Improving the Lives of Adolescents and Young Adults: Out-of-School Time Programs That Have Significant Positive Impacts

This brief by Child Trends (created through a partnership with NAHIC) identifies 46 out-of-school time programs that have shown positive impacts on adolescent or young adult outcomes. Outcome categories include behavior problems, substance use, reproductive health, social-emotional health, life skills, education, and physical health.

Across the country, thousands of out-of-school time programs aim to improve the lives of children and youth. The Lifecourse Interventions to Nurture Kids Successfully (LINKS) database aims to help decision makers identify the most effective programs and avoid programs that do not work. LINKS is an online compendium of more than 550 experimental evaluations of social interventions for children and young adults.

Improving the Lives of Adolescents and Young Adults: Out-of-School Time Programs That Have Significant Positive Impacts