Issue 149: july 2011

ent and se quen tial. Chil dren have an

in nate  abil ity  to  con sis tently  dis play  dis -

rup tive  and  an ti so cial  be hav iors  even

though the be hav iors are dis closed dif fer -

ently with in creas ing age. Yet al though

these  be hav iors  may  be  an ti so cial,  they

nev er the less help to de fine the nature of

resilience in children.

We learn from young peo ple like Juan

that re sil ience is not nec es sar ily pretty, so -

cial, or law ful. Re sil ient qual i ties can go

be yond ac cepted so cial norms and even

to ward crim i nal ity when a child’s cir cum -

stances  be come  des per ate  or

un sup ported by car ing adults. If a child is

left alone or ex ploited by ne far i ous oth ers, 

re sil ient traits sur face to help him or her

to  sur vive  hos tile  en vi ron ments.  When

human chil dren are forced to care for

them selves, like some pri mates, be cause

they have been aban doned by care givers,

spe cies-spe cific  re sil ient  be hav iors  begin

to emerge. These be hav iors can ac quire

spe cial mean ing for the chil dren and ad o -

les cents who use them and, as a re sult,

often be come rit u al ized. When these rit u -

al ized,  re sil ient  be hav iors  be come

dis rup tive,  adults  and  their  in sti tu tions,

rather than lis ten ing, ob serv ing, and sup -

port ing, too often choose instead to

discipline, medicate, or punish.

De vel op men tal  Path ways  as  Rites  of

Pas sage

The seem ing par a dox that ex ists be -

tween  re sil ience  and  harm ful  be hav iors

can  be  un rav eled  by  un der stand ing  the

need  for  struc tured,  mul ti ple-com po nent

prosocial rites and rit u als di rected by

adults and sup ported by com mu nity. De -

vel op men tal rites of pas sage can as sist

chil dren  and  ad o les cents  in  choos ing

prosocial path ways if adults sup port

age-ap pro pri ate  rit u als  based  upon

contributing resilient qualities.

For ex am ple, Ste ven Venable (1997)

stud ied rites of pas sage pro grams that in -

cor po rated  moun tain  climb ing  and

back pack ing. He con cluded that “the rites

of  pas sage  struc ture  rep re sents  a  sig nif i -

cant  and  pos i tive  pos si ble  re source  for

growth and trans for ma tion in the lives of

ad o les cents"  (p.  12).  Af ri can-Amer i can

male teen ag ers liv ing in high-risk en vi ron -

ments were found to greatly ben e fit from

com pre hen sive Africentric rites of pas sage 

pro grams de scribed by Harvey and Rauch

(1997). And Cassandra Halleh Delaney

(1995) states:

In creased  op por tu nity  for  young

peo ple  to  par tic i pate  in  ap pro pri ate

rites of pas sage may be achieved by

up dat ing  tra di tional  cer e mo nies,

con tin u ing  and  ex pand ing  rites  of

pas sage  pro grams  and  in clud ing

bibliotherapy as part of the high

school cur ric u lum. It is hoped that

these ef forts will re sult in a de crease

of  self-de struc tive  be hav ior  and  a

greater sense of ful fill ment for the

young peo ple coming of age in

America. (p. 897)

The  de struc tive  de vel op men tal  path -

ways that Loeber and his col leagues

de scribe can be the av e nues that Juan and

his peers fol low in order to sur vive a cul -

ture that fails to nur ture or sup port them

with  rit u al ized  ac tiv i ties  that  rec og nize  the 

im por tance  of  child hood  sep a ra tion,  prep -

a ra tion,  tran si tion,  and  ac knowl edg ment.

28

CYC-Online July 2011  /  Issue 149

---

But with adult-di rected rites of pas sage

pro grams  that  in cor po rate  rit u al ized  re sil -

ience  and  de vel op men tally  ap pro pri ate

ac tiv ity, chil dren like Juan can dis cover

their strengths and share their gifts.

Rites of Pas sage Pro grams

Prom  Cath o lic  con fir ma tion  and  Jew ish 

bar and bat mitzvahs to the Mor mon mis -

sion,  most  re li gions  have  tra di tion ally

in cor po rated  rites  of  pas sage  rit u als  into

their faiths. How ever, em pha siz ing the im -

por tance of prosocial rit u als for young

peo ple.  Nev er the less,  one  pro gram  that

has suc ceeded is the Boys and Girls Club of 

Stockton, Cal i for nia’s “Rites of Pas sage” ef -

fort to ini ti ate boys in the req ui sites of

man hood (Boys and Girls Club, Inc., 1998). 

Using a coun cil of el ders, par ents, men -

tors, schools, com mu nity based

or ga ni za tions,  and  the  faith  com mu nity,

the club’s “Rites of Pas sage" pro gram of -

fers mid dle school youth the op por tu nity

to gain im por tant skills for adult hood. In

this  pro gram,  par tic i pat ing  youth  com plete 

an  ap pli ca tion  and  as sess ment  fol lowed  by 

youth and par ent train ing, once-a-month

Sat ur day fam ily days, and field trips to ex -

pand their cul tural aware ness. Adopted

re cently by pub lic schools and sup ported

by com mu nity lead ers, this pas sages pro -

gram is de signed as a so cial re cov ery plan

for par ents and youth, using 9 rites to re -

duce risk and increase the following

protective factors:

1.  Per sonal  —  en hanc ing  self-es teem,

im prov ing  self-con cept,  and  en hanc ing

a young per son’s sense of self-worth.

2.  Spir i tual  — ex plor ing the con cepts of

un con di tional  love,  friend ship,

cour age,  pa tience,  joy,  suf fer ing,

com mit ment,  em pa thy,  sym pa thy,  and

compassion.

3.  Eco nomic  — teach ing the pur pose of

money, how to make money, and how

to  man age  it.  Ca reer  ex plo ra tion  and

en tre pre neur  train ing  is  an  in te gral

con cept.

4.  So cial  —  de vel op ing  skills  of  lead er ship 

such as pub lic speak ing, writ ing,

su per vis ing,  mo ti vat ing,  de ci sion

mak ing,  con cen tra tion,  and  mediation

skills.

5.  Men tal  — en hanc ing the youth’s

ap pre ci a tion  of  ed u ca tion  and  crit i cal

thinking.

6.  Phys i cal  —  fo cus ing  on  de vel op men tal

un der stand ing  of  the  phys i cal  self  and

how to care for it. Youth ex plore and

de velop  an  un der stand ing  of  nu tri tion

and the dan gers of al co hol, to bacco,

and substance abuse.

7.  His tor i cal  — de vel op ing a sense of

his tor i cal  aware ness,  con nec tion,

vi sion,  pur pose,  and  ap pre ci a tion  of

self and group.

8.  Cul tural  — ex pos ing youth to the

ideas,  val ues,  prin ci ples,  per cep tions,

art, music, lit er a ture, and so cial

pat terns of cul tural groups.

9.  Emo tional  —  ex am in ing  the

de vel op ment of and need to mas ter

the  emo tional  self.  Re la tion ships,

non vi o lent  con flict  res o lu tion,  love,

anger  man age ment,  friend ship,  and

fam ily build ing are targeted.

Rites of Pas sage along Prosocial

Path ways

In a re cent ad dress, U.S. Sec re tary of

Ed u ca tion  Rich ard  Riley  dis cussed  is sues  of 

29

CYC-Online July 2011  /  Issue 149

---