Youth, Volume 3, Issue 3 (September 2023) – 20 articles

Increased reports of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) have been identified following football games. Yet, the relationship between DVA and football culture remains qualitatively underexplored. To better understand this phenomenon, we conducted a focus group with male, non-abusive football youth fans to gain their perceptions of why domestic violence increases following football matches in England. Using thematic analysis, we present a unique insight into the link between DVA and football culture. The findings align with previously identified risk factors for DVA, including the role of alcohol consumption, gambling, and other violent behaviours. We also identified game-specific (e.g., the intensity of winning or losing) and individual factors (e.g., previous exposure to violence and awareness of what constitutes DVA) as heightening the effects of these cultural behaviours, alongside an increased sense of identity with ‘football culture’ after attending a game. We conclude by considering the implications of these findings for policy and practice, such as considering placement of advertising campaigns during matches to increase awareness, increasing threats of punishment and considering the scheduling of matches to reduce triggers of such cultural, and often violent, behaviours associated with football fandom. In addition, we call for further research in this area. Full article

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experiences of Black college men living with disabilities, namely ADHD and/or depression, as defined by DSM-5. Using naturalistic methods and a semi-structured interview protocol, we focused on understanding their experiences during the Great Pandemic (COVID-19) and the implications for campus support services in a post-COVID-19 era. The key implications for future research, policy, and practice are highlighted. Full article

Music making holds great potential for youth activism. When combined with youth work, that potential is significantly heightened. This article applies Kuttner’s framework for justice-oriented cultural citizens to data gleaned from five youth workers across three different cities in the East Midlands of England. Each of these youth workers was interviewed about their involvement in music-making activities, from providing instrumental tuition to facilitating lyric-writing workshops, and their perspectives on youth activism. Data from this study highlights the affordances of youth music making in relation to three layers of activism: self-activism, community-level activism and wider social activism. This article concludes by arguing for the importance of music-making spaces for young people and music making practices within youth work. Full article

This paper describes how a collective of Latine youth and adult allies used art-based approaches in a participatory action research project to better understand the ways in which young U.S. Latines make meaning of wellbeing. In this study, we interviewed 19 individuals who identified as Latino/a/e, ages 19–24, from Colorado, Washington state and New Jersey. Our team intentionally chose art-based approaches, including music and painting, as analytical tools and healing methods to synthesize the responses of the Latine youth we interviewed. We found that Latine youth and young adults initially struggle with defining wellbeing, considering it to be an overly abstract concept or something only achievable through expensive, Western-based medical practices. We also found that many Latine youth often link the root cause of a majority of their mental health issues to numerous systemic terrors such as racism, capitalism and sexism that directly harm their most intimate and supportive relationships: their immediate or extended family and friendships. Young Latine adults have identified these components as pillars of their wellbeing, along with the need for intergenerational conversations, a sense of convivencia, rootedness with freedom of movement and our right to healing and joy. Full article

Comprehensive sexuality education (known as Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in England), which is age-appropriate, accurate, realistic and non-judgemental, is a tool that enables children and young people to make informed decisions about their sexual health, sexuality and well-being. As such, it is crucial towards the realisation of many of the rights of children under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, such as, but not limited to, the rights to information, education and health. However, in the English guidance on RSE, there is very little consideration of children’s rights, and the requirement to involve parents in the shaping of RSE curricula as well as the right for parents to withdraw children from sex education lessons potentially hinders children’s access to RSE. In this paper, we discuss the views and experiences of teachers and professional educators to ascertain the position of children’s rights in the National Guidance on RSE and in the everyday practice of teaching RSE. Their views and experiences assist us in understanding some of the motivators and barriers to teaching RSE from the perspective of children’s rights. In analysing the English approach to RSE, we used Bourke, Mallon and Maunsell’s framework and considered RSE rights under the UNCRC from the perspective of the right to education; rights in education and rights through RSE. Full article

