Incorporating volunteer youth in emergency teams: The effect of the cognitive-emotional spiral

This study examines the influence processes of a program that incorporated youth into community emergency teams (CETs), exploring the overall repercussions from a holistic point of view. The study was based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with youth CET members and their parents, and with adult CET organizers and members. Findings show that the program improved the community’s emergency response preparations, strengthened communal empowerment in the settlement, and strengthened the self-efficacy and self-esteem of the participating youth. The positive reinforcements received from both small and large successes, from the adult participants’ feedback and the responses of the surrounding community, elicited strong feelings among youth and adults, which in turn led to insights that changed their mutual perceptions, and contributed to the cognitive-emotional development of the adolescents’ identity.