Youth

The concept of “period poverty” describes the lack of access to menstrual health education and menstrual care products. This quasi-experimental mixed-methods study evaluated a collaboration called Just 4U™ to address period poverty. This collaboration was formed between My Vital Cycles^®, as the provider of educational content, and Modibodi^®, as the provider of period pants as a reusable menstrual product (RMP). Five co-educational schools, including a regional school, participated and were of average to below-average socio-educational advantage ranking in Australia. The pre- and post-intervention evaluation with 63 postmenarcheal adolescents (14–18-year-old) in Grades 9–12 showed an improvement in their ovulatory menstrual health literacy. Open-ended questions explored their perspectives on the RMP. Overall, the RMP was well received by participants, who reported a positive impact on their mindset and cycle management. School staff (n = 6) who had observed delivery of Just 4U™ were interviewed. They believed the program had benefited the participants and recommended that teacher training would help the intervention to be sustainably implemented in schools. Findings highlight the worthwhile inclusion of RMPs alongside ovulatory menstrual health education. This study contributes to ongoing research in adolescent ovulatory menstrual health education. Full article

Consent education was recently introduced into the Australian curriculum, and has contributed to much of the public discourse for the past few years. However, teens’ accounts of their Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) classes indicate that consent is being taught to varying degrees of consistency. Qualitative data collected from 49 semi-structured interviews with 30 Australian teens (aged 11–17), with 19 interviews reprised one year later, involved teens discussing their experiences of RSE, including consent. These data were extended by 4 x teen focus groups with 18 participants. Using thematic analysis, teens’ perspectives and experiences revealed how consent appears to dominate RSE. Teens expressed dissatisfaction with how RSE was delivered and how sex is often framed in a context of safety and risk, where current framings of consent appear to contribute to fear-based messaging. Often, consent was taught as how to seek or give permission for sex or to avoid sexual assault in ways that may not reflect teens’ actual experiences. While the implementation of consent signifies welcome progress in relation to RSE, teens reveal there is still room for improvement. More positive representations of sex and sexuality are needed to balance an emphasis on safety and risk. Support is also required to help educators navigate curriculum changes, while further attention is needed to support teens’ skill development in more holistic and comprehensive aspects of sexuality and relationships. Full article

Many young people are reluctant to seek support for mental health concerns, and a preference for self-reliance has been identified as a key barrier. Yet, the conceptualisation of self-reliance and its role in help seeking is not well understood. This study examines the meaning of self-reliance for young people and how they perceive it affects help seeking, with a focus on the role of trust (both in oneself and in others). Thirty Australian young people aged 18–25 years were interviewed. A reflexive approach, incorporating both inductive and deductive coding techniques, was used to construct themes about self-reliance, trust, and help seeking for young people. Participants identified that both self-reliance and help seeking exist on a continuum from insufficient self-reliance to extreme self-reliance and excessive help seeking to unwillingness to seek help. Trust was a key component of self-reliance, and a balance between trust in oneself and trust in others was deemed necessary for self-reliance to be adaptive and for appropriate help seeking to occur. To maintain this balance, young people felt that a level of self-awareness was necessary. A high level of trust in oneself was considered to increase self-reliance, whereas a high level of trust in others increases help-seeking behaviours. Understanding the role of trust in self-reliance informs developmentally appropriate ways to address self-reliance as a barrier to mental health help seeking for young people. Full article

Historically, the prevention of youth homelessness has not been a priority in Canada or the United States. In recent years, this has begun to change. While there is growing recognition that a shift by preventing homelessness is required to bring a substantive end to homelessness, a common and shared understanding of what prevention is and what it involves has remained largely absent or obscured in both policy and practice. In this paper, we focus specifically on the prevention of youth homelessness and set out to provide conceptual clarity through presenting a clear definition of what prevention is and what it is not. Accompanying the definition is a five-point typology that includes (1) structural prevention; (2) systems prevention; (3) early intervention; (4) crisis intervention, and (5) housing stabilization. Each of the five elements of the typology is defined, identifying who is responsible for implementation. In addition, the typology is populated with examples of different approaches to the prevention of youth homelessness. We conclude with some key considerations to guide the implementation of preventive interventions and present core principles designed to support the development of effective and quality prevention interventions. Full article

In recent years, researchers and policymakers have called attention to the importance of child and adolescent trauma for understanding adult health status. The primary aim of this study is to describe the adverse childhood events reported in a sample of runaway and homeless youths and examine their impact on these youths’ current health status. We utilize survey data collected from a community sample of runaway and homeless youths gathered in metro Atlanta. Using the Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale (ACEs scale), we examined the relationship between ACEs and several health status measures using OLS and logistic regression. We found that runaway and homeless youths endorsed experiencing many ACEs, especially sexual minority youths, youths who had prior involvement with child-serving social service systems, and youths who were homeless for more than a year. Black/African American youths were slightly less likely to report many adverse childhood experiences. Runaway and homeless youths who reported more ACEs had increased odds of experiencing significant current mental health and/or substance abuse problems. Our study suggests ACEs are an important factor shaping these youths’ health and underscores the potential value of trauma-informed care for youths experiencing homelessness. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted human psychological and emotional states, influencing behaviors, including color preferences. This study aimed to explore how the pandemic affected people’s color preferences and emotional responses, shedding light on the broader implications for psychological well-being. A total of 231 participants were divided into two groups based on the depth to which they were affected by the pandemic, considering factors such as personality, family, friends, work/lessons, relationships, and consumption. The findings revealed four key results: (1) participants’ preference for cooler colors such as blue and green increased, reflecting a need for calmness and stability during heightened stress, while their preference for warm colors decreased. (2) Personal consumption was identified as the most severely impacted area. (3) The pandemic reduced people’s overall preference for warm colors. (4) The pandemic triggered strong negative and contradictory emotions. These results highlight the significant shift towards cooler colors, which are associated with calmness, and suggest important applications in design, marketing, and mental health initiatives. Understanding the psychological effects of the pandemic on color preferences provides valuable insights across multiple fields and emphasizes the importance of adapting to the reshaped aspects of human behavior in the face of future challenges. Full article