Terms like youth-friendly, youth-focused, youth-centred, youth-responsive, etc., have been used to describe the opportunities and services offered to young people. Such concepts often refer to essential and suitable forms of activity and their quality for young people. However, the term “youth-centred” or “youth-centred approach” is not unambiguously understandable in youth work or in other services or activities for young people. Furthermore, more instruments are needed to help a youth worker or a specialist working with young people in every field to work in a more youth-centred way. The team of the Youth Work programme of Narva College of the University of Tartu launched a project to conceptualise the meaning and content of the youth-centred approach and to develop an instrument—a model—that could help implement a more youth-centred practice in youth work. In-depth interviews with Estonian youth field experts and focus group interviews in open youth work confirmed the relevance of the theoretical concept. The empirically tested model is valuable for planning and developing youth-centred activities in youth work. Full article

This paper reports on data from interviews conducted with parents of high school-aged teens as part of a study which was aimed at better understanding the gendered dimensions of youth sexting and social media use, and the community responses to it. Here, we outline the findings on parents’ key concerns around digital and social media, their perceptions of the gendered dynamics of youth self-imaging practices, and their attitudes towards sexting and potentially “sexualized” self-images. Echoing other research in this area, parents were not overly concerned about sexting, nor sexual image-sharing or sexual media use among teens. Rather, their key concerns were more generally about the intensities and pressures of constant contact with peers in the digital era. They did, however, articulate key gender differences and socialization processes around youth self-imaging practices. We discuss the gendered cultural “attunements to sexualization” that parents negotiate in relation to social media image-sharing practices and suggest that the perspectives and experiences described can be understood as part of a broader cultural “psychologization”, and often psycho-pathologizing, of youth self-images in digitally networked intimate publics that is particularly intense around the vectors of gender and sexuality. Full article

Media representations and dominant social constructions of the ‘ideal’ physique for young women are often framed through a Westernised lens that focuses on heteronormative, White able-bodied aesthetics of beauty and femininity. Until very recently, the imagery available for young women to connect with and aspire to has been highly limited, failing to represent the embodied cultural beliefs that Indigenous and culturally-minoritised young women may have towards the gendered body. In this paper, we draw upon focus groups (wānanga) and digital diaries with young, physically active Māori and Pasifika wāhine (women) in Aotearoa New Zealand, to reveal how they are making meaning out of dominant framings of beauty, and drawing upon cultural knowledge to refuse such portrayals, instead reclaiming power in their own bodies. Working at the intersection of Mana Wahine and Masi methodologies, this article amplifies the voices of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine who actively participate in sport and/or physical activity, embrace and appreciate their strong brown bodies, and are critically reading and rejecting dominant Western framings of beauty and femininity. In so doing, this paper contributes to a growing international dialogue about the need for new culturally-informed understandings of body image by young women from Indigenous and culturally marginalised communities. Full article

A convention in outdoor adventure education leadership is to stretch participants beyond their comfort zone to optimize engagement and learning. This article explores how an interpretation of the comfort zone model (CZM) might potentially enhance job role clarity within the youth work (YW) field. The CZM emerged as a strong theme from an ethnographic case study of the United Kingdom government’s flagship youth policy, the National Citizen Service (NCS). The findings indicate that the CZM has the potential to reinforce Dewey-derived YW principles and enhance young people’s social skills, self-esteem, confidence, and resilience. However, applying the CZM to YW practice presents risks such as misunderstandings, coercion, and overstretching. Further research should consider factors such as staff training, mental health, and welfare concerns, as well as the implications and limitations of integrating the CZM within the YW field. Full article

