Croix, 2019) and/or have social and/or mental health problems, such as insufficient prosocial skills, depressive feelings, or stress-related illnesses that hinder their opportunity to fully participate in society. Socially vulnerable youth often experience a lack of encouragement and support from people in their social environment (Abdallah, 2017) they grow up in low-income families and have to deal with poverty (Doherty & De St. Youngsters who grow up in socially vulnerable positions face challenges and developmental burdens in addition to dealing with the complexity of the developmental challenges generally faced by youngsters in the twenty-first century (Larson, 2011). The term “social vulnerability” refers to the structurally vulnerable position of specific individuals or groups in society (e.g., those in deprived neighborhoods), who may have negative experiences with social institutions which often leads to distorted relationships and social disconnectedness (Vettenburg, 1998). Professional youth workers engage primarily with youngsters between the ages of 10 and 24 who are growing up in socially vulnerable positions (Dunne et al., 2014 Metz, 2017). Compared to project-based after-school youth development programs in the United States (Larson et al., 2019), professional youth work in Western welfare states also offers “unstructured” activities in settings where young people can chill out. Youth work is positioned in the leisure time of youngsters and plays a preventive role in a wide range of informal contexts, such as youth clubs, sports facilities, online, or on the streets (Baillergeau & Hoijtink, 2010). In performing youth work activities, professional youth workers often also work with volunteers. As in most other European countries, there is not one particular training program for youth workers in the Netherlands rather, broader vocational education or a Bachelor’s degree (in social work) which includes the field of youth work can be followed (Dunne et al., 2014). Professional youth workers demonstrably master relevant knowledge, skills, and attitudes, which are obtained through a combination of formal education, peer learning and experience working with young people (Metz, 2017). Professional youth work in the Netherlands is a relatively small profession (1500 paid workers), undertaken by public welfare organizations and usually funded by local governments. This study intended to address this knowledge gap by focusing on whether participation in professional youth work actually contributes to the personal development and greater social participation of youngsters. There is also a lack of large-scale empirical research on the contribution of professional youth work to the personal development and social participation of youngsters (McGregor, 2015). From a theoretical focus on positive youth development, there is a growing belief that strengthening support for personal development, reinforcement of social networks and enhancement of civic participation may be reducing risks and problems and preventing the need for social care in young people’s lives (Catalano et al., 2004). ![]() Within Western welfare states, youth policy makers and social work practice are paying increasing attention to how professional youth work contributes to the personal development and social participation of youngsters, preventing social and (mental) health problems (Fish, 2014) and reducing the growing number of young people in social care institutions (CBS, 2020). The results provide knowledge that legitimizes the role of professional youth workers and which can be used by them to improve the support of socially vulnerable youngsters in their personal development and social participation. Referring youngsters (33%) by youth workers to care services could prevent an exacerbation of existing problems. Respondents did not show individual improvements on outcome variables over the period, but the results demonstrate a cautious positive trend over time in volunteering. ![]() ![]() The results show that, on average, youngsters who participated longer in youth work scored significantly higher on the outcome variables. The study was designed as a longitudinal cohort study of four waves during a 16-month period, gathering the data of 1597 youngsters aged 10–24 who participated in Dutch professional youth work. This article focuses on how length of participation in professional youth work is associated with five outcome variables: prosocial skills, self-mastery, social network, civic participation (volunteering and organizing activities) and finding support from social care services.
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