Saving Kids From Despair

How to provide the critical skills young people need to overcome adversity

By Jami Jones -- School Library Journal, 8/1/2003

Amanda was everything I had hoped for in my son's first serious girlfriend. She was polite, outgoing, and cute as a button. Like others who knew her, I was completely taken with her charm. Amanda's family history seemed no different than that of many kids her age. Her parents divorced when she was a toddler. She barely knew her father, who had remarried and started a new family. And her mother had a series of bad marriages and divorces, leaving the young girl without strong family ties. While I had only met her three times, Amanda seemed relatively well adjusted.

But within eight months of our first encounter, Amanda was dead. An autopsy indicated the cause of death was related to an untreated heart condition, but there were circumstances surrounding her death that troubled me deeply. In the months leading up to her death, Amanda's life had begun to unravel. There were hints of depression; she was overeating, anxious, and withdrawn. My son later told me that she would often cut her flesh to control her emotional pain.

I only wish I had recognized the gravity of the situation and had intervened to help. As a high school media specialist in Naples, FL, I had often heard stories about students' broken homes and dysfunctional families. But back then, my job was to integrate technology into the curriculum, not get involved in students' personal lives. It took Amanda's death to show me how wrong I was. School librarians can build media programs that provide kids with the tools they need to protect themselves from the damaging effects of unstable families, peer pressure, and impersonal teachers. But few media specialists are ready to take that plunge, even though it can improve young lives—and in some cases, actually save them.

Amanda was just one of the nearly 40 million adolescents who walk the halls of this nation's middle schools and high schools. Many of them face similar problems: Half of the teen population has divorced parents; one in five is clinically depressed; and many do not receive adequate treatment for their condition. Twenty percent live in poverty, placing them at above-average risk for crime, substance abuse, welfare dependency, and low levels of education. Drugs, anorexia, abuse, and bullying are a part of their daily lives. After Amanda's death, I wanted to do everything I could to spare other kids the agony she must have endured in her final days. From here on, I vowed that other troubled kids would know that I was there for them.

Why do some students bounce back from adversity, while others descend into the depths of depression? The answer lies in the concept of resiliency—the ability to thrive and prosper during life's difficult times. Researchers have been studying this subject for almost 50 years. Social scientists Emmy E. Werner and Ruth S. Smith launched the most comprehensive study in 1955. Their research focused on children on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, tracking them from when they were in utero until their early 30s. They discovered that children who were most at risk of failure in school were subject to hardships such as poverty or the prolonged absence of a parent due to separation or divorce. But most importantly, the study identified the various factors that could protect these children from adversity—the basic resiliency skills that could be learned.

Having closely examined the results of the Kauai study and others, I've devised the "Library Ladder of Resiliency" for media specialists who want to incorporate these skills seamlessly into their library programs. It consists of the following core services: mentoring, reading and information skills, social skills, and hobbies.

Many people underestimate the power of mentoring and making connections with kids—the two most important ingredients of a successful resiliency program. "Being emotionally connected with adults and people in communities is a significant part of what allows nearly 70 percent of young people in even the worst conditions to thrive despite adversity," writes Joel Brown, Bonnie Benard, and Marianne D'Emidio-Caston in their book Resilience Education (Corwin, 2001). Werner and Smith also found that a caring relationship with an adult was the most significant factor in helping teens cope with their challenges. The most resilient teens remembered one or two teachers who had reached out to them and made a difference. As part of "Reading for the Fun of It!" a joint program I developed between two Collier County public school media centers and the Collier County Public Library in Naples, media specialists and public librarians take students to the bookstore to select books for the library. It's a great way to make connections and spend quality time with kids. On each trip, students talk about their lives, interests, and dreams.

In a world where both parents work and single parents are often too stressed, many teens spend little time with adults. In A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence (Ballantine, 1999), a must-read for adults seeking to understand the realities of teen life, Patricia Hersch writes that part of the solution to school violence is to listen to kids. "Hear what their lives are like, what matters to them, how things are going in their world. Listen and bring adult wisdom to their discussion." As media specialists, our close interactions with kids make us ideal listeners and put us in a position to help them articulate their experiences.