The terms cyberbullying and nudes, when used by young people, generally overlap to categorise a range of online harms. Yet, when unpacked with girls, their co-opting of these terms can minimize image-based sexual harassment. This paper draws upon findings from a participatory project exploring implicit interpretations of cyberbullying and nudes. I narrow in on the voices of girls, aged 13–15, as they report embodied discomfort and violation from [i] unwanted dick pics from peers and [ii] stranger cyberflashing. To analyse their experiences, I re-work Pierre Bourdieu’s toolkit to a gendered digital habitus with social fields in integrated offline–online contexts in which the unexpected viewing of dick pics leaks across. This reworking illustrates the tensions the girls experience. Resourcefully, the girls draw on embodied postfeminist dispositions to manage their discomfort and safety. I conclude that their normalisations may illustrate symbolic violence, as their postfeminist dispositions attune them to rationalize image-based sexual harassment as naturalised masculine actions. These responses ‘make sense’ to the girls, a position held in preference to the consequences of reporting image-based sexual harassment. Reporting could increase the risk of confrontation with the sender in offline fields and/or potentially result in loss of access, due to adult intervention, to devices and social media. Full article

There has been increasing attention given to the relationship between children’s rights and business due to a greater understanding of the direct and indirect impacts that businesses have on children and youth. Concomitantly, many businesses are involved in charitable work. Do charitable activities performed by businesses provide an entry point for considering children’s rights? Further, do these charitable activities facilitate an opportunity for the amalgamation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business and human rights? It is hypothesised that charitable contributions can facilitate a greater understanding of children’s rights and subsequently advance implementation. Accordingly, businesses can recognise their capacity to do more than mitigate their negative impacts, and positively influence the realisation of children’s rights. This can be facilitated through the improved assessment of charitable contributions using a child-rights-based approach. This research paper is informed by qualitative individual interviews with 15 stakeholders from pertinent professional sectors, five focus groups with 38 children and youth, and academic and grey literature reviews. It is concluded that attention to impact assessment offers a valuable avenue forward by which to knit the threads of activity regarding both human rights and corporate social responsibility through accountability. A proposed checklist may stimulate future actions and developments in children’s rights within and outside of businesses. Full article

Online social interaction has become integral to contemporary social life, adding new dimensions to how young people learn, interact, and perceive themselves and one another. We present findings from a yearlong ethnographic study within a Scottish state secondary school to explain pupils’ informal social relationships. We particularly investigate how school pupils experience social life inside and outside of school in relation to presenting themselves on social media and consider how they negotiate the overlap between their online (social media) representations and offline (school) encounters with their peers. Our findings evidence that pupils engaged in self-presentation within and across online and offline social contexts, whilst experiencing pressure to ‘keep up appearances’ between the two. The online environment afforded pupils greater control over self-presentation, especially in relation to bodily appearances. Here, pupils had time and tools to construct idealised fronts and to amass online capital. In some circumstances, this capital could have exchange value within offline environments. However, young people were at continual risk of having their carefully constructed identities discredited when in an in-person setting. We explore these issues in relation to pupil health, wellbeing, and learning, and we consider how educators may respond. Full article

The present study sought to expand the now expansive research on COVID-19 by examining COVID-19-related fear among adolescents in Israel, focusing on demographic variables, COVID-19-related variables (e.g., exposure and vaccination), psychosocial variables (e.g., adolescent wellbeing and perceived social support), and technology usage (e.g., amount of time spent on social media). Data from parents were also collected, reflecting parental attitudes toward the pandemic, anxiety and depression, and wellbeing. A total of 150 youth aged 12–18 and 150 parents participated in the study. Findings indicated that being a female, having a parent who knew someone who had died from COVID-19, and never having tested positive for COVID-19 were positively associated with increased fear of COVID-19. Increased fear of being infected with COVID-19 was also associated with high levels of anxiety and depressive symptomatology in both youth and parents and with low parent subjective wellbeing. Youth who used social media for sharing experiences and for politics also reported such fear. Youth whose parents reported that the media exaggerated COVID-19 risks were less likely to fear something bad would happen to them or to a loved one or fear another outbreak of the virus. Our findings call for paying further scholarly and professional attention to the role intrapsychological, interpersonal, and social aspects play in processes of increased fear and wellbeing in adolescents who constitute a particularly vulnerable group to the mental health consequences of the pandemic. Full article

