Why is Meeting Youth Needs so Important?

Why is Meeting Youth Needs so Important?
If youth needs are met in positive ways, youth develop characteristics that most of us would
relate to character:

1 Youth who experience Belonging, tend to be trusting and friendly people.  
2 Youth with productive opportunities to experience Mastery, tend to become problem-solvers
who are motivated and achievement-oriented.  
3 Youth who experience opportunities to be Independent become confident and self-disciplined
leaders, and youth who experience Generosity become caring and empathic people.

If youth needs are met in negative ways, unmet needs can become defining factors in the lives of
youth:

1 Youth seek to Belong through promiscuous or clinging behaviors.
2 Youth attempt to feel Mastery by cheating or developing delinquent skills.
3 Youth try to establish Independence by being bullies or through defiant behavior.
4Youth are unable to establish their identity and lose themselves in constantly giving.

If youth needs consistently go unmet, some youth retreat or give up on getting needs met:
Youth who have not bonded to adults do not bond to institutions.  NOT broken families that
cause youth violence and other problems but rather broken bonds between youth and adults.

1 Youth with no productive opportunities for Mastery often give up easily and avoid risks
because it’s easier to not try than to try and fail.
2 To be respected is to have power.  Winning respect through aggressive techniques is
immensely important when there is so little to be had.
3 Youth with no opportunities to connect meaningfully with others become isolated in their own
experience and often become selfish and even antisocial.