Youth

In the context of today’s neoliberal governance of schooling, the psychological, emotional, cultural, and spiritual costs of internalized racism remain unaddressed. However, when Youth of Color embody internalized racial oppression (IRO), they become “psychologically homeless,” which affects their wellbeing in devastating ways. This article advances an anti-racist research agenda in education, suggesting that education researchers’ implementation of “healing methodologies” in school is key to tackling issues of IRO. To this end, this paper advocates for education researchers to embrace, incorporate, and combine art-based and walking approaches into participatory “healing methodologies” to provide students with embodied practices that can support them in exploring, reconciling, and repairing hidden injuries while re-establishing inner strength and equilibrium for wellbeing and body restoration. Full article

Youth purpose is a critical developmental asset linked to well-being, academic engagement, and vocational success. However, traditional assessments often fail to capture its complexity. This study introduces an innovative qualitative approach that combines semi-structured interviews with visual mapping to help adolescent participants articulate their journey toward purpose development. Thirty-eight diverse high school students participated in creating visual maps to illustrate their personal paths toward finding purpose. Results revealed three salient themes: (1) chronology, with the road map serving as a way to depict purpose development across time, (2) the common shapes of purpose paths, revealing insights into the developmental experience of purpose, and (3) complementary enhancements, with the visual maps enriching the interviews. This approach offers a rich understanding of how meaningful relationships and formative experiences shape adolescents’ purpose development and highlights the potential of visual methods to capture these complex processes. We discuss practical applications for educational and counseling interventions aimed at cultivating youth purpose. Full article

Researchers, media outlets, and stakeholders in adolescent well-being have raised concerns that increased reliance on electronic communication during the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to a rise in cyberbullying among youth. This exploratory study examined potential changes in cyberbullying behaviors among adolescents in the U.S. and India using longitudinal survey data collected before and during COVID-19-related shutdowns. This study included 92 participants from the U.S. and 38 from India who took part in a cohort study, reporting on their experiences with cyberbullying perpetration and victimization at two time points. Our preliminary findings suggest that there was no significant increase in cyberbullying involvement in either country following the onset of the pandemic. The findings from our exploratory work offer early insights into adolescent digital engagement during a global crisis and highlight the importance of including youth from diverse contexts in cyberbullying research. Full article

Existential concerns are particularly salient during emerging adulthood—a period marked by identity exploration, uncertainty, and developmental transitions. This qualitative study explores the existential anxieties of Greek young adults within the unique sociocultural context of prolonged economic instability and shifting generational expectations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen participants aged 18–30, and thematic analysis was employed to identify key patterns. The findings reveal that concerns about meaning, death, identity, and isolation were central to participants’ experiences, and were often intensified by financial insecurity, intergenerational pressures, and sociopolitical stagnation. Participants employed a range of coping strategies, including introspection, therapy, and spiritual exploration; however, some also turned to maladaptive behaviors such as substance use and compulsive actions (e.g., trichotillomania) to manage distress. These results underscore the complex interplay between individual existential struggles and broader structural conditions. By situating existential anxiety within the lived experiences of Greek youth, this study offers novel insight into culturally situated meaning-making and contributes to the growing discourse on existential well-being in emerging adulthood. Full article

This scoping review study examines seven governments and some non-governmental organisations’ youth development mechanisms in response to drug and alcohol abuse among their youth. This scoping review, including sources from 39 studies and 16 government or organisational reports, are reviewed to investigate youth development measures to mitigate drug and alcohol abuse. This study revealed that youth development mechanisms, such as outreach youth work, digital youth work, and detached youth work, lead to significant changes in risky behaviours. The study further revealed that non-governmental organisations play a critical role in solving drug- and alcohol-related challenges among youth by deterring local merchants from selling drugs and alcohol to underage customers and by strictly regulating their promotion and advertising. Effective mechanisms to develop self-efficacy, purpose, and meaning in life among youth are needed. This study also highlights the need for a joint effort between government departments, local municipalities, non-governmental youth-focused organisations, and schools to come up with effective youth work strategies. This study concludes by proposing the establishment of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) Youth Work Association and the professionalisation of youth work in the region. This will ensure that intervention programmes are implemented by professional youth workers who have the skills and knowledge to work with vulnerable young people. Full article