Positive identity is essential to adolescents’ well-being and a successful transition to adulthood. Understanding factors that contribute to identity formation is important to promote healthy development. The present study applies the Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework to explore associations between adult social support and positive identity among Norwegian high school students (N = 220, M_age = 17.30, SD = 1.12). Reflecting on the ecology of adolescence, the study examined the extent to which family, other significant adults, and school support relate to different dimensions of positive identity (personal power, self-esteem, sense of purpose, and positive view of future). Further, the hierarchy of importance among the support variables was investigated. Cross-sectional data on items measuring the different dimensions of social support and positive identity were analyzed. Findings from regression analyses indicated that adult support in all three ecological contexts (family, neighborhood, and school) was significantly and positively related to positive identity and at least one of its four dimensions (β = 0.15–0.27, p < 0.05). Support from other significant adults emerged as the most important predictor, followed by family and then school support. While future research should also consider support accessed through social media, our findings extend PYD scholarship in the Norwegian context by highlighting the importance of key youth ecological contexts when fostering positive youth identity. Full article

Sports and physical activity organizations around the world have expressed concern that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted girls and young women’s participation, with relatively fewer young women returning to sport post-lockdowns than their male counterparts. The purpose of this research is to understand how young women’s experiences of sport and physical activity were impacted by extended and repeated lockdowns, considerable social disruption, and ongoing risks of contagion. Our research draws upon interviews and focus groups with 44 young women (16–24 years) living in Aotearoa New Zealand during the pandemic. Recognizing that young women’s opportunities and experiences of sport and fitness (before, during and after the pandemic) vary considerably based on a range of socio-cultural factors, our sample was intentionally diverse, inviting young women from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, from rural and urban settings, and with a range of pre-pandemic sport and fitness experiences. Engaging an intersectional and affective sensibility, we reveal the complex ways that the pandemic impacted the young women’s embodied, relational and affective experiences of sport and fitness. Contrary to recent concerns about young women dropping out from sport and physical activity, our research reveals the varied ways the pandemic shifted young women’s relations with their own and others’ moving bodies, transforming their relationships with sport and fitness, with renewed understandings of the importance of physical activity for joy, connection, and wellbeing. Full article

It appears to be a challenge to keep young adolescents involved in sports, while motivation has been confirmed as a key determinant for sport participation. Consequently, the aim of this study was to get a better insight into the motivational aspects and barriers of young adolescents while paying attention to the various contexts of youth sports in the Netherlands (i.e., club, commercial and urban sports). In total, 741 young adolescents (ages 12–15) filled in a questionnaire about the motivation and barriers to participate in sports and starting a new sport. The most important motivational factor in all sports contexts appears to be ‘fun/pleasure’. Additionally, they like the atmosphere of sports, and are motivated by learning new skills and becoming better at sports. Furthermore, young adolescents value a positive atmosphere, a skilled trainer and being able to participate at their own level (with others) when starting a new sport. Identified barriers are ‘liking other activities’, ‘a lack of time’, and that ‘sport is not fun anymore’. Nevertheless, the young adolescents surveyed, even those not active in sports, generally do not experience a high degree of barriers to participate in sports. The findings provide directions for developing future interventions that improve sport participation and prevent dropout. Full article

