which calls for its extensive analysis. In particular, Mark Smith (2007) provides an interesting examination of the implications for the terms “care for” and “caring about,” which denote the emotional and activity-related aspects of our work. Both are interrelated and interdependent and laced with multiple meanings. In my view, these meanings are especially relevant because of the specifics of our profession, the main of which is, apparently, the client. Children and youth constitute a group that has special experiences, strengths, and vulnerabilities, which implies that they need specific care. This care is the core of CYC work, which distinguishes our profession from other ones.

The City of Toronto has approached you with some money to start a program that might address recurrent youth violence in a city park. You have been invited to a meeting to provide a brief, two-minute presentation about how you will proceed. The City bureaucrats are especially interested in how you would use your child and youth care credentials to proceed with program development. What would you say?

The process of program development is a complex one, and it appears that the proposed program can benefit from the introduction of the perspective of its future frontline workers, CYC practitioners. The involvement of CYC practitioners is required predominantly because CYC workers use a profession-specific language to set similarly specific goals and objectives and develop policies and procedures that are crucial for the organization of the working process. In other words, programs that are produced without the consideration of CYC work may prevent CYC professionals from working effectively because they do not create a suitable framework. Since CYC specialists are going to actively implement the program, creating the conditions for their successful work is a priority.

Apart from that, the CYC perspective might be able to improve the effectiveness of the program due to its specifics. The CYC perspective tends to differ from the conventional program development in its approach to the process. Rather than focusing on the deficiencies in current services, it attempts to pay particular attention to the identification of strengths and resources available. Apart from that, one of the “Ten principles of child and youth care work” (1999) is the focus on child advocacy. CYC professionals will try to emphasize the fact that the youth are people rather than a problem and search for the means to employ their perspective and interests in the process of improving the situation for everyone. Finally, from the CYC perspective, care is a continuous activity that does not have an end, which is another of the “Ten principles of child and youth care work” (1999). As a result, CYC professionals will make the process of program development continuous and proceed to manage, review, evaluate, and change the product for the benefit of everyone involved. Thus, the introduction of the CYC perspective can indeed be very important for the success of the program.

You have just hired a new staff member for your program. The other staff in the program has been very disillusioned as of late, and you are concerned that their approaches are not taking into consideration the needs of the young people. Before asking one of your senior staff to take on the orientation process for the newly hired staff, you take that new staff aside and give them your thoughts about the core principles of how the work ought to be done. What would you say?

Hello, Martha; I am very glad to see you joining our team! We have a few principles, and you have probably encountered the majority of them during your studies. All the “Ten principles of child and youth care work” (1999) are, of course, the core of our profession, but I would like to specifically focus your attention on the principles of individualization and empowerment. It is rather easy to overlook them in daily routine; possibly, people tend to overlook them because of the difficulties of the said routine. However, you cannot provide quality care without taking into account the individual qualities of children and youths, and care cannot be continuous without empowering them, which is why these two principles are really important to maintain.

I also want you to know that we encourage initiative and are interested in meaningful change, so if you see that something is not working the way it is intended to work or if you have suggestions for improvement, do not hesitate to present your ideas. You are a newcomer, so it may be easy for you to spot something important right now. By the way, if you are interested in professional development activities, you will find that we are very willing to cooperate. Scheduling and costs can be a serious concern, but we try to find solutions. If you want to, you can search for relevant ideas and information with your teammates, and if you are interested in particular learning opportunities, we will try to help. Perhaps you would want to check out Gharabaghi’s (2008) work on the topic: at a point in my career, I found it very insightful.

Your instructor and teammates should introduce you to the specifics of your work, but please do not hesitate to find me if you need to discuss an issue that I can resolve. Welcome! Hopefully, the experience of working with us will be interesting and, possibly, even useful.

References

Gharabaghi, K. (2008). Professional development and career building in child and youth care. Child & Youth Services, 30(3-4), 301-326.

Smith, M. (2007).Caring for and caring about.Web.

Ten principles of child and youth care work. (1999). Web.