Positive Adaptation and Prosocial Development in Adversity-Exposed Youth: From Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood
A Special Issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X) belonging to the section "Developmental Psychology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 12 August 2027 | Viewed by 2
Editor
Interests: developmental psychopathology; mental health; anxiety; depression; PTSD; suicide risk; non-suicidal self-injury
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Adolescence and emerging adulthood are critical developmental periods marked by heightened vulnerability to adversity—including trauma, bullying, family dysfunction, academic stress, and public health crises—while also holding immense potential for positive growth and prosocial development. Understanding how adversity-exposed youth, from adolescents to college students and other emerging adults, adapt positively and engage in prosocial behaviors is essential for promoting mental health and well-being across the transition to adulthood.
This Special Issue aims to bring together cutting-edge research examining the psychological mechanisms, protective factors, and intervention strategies underlying positive adaptation and prosocial behaviors among adversity-exposed youth. We invite contributions exploring resilience, post-traumatic growth, self-compassion, gratitude, social support, emotion regulation, and their roles in fostering prosociality and buffering against psychopathological outcomes (e.g., depression, PTSD, non-suicidal self-injury, and suicidal ideation). We particularly welcome studies using longitudinal designs, network analysis, machine learning, and other innovative methodologies to capture dynamic and complex processes.
By advancing theoretical understanding and empirical evidence, this Special Issue seeks to inform evidence-based prevention and intervention programs that promote positive adaptation and prosocial development among vulnerable youth and young adults. We encourage submissions of original research, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses.
Dr. Wenchao Wang
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- positive adaptation
- prosocial behavior
- adversity
- resilience
- post-traumatic growth
- gratitude
- mental health
- trauma
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