Responses to survey questions on the degree of family “connectedness“ among adolescents. Evaluators may include the following types of items in indices of con­nectedness:

Data Source(s):

Surveys of program participants or youth in the program‘s intended population

Purpose:

Studies in both the U.S. and developing countries have shown that feeling “connected“ with parents and/or adult family members protects adolescents against risky sexual behaviors and thus against adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes (Resnick et al., 1997). This indicator thus measures the degree of connections between adolescents in the program‘s intended population and their parents/fami­lies. For diagnostic purposes, the indicator measures the percent of adolescents in the program‘s intended population that may be vulnerable to negative influences and to adverse outcomes. In settings where the level of connectedness is low, programs for parents and/or the provision of alternative mentors may be called for.  In such programs, evaluators may also use the indicator as an intermediate outcome indicator to measure improve­ments in the social environment for adolescents in the program‘s intended population.