Active school transportation (AST), including walking or cycling to school, is common among children and youth in India. However, rising air pollution and public health advisories may encourage parents to restrict outdoor activities. The role of parental restrictions on children’s and youths’ participation in AST remains largely unexplored. This study examines how parental restrictions on outdoor activity influence children’s and youths’ engagement in AST. We surveyed children and youth aged 5 to 17 from 41 schools across 28 urban and rural locations in five Indian states, collecting data on AST, parental restrictions, perceptions of air pollution, sociodemographic factors, and school distance. Data were analyzed using multiple logistic regression models, adjusted and unadjusted for children’s and youths’ perceptions of air pollution, segregated by age, gender, and location. Reported parental restrictions due to air pollution were associated with lower odds of engaging in AST overall (OR = 0.625, 95% CI = 0.400–0.971), for ages 5–12 (OR = 0.460, 95% CI = 0.208–0.985, and in urban areas (OR = 0.433, 95% CI = 0.198–0.881). Adjusting for children’s and youths’ air pollution perceptions, these associations persisted in overall and urban analyses. Living over 2 kilometres from school also lowered odds of AST participation (p < 0.05 across all models). The interplay between AST, air pollution, and parental restrictions is self-reinforcing: air pollution can trigger parents to restrict child and youth mobility and reduce AST and, in turn, lower AST may contribute to worsening air quality because of increased motorized transport. Integrated policies are required to simultaneously mitigate pollution and enhance active transportation infrastructure. Full article

Further Education in the UK aims to provide strong educational outcomes for young people. However, some young people are facing a range of complex issues that often require extra support or different interventions. A college developed a programme that combined professional youth work, support services, and formal teaching to see if this approach would improve outcomes. This research took a mixed-method approach to explore if the professional youth work approach has any impact on outcomes for young people. The research showed that professional youth work was considered a unique approach that allowed for more safeguarding concerns to be disclosed, and greater support for additional needs, resulting in improved attendance at college, and better outcomes in Math and English GCSE results. The qualitative data identified five themes that highlighted the effectiveness of this approach: soft skill development, improved familial relationships, unique youth work approaches, effective professional adult relationships, and cohesive professional working. The research concludes that youth work has a positive influence on young people’s formal education experience but must be recognized and supported to be effective. Full article

Young people have a desire to meaningfully contribute to their communities and create lasting impact. While youth service programs aim to support this goal, research often emphasizes youth development over social and environmental outcomes. This study addresses this gap by analyzing six youth service programs run by three national Canadian non-profits. Using a youth-led social framework, we examine the impact strategies young participants employed to implement service projects. Our findings highlight how youth use diverse strategies to achieve social and environmental outcomes, and we propose adjustments to the existing framework to better capture youth contributions. This research broadens the understanding of youth impact, emphasizing that young people are not only beneficiaries of service but also agents of meaningful change. Full article

Sexual violence among adolescents remains a persistent social and public health issue. Prevention approaches tend to be designed and executed by adults, with young people serving limited roles. Getting young people involved in the field of prevention can be a lofty goal for community-based organizations, who often work with limited time, capacity, funds, and resources to build impactful youth programs. Young people have grown up observing injustices in their communities and have clear, actionable ideas for addressing sexual violence and advancing social change. Unfortunately, little has explained how and why centering youth voices and leadership matters in sexual violence prevention efforts and how it can be done. In this paper, a collection of youth leaders use interview data from a participatory evaluation of a groundbreaking youth-centered prevention program to introduce the Youth-Led Program to Prevention Model. Using members’ testimonies and co-constructed analysis, and inspired by ripple effect and ecological models, the Youth-Led Program to Prevention Model showcases how youth-centered activism and education can advance the goals of sexual violence prevention and impact young people, communities, and systems. Written by youth leaders themselves and based on their lived experiences in the evaluated program, this paper accompanies the Youth-Led Program to Prevention Model with actionable strategies for practitioners who wish to celebrate young people’s contributions and visions for change. Full article