This article examines how media outlets create a “border spectacle” (De Genova 2013) in schools, which contributes to the criminalization and deportability of undocumented immigrant students. Using content analysis, we studied n = 30 news articles that covered an incident in 2017 where two undocumented young men were accused of sexual assault and rape of a young woman in the school they all attended. This paper builds on the “school-to-deportation pipeline” by suggesting that, in addition to the zero-tolerance behavioral policies established by schools and teacher’s racist behaviors, the media coverage of alleged criminal acts also play a role in the expulsion and criminalization of undocumented students. The analysis of the news articles highlights four types of media frames employed to criminalize the young men involved in the case prior to these allegations being addressed by a court of law: (1) immigrant youth as sexual predators; (2) immigration as a correlation to a criminal act; (3) parents as the real victims of the case; and (4) sexual assault victims as collateral damage. Each of these media frames are built on xenophobic tropes that have historically facilitated the marginalization of Black and Latinx people, but in this case, it specifically targets undocumented young men. Collectively, the four media frames exemplify how media create a “border spectacle” in schools, manufacturing a moral hysteria to further marginalize and criminalize undocumented youth. We argue that, as a result of schools becoming border spectacles, undocumented young people’s fear of feeling targeted based on their “illegality” is intensified, and their sense of inclusion is hindered in an often thought to be safe and inclusive space for undocumented young people. Full article

Historically, society has labeled social communication differences in autistic individuals as disordered by comparing them to the social communication behaviors of the predominant non-autistic population. This study explores how autistic young adults view their social communication experiences and how their differences impact them when navigating social situations in predominantly non-autistic environments. This qualitative study utilized purposive sampling to recruit 15 autistic adults aged 18–28 in the United States. All participants were conversation-level speaking communicators and high school graduates. Each participant engaged in an individual semi-structured, conversational interview with the first author via Zoom video conferences between November 2019 and June 2020. The data analysis identified inductive themes through interpretive phenomenological analysis. Five major themes emerged from the data that captured the challenges of autistic adults: (a) “Communication definitely is a struggle at times”, (b) “if it’s a very comfortable situation, then it’s fine”, (c) my communication style has “been very misunderstood”, (d) “I have to learn people”, and (e) “we’re all human. Autistic too, we’re still human”. The participants’ experiences suggest that differences in their communication style and social behavior resulted in overwhelming feelings of uncertainty and marginalization as they put great effort into engaging with non-autistic individuals. Full article

Resilience research is concerned with studying the complex interplay of personal and ecological resources that promote positive adaptation following adversity in different populations. Although much research has investigated adjustment in young persons exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV), most of this research has taken a deficit approach by focusing on the negative cascades of effects that exposure to IPV has on the functioning of this group. In this paper, we discuss a mixed methods integration of two independent strength-based or resilience-focused studies involving Canadian youth exposed to IPV. Study 1 is a qualitative constructive grounded theory study that aimed to identify the coping strategies that youth exposed to IPV use to effectively cope with the traumatic experience of growing up in an IPV-affected family. This study included 13 youths with a history of IPV exposure who completed individual in-depth interviews, the drawing of ecomaps, and photovoice projects. Study 2 is a quantitative population-based study that aimed to identify profiles of adjustment in a cohort of 3886 youth who had previously experienced IPV exposure, as well as the specific risk and promotive factors that significantly predicted membership in the identified adjustment profiles. Both studies independently identified personal and ecological resources that were instrumental in supporting the resilience of study participants. By comparing and contrasting the two sets of findings, the present mixed methods integration provides further evidence on the complex interactions of mechanisms that promote positive adaptation in youth exposed to IPV, which aligns with a multisystemic understanding of resilience in this population. We provided recommendations for practice and policy based on the integrated findings. Full article

(1) Background: Youths with multiple risks and severe disadvantages experience poorer health and educational outcomes than less disadvantaged peers. To address problems with coping and self-regulation in this group, mental skills training (MST) approaches more commonly used in sport are an emerging intervention approach. (2) Methods and results: this narrative review synthesizes literature to explain the need for MST, how it works, and evidence to support it works by focusing on two well evaluated programs: LifeMatters and My Strengths Training for Life™. (3) Conclusions: To support positive youth development, MST is a strengths-based, flexible, and adaptable approach to help fill the shortage of available evidence-based programs for those youths facing multiple disadvantages. The findings of this review may facilitate policy makers, commissioners, program planners, and researchers in the uptake of MST or similar psychoeducational approaches in future. Full article

In child and adolescent inpatient, residential and day-treatment facilities, the use of physical restraints and the occurrence of critical incidents are a significant problem. Restraints may sometimes be necessary if a child exhibits dangerous aggressive behavior, but may also be misused or overused, and