Page No 127-135
Rajeev J Michael and Seema Mehrotra
NIMHANS, Bangalore
Youth engagement has been widely recognized as one of the best practices for facilitating
positive youth development and for enhancing youth mental health. The present study
explored the indices of youth engagement in terms of its prevalence and associations
in a sample of 300 college youth in India. A survey was developed for the study. A set of
nine items on the frequency of engagement used in the survey were added up to form the
youth engagement index, which had an internal consistency of 0.68. The results showed
positive association between youth engagement and age, male gender, community
connectedness, self report of having a mentor and a role-model. The study reiterates
the role of trusting, authentic youth-adult connection for enhancing youth engagement,
thus providing rationale for promoting youth mentoring in the Indian context. The fi ndings
underscore the need and scope of building awareness among youth about availability
of opportunities for meaningful engagement.