This conceptual paper advocates for the use of Testimonio as a critical methodological approach in sport-based youth development (SBYD) research, particularly with Latine youth. Recent scholarship has called for critical methodologies that center race, expose systemic inequities, and challenge entrenched power structures in SBYD research. Testimonio does precisely that. Rooted in Latine ways of knowing, Testimonio has long been used to document the injustices faced by Latine communities in both Latin America and the United States. Defined by its five pillars—(1) bearing witness, (2) denouncing injustices, (3) consciousness-raising, (4) social justice orientation, and (5) transformational power—Testimonio is widely used in the fields of education, psychology and sociology, yet it remains absent in SBYD research. This paper argues that Testimonio offers a powerful means of capturing the lived realities of Latine youth that traditional research methods often overlook or erase. Preliminary considerations and best practices are offered for scholars and practitioners seeking to employ Testimonio within SBYD contexts. Full article

Physical activity has been shown to improve the wellbeing of young adults pursuing post-secondary education, yet most college students do not perform adequate amounts of physical activity. Given post-secondary students’ reliance on internet and social media for physical activity information gathering, we questioned whether a lack of activity-promoting information might contribute to the activity deficit. Thus, we sought to determine the accessibility and extent of online physical health activity information and initiatives across a sample of large North American campuses by performing a series of physical wellness related searches through Google, the institutions’ sites, and the institutions’ Instagram accounts. Specifically, we question the extent of limitations to the accessibility and content information on institutions’ sites. We found less than half of all web searches and only three-point-five percent of social media posts had topically relevant information. Google was a more effective tool for finding relevant information than institution websites, suggesting institutions could benefit from improving access to physical activity information on their sites. Social media posts were primarily varsity and sport related, indicating a need for increased content about accessible physical activity options. Investigating possible directions to improve institution website usability could benefit student access to physical wellness resources on campus. Full article

Care-experienced young people often face considerable challenges due to a personal history of trauma and disruption and have a higher risk of homelessness, mental ill health, and involvement with the criminal justice system. A stubborn trend of achieving fewer qualifications than non-care-experienced peers persists, with greater likelihood of becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). Accessible and sustainable pre-employment programmes should be a priority for national initiatives designed to generate improved outcomes for vulnerable youth. The I-CAN (Initiating and Supporting Care Leavers into Apprenticeships in Nursing) programme offers young people in England (aged 18–30) a person-focussed pathway to training and employment. However, robust research is needed to evidence the effectiveness of this type of small-scale and short-term funded programme. The current paper reports qualitative findings from a pilot study exploring the perceptions and experiences of (N = 27) young people who attended the 8-week I-CAN programme delivered at a Higher Education Institution. Data were collected from four focus groups and thematically analysed. The findings captured young people’s personal trajectories and exposed underpinning processes as well as unique, shared, and intersectional factors that can either facilitate or impede progression to education, employment and training. Crucially, care-experienced young people are not a homogenous group and capturing their authentic, diverse voices in evaluation research is essential for not only assessing if a programme works but for whom, and why. Furthermore, findings can help to inform meaningful strategies and socially valid interventions to support care-experienced young people navigate the transition ‘cliff edge’. Full article

Where we find and form identity and belonging, meaning and purpose, is often entangled in the dynamics that play out between people and place, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, the legacy and ongoing experience of invasion and colonisation. Place-based understandings of identity and its importance in shaping young people’s experience of what is possible and probable in their futures might be critical to framing cross-cultural work with young people impacted by violence and trauma. This paper draws on practitioner reflections of work with young Aboriginal women both on, and off Country, highlighting common and distinct themes related to identity formation and migration in navigating new futures. These include connection to Country and spiritual connection, family and kinship relationships, Women’s Business and felt cultural safety. The findings illustrate a meaningful parallel instructive to practice; for both young women and practitioners, access to cultural knowledge and connection is strengthened by endorsement and in turn strengthens understanding and experienced safety. This work emphasises the importance of creating culturally connected opportunities, sensitive to dynamics of place, to support positive identity expression and wellbeing. Full article

