Need Satisfaction in Structured and Unstructured Out-of-School-Time: A Positive Youth Development Approach

The Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework emphasizes adolescents’ strengths and the role of supportive environments in fostering positive development (Lerner et al., 2015). This study investigates the role of psychological need satisfaction (PNS) in PYD outcomes across structured and unstructured out-of-school time (OST) contexts. Data were collected from 832 U.S. adolescents (mean age = 15.78, SD = 1.16, 56.2% female, 53.4% non-Hispanic White) involved in afterschool programs (structured context) who also reported using local parks (unstructured context). Structural equation modeling assessed the relationship between demographic variables, participation frequency, PNS, and PYD. Results indicate that participation frequency had the strongest relationship with PNS in both types of OST. Furthermore, satisfaction of the need for relatedness in parks, and competence and relatedness in programs, were significantly related to adolescents’ PYD. These findings underscore the importance of fostering psychological need satisfaction in both structured and unstructured OST to support adolescents’ developmental needs.