The role of family support programs in building developmental assets among young adolescents: a national survey of services and staff training needs.

A survey of 659 family support workers' regarding training and their provision of services for families with 10- to 15-year-olds showed that 30% to 50% rated their previous training as inadequate or poor, had inaccurate knowledge about young adolescent development, and felt they were doing an inadequate or poor job promoting developmental assets for youths. Higher quality training was significantly related to the programs' potential excellence. Implications for providing training for family support workers and promoting collaboration are discussed.