Thailand’s southern border provinces need youth-focused multicultural leadership programs integrating local religious–cultural elements, community involvement, and long-term evaluation to enhance social cohesion and sustainable development. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a program to foster multicultural leadership among youth in Thailand’s three southern border provinces. The research was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved synthesizing key multicultural leadership characteristics, designing a structured program and assessing its relevance and coherence through expert evaluation. The second phase focused on empirical validation by implementing the program with 22 selected youth participants, employing repeated-measures analysis of variance to assess its effectiveness. Additionally, experts evaluated the program’s validity, appropriateness, cost-effectiveness, utility, and feasibility. The resulting program, “EARCA”, comprises five core components: Experiential Exposure, Active Exploration & Engagement, Reflective Thinking & Analysis, Concept Integration & Synthesis, and Application & Extension. Expert assessments confirmed its appropriateness at the highest level, with a consistency index ranging from 0.8 to 1.0. Statistical analyses demonstrated significant improvements in all dimensions of multicultural leadership among participants. Furthermore, the program was rated highly accurate, appropriate, cost-effective, practical, and feasible for real-world implementation. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to enhance multicultural leadership development through structured, evidence-based interventions. Full article

Participation in organized sport is widely encouraged for youth development, yet positive outcomes are not guaranteed. Parents play a pivotal role in shaping young athletes’ experiences, requiring emotional support, interpersonal skills, and self-regulation. This study examines the meanings parents attribute to their children’s sports participation and how young athletes construct their experiences under parental and coaching influences. An interpretive phenomenological methodology involved semi-structured interviews with coaches, focus groups with parents, and open-ended questionnaires to young athletes. Seventeen players (M = 11.2 years, SD = 0.59), nineteen parents (M = 47.6 years, SD = 3.61), and two coaches from the same football club volunteered to participate in the study. Participants were selected through purposive sampling to ensure a homogeneous experience. The findings reveal that parental involvement balances support and pressure, while trust-building between parents and coaches significantly impacts the athletes’ experiences. The evolving role of technology and the importance of social dynamics within teams also emerged as critical factors. Intrinsic motivation, fostering emotional bonding through the sport, and adopting a developmental rather than purely competitive framework were emphasized factors identified as supporting positive youth sport experiences. These findings offer insights into how interconnected relationships among parents, coaches, and athletes influence children’s sports engagement and development. Full article

This paper presents an ethnographically informed analysis of research in Cairo and Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) surrounding the 2022 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP27) summit. I discuss the geopolitics and geopolitical disruptions of researching activism and activist lives in politically sensitive environments. As shown here, developing new methodological interventions plays a crucial role in understanding contextual methodological limitations, dealing with logistical challenges, and building authentic relationships with research participants. Here, I introduce counter-interviews as a methodological strategy to build trust and invest in researcher–participant relationships. This article draws on participant observation, conversations with environmental and climate activists and non-activists in Cairo prior to and after COP27 and in Sharm El-Sheikh during the second week of the summit, reflective field notes, and 20 semi-structured interviews conducted online between February and August 2023. Here, I use the term “environmental non-activism” to draw attention to the sensitivity, complexity, and fragility of political or apolitical environmental and climate action in an authoritarian context where any form of collective action is highly monitored, regulated, and sometimes criminalized by the state. The main argument of this paper is that examining interlocking power dynamics that shape and reshape the activist space in relation to the state is a requirement for understanding and researching the complexities and specificities of climate activism and non-activism in authoritarian contexts. Along with this argument, this paper invites climate education researchers to reevaluate what non-movements and non-activists in the Global South offer to their analyses of possible alternatives, socio-political change, and politics of hope (and to the broader field of activism in educational research, where commitment to disruption, refusal, and subversion play a key role. Full article

Introduction: Sexual minority men (SMM) are at increased risk for psychosocial stressor exposure, substance use, and poor mental health relative to heterosexual men. While the burden of mental health is growing in the United States, among SMM these trends are increasing at a greater rate, driving health disparities. Methods: Framed within a minority stress framework, these analyses examine how stressors explain substance use and poorer mental health over time. Participants were asked questions on stressor exposure (stigma, discrimination, internalized homophobia, perceived stress), mental health (anxiety, depression, PTSD), and substance use (alcohol to intoxication, club drugs, poly club drugs) over 36 months among 528 SMM in NYC. Results: Perceived stress increased frequency of all substance use, whereas discrimination decreased days of club and poly club drug use. Depression severity predicted increased days of club drug and poly club drug use. PTSD severity predicted increased days of club drug and poly club drug use. Conclusion: We are able to expand on the literature with granular substance use data to highlight associations with stressors and mental health. These findings support an increased need for systematic policy solutions and public health interventions to address drivers of substance use disparities among young SMM. Full article