Latino Parents’ Engagement in their Adolescents’ Participation in Youth Programs

Abstract

This study examines the types of parental support parents demonstrate to their adolescents in youth programs. erefore, the question of interest is: how are Latino parents engaged in their adolescents’ participation in youth programs? Parents of youth in organized youth programs were recruited for semi-structured interviews. Twenty-three parents were interviewed, 12 of those parents were Latino and 7 (males = 2, females = 5) of them compromise the analytic sample. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with trained interviewers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and checked and transcripts were analyzed for parental support. emes identied were entered into a qualitative data management program, Nvivo 9. Findings indicated that Latino parents showed more indirect support than direct support. Parents who were directly supportive were more likely to be indirectly supportive as well. Common barriers included: work, time constraints, scheduling, and commitment conicts. Overall, parents provide dierent kinds of support that can ultimately contribute to youths’ participation in youth programs. e current study provides unique information about Latino parents’ perspectives.