Werner and Smith discovered that reading is "one of the most potent predictors of successful adaptation among high-risk children" and that effective reading skills by grade four foretold a successful transition to adulthood. Since most teens enjoy being read to, I teach vocabulary and reading skills through interactive booktalking. I start by selecting several powerful passages from a book and reading them aloud to a class, then I relate the passages back to the teens' personal experiences and develop questions that encourage group discussion. I pose questions that place teens in situations similar to those found in the story and allow them to come up with their own solutions. As a result of our shared discussion, the book becomes more meaningful to teens because they're able to connect it to their own lives.

Interactive booktalking also fosters information or problem-solving skills, another rung of a successful resiliency program. Kids develop critical-thinking skills by reading, discussing, and improving on the decisions made by characters in young adult fiction books and biographies. When faced with adversity, resilient teens are better able to weigh options for dealing with their problems. More reading should be built into the school day so students will learn to use books, databases, Web sites, and other forms of media to find answers to real-world problems.

I use the Big6 approach to learning, which breaks the decision-making process into six discrete steps, to help kids become better problem solvers. For example, I've asked students to imagine that they have a friend who has cut himself or is depressed or feels the effects of divorce, teen pregnancy, or drunk driving. Students then work in pairs to develop a plan to help their friend overcome his challenge. Their completed plan can take the form of a video or PowerPoint presentation, a Web site, or some other creative solution. Students typically become so engrossed in their projects that they're very receptive to applying the Big6 approach.

Resilient children have well-developed social skills, which can be taught by adult role models such as media specialists. Activities such as sports, drama clubs, tutoring, or volunteering at a library, school, or place of worship provide kids with opportunities to make friends and develop necessary social skills. "The chief determinant of a youngster's popularity during adolescence is his or her social skills," writes teacher and researcher Laurence Steinberg in his book Adolescence (McGraw-Hill, 2002). "Popular teens have more friends and are more confident. On the other hand, unpopular teens are more likely to be low achievers in school, drop out of high school, have learning disabilities, show higher rates of delinquent behavior, and suffer from emotional and mental health problems as adults."

Nelle Martin, a media specialist at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, FL, made a concerted effort to connect with her students by creating "The Lunch Bunch," a program that provides disenfranchised teens who are afraid of the cafeteria with a safe haven in the school library to read, play games, and gain a sense of belonging. Martin used this lunchtime program to help a group of antisocial teens learn to work together. "Suddenly friendships were forged and the media center became the place to be," says Martin, who also gave teens meaningful chores in the media center and eased lunchtime eating rules. Martin's efforts to promote self-esteem and resiliency earned her the first Amanda Award in October 2002. Named in honor of Amanda and sponsored by the Florida Association of Media in Education, I created this award to recognize secondary school media specialists who create exemplary programs that connect with teens, support reading, and teach character-building skills.

Werner and Smith found that children and teens who engaged in hobbies were more apt to effectively deal with adversity. Hobbies bring teens in contact with more people, provide solace during times of turmoil, and help kids feel more confident and positive about themselves. Media specialists can promote hobbies by purchasing a variety of books and magazines, identifying Web sites, developing displays, and encouraging discussion.

Our high school offers an annual fine arts night to showcase the talents of kids who take part in band, chorus, and dance. But the event has never been very popular with teens, just their parents. So I suggested to the fine arts teacher that we move the event to the nearby Collier County Public Library's headquarters, which has a great outdoor patio with a stage. It was a win-win situation. The public library publicized the event and we attracted 80 people—four times the usual number—who had never seen our students perform. The kids were very excited to perform in front of a new audience. We're planning to hold more events like this next winter, when our seasonal residents return to town. It's a great way for public librarians and media specialists to work together to support students' special interests.

Amanda's death led me to reevaluate my role as a media specialist in helping teens on their journey to adulthood. The most eloquent rationale I have found for basing a library media program on resiliency research is explained in the introduction to Jacqueline and Richard Lerner's Adolescence in America: An Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2001): "Simply, the young people of today represent 100 percent of the human capital on which the future health and success of America rests. To enhance the lives of American adolescents requires that we continuously educate all citizens—young and old—about the best means available to promote enhanced healthy lives among all youth and the families, schools, and communities involved in their lives."