Despite its importance, physical literacy has received scant scholarly attention, notwithstanding the obvious link between physical activity and health promotion (including but not limited to mental health). The purpose of this study was threefold: first, to explore the self-perceived physical literacy, the self-reported physical activity, and the mental health status of adolescents who study in secondary education schools in Cyprus and the potential association of those variables; second, to explore any potential statistically significant gender differences across the variables under examination; and third, to explore whether there is a mediating role of physical activity in the relationship between adolescent Cypriots’ physical literacy and their mental health in the post-quarantine period. A total of 285 students, aged 13–18, from regular middle and high schools in Cyprus participated in this study. Physical literacy was measured using the Perceived Physical Literacy Instrument (PPLI). The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) was utilized to measure mental health status. Physical activity was measured using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A). Independent sample t-tests were computed to analyze gender differences. The Pearson correlation test was used to compute bidirectional associations between research variables. Structural equation modeling was used to assess structural associations between research variables. The findings revealed statistically significant differences among boys and girls on depression (p = 0.0032), anxiety (p = 0.008), and stress levels (p = 0.003). Statistically significant and negative correlations had been found among PL and depression, anxiety, and stress levels (all p < 0.001), while PL was significantly and positively associated with physical activity (p < 0.001). Despite having only indirect effects on mental health (b = 0.51, T = −10.11, p < 0.001), physical literacy was found to have substantial direct effects on physical activity levels (b = 0.46, T = 8.66, p < 0.001). In addition, physical activity has significant indirect effects on mental health (b = 0.19, T = 5.48, p < 0.001). In summary, physical activity has significantly mediated the associations between physical literacy and mental health. Given these findings, it is important to put strategies in place to build up physical literacy and increase physical activity among Cypriot adolescents. Full article

The aim of this paper is to analyse and discuss how learning is experienced by young, newly arrived immigrants in Germany. In particular, it addresses the connection between their experiences and the expectations of the German education system, as well as the connection between different kinds of learning experiences (formal and informal) in the context of adolescence. Adolescence is understood as an intergenerationally shaped psycho-social space of developmental opportunities. It is always affected and formed by aspects of social inequality such as milieu, gender, and race. Research shows that when migration takes place during adolescence, young people must cope with a “doubled transformation requirement” (King and Schwab). This paper discusses whether adolescent immigrants face even more transformation requirements—again, interwoven with learning—than two. Based on cases taken from two qualitative-interview-study samples, I reconstruct how coping strategies in terms of psycho-social development can be associated with different kinds of learning. Finally, I emphasise the responsibility of formal education as a supportive framework and stabilising factor for child and adolescent immigrants after they reach Germany. Full article

The purpose of this literature review is to inform and examine how foster children were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many children enter and exit the child welfare system every day, and this did not stop due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were many challenges that ranged from providing adequate services, seeing youth in person, visiting youth in facilities and foster homes, biological parents exercising their rights to visitation, court proceedings, and not to mention the stress for all parties involved, such as the child(ren), biological parents, foster parents, social workers, and other qualified professionals. The child welfare professionals had to figure out how to lessen the impact of trauma by thinking outside of the box until the pandemic was closely controlled and the sense of normalcy was restored. Full article

Family acceptance is one of the strongest predictors of mental health in youth with diverse sexual orientations and genders (LGBTQ+) In Latinx communities, where the values of familismo, machismo, and religion may present as both strengths and barriers to facilitating family acceptance, culture-responsive programming can encourage LGBTQ+ youth acceptance. This study uses an exploratory evaluation case study design to learn how using participatory culture-specific intervention modeling (PCSIM) methods can facilitate Latinx maternal acceptance of LGBTQ+ youth and to identify the successes and challenges researchers encountered throughout the process to inform future intervention implementation efforts. A total of n = 16 Latinx community members participated in the brief psychoeducational programming. The participants were Latinx women—predominately mothers—and ranged in age from 14 to 55 years old. All the participants spoke Spanish and n = 4 also spoke English. The study presents the PCISM process and mothers’ evaluation of their experience and perceptions using mixed methods. The maternal reports indicated favorable qualitative acceptability and efficacy findings but demonstrated minimal statistical significance. This study conveys how researchers implemented the PCSIM approach to yield brief, culture-responsive programming with Latinx mothers to facilitate their openness towards accepting LGBTQ+ children in their homes and communities. The researchers reviewed how the practices from this current study can be used or amended in future culture-responsive programming that partners with Latinx mothers and community centers collaborating with this community to facilitate acceptance of LGBTQ+ youth to yield more generalizable and sustainable program development. Full article