User:Lynnette malipa/sandbox

STUDENT NUMBER : 9920692

BEHAVIOR CHANGE IN TODAY’S YOUTH

The society has changed so much and certain values have changed too. Youth’s behavior have changed and so many youth today are hopeless and are engaged in immoral activities like [|per-marital sex], alcohol and drug abuse because young people today are growing up as orphans. Some are coming from broken homes. These have effects on the youth and on how they behave. To change these behaviors adults should give their time to listen and understand the problems which young people are facing today before starting to put restrictions on them. Adults should instill honor, dignity and respect in these young people through mentoring. Adults should further learn to positively praise the youth through affirmation.

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO CHANGE

1.Working/single/deceased parents

According to the Youth Alive Facilitators Manual, the youth today spend most hours without their parents and this makes them rely more on their friends in decision making. Some youth are often unattended after school and this increase the risk of [|teenage pregnancy], alcohol and drug abuse because they are not kept busy.

2.Home environment

Most youth comes from awful home situations where they are neglected or abused. Some they come from broken homes, some are orphans and these conditions make it impossible for teachers to help out the poor parenting.

3.Television influence

According to the Youth Alive Facilitators Manual on page 24, the average time of watching television for most youth is seven hours per day of which most television programs show sexual movies constantly. The youth tend to watch these movies as they have nothing to do after school. Television is the primary sex educator to the youth and by 18 years youth have watched 22,000 hours of television. However, this happens because children have more time to be at home alone before parents get off work.

WHAT IS BEHAVIOR?

[|Behavior] can be defined as the way in which an individual behaves or acts. It is the way an individual conducts herself/himself. Behavior, therefore, it is the way an individual acts towards people. According to Chen (1999), the primary purpose of early intervention is to enhance the development of infants, particularly by working with and supporting caretakers and families.

THE IMPACTS OF THE BEHAVIOR CHANGE

Youth tend to use alcohol and drugs and these are the major contributor to:

1.Violence in schools and homes.

2.Sexually transmitted infections.

3.Anti-social behavior.

4.Unemployment etc.

5.Teenage pregnancy.

INTERVENTIONS TO INFLUENCE POSITIVELY CHANGE THESE BEHAVIORS? •Motivation, adults should motivate the young people.

•Adults should be role models to young people.

•Adults should supervise young people by knowing where they are and who are they with.

•Adults should be involved in the lives of young people.

•Adults should identify good and positive skills and attributes in young people and re-enforce them through [|mentoring].

•Families should spend time together for positive family emotional bond.

•The community should work hand in hand with the schools in helping the young people.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, young people needs adults for guidance and they always look for a mother, father, sister or brother figure in adults. Adults must always have time to listen to the youth and never give up on them. The contributing factor to behavior change in today’s youth still remains a challenge in the society unless something is done about it. The adults should know that young people needs love, comfort and companionship. The discussion in this paper was about the factors to behavior change in today’s youth putting emphasis on the adults to be the role models for the youth.

REFERENCES

1.Behavior aspects of todays youth

2.Michigan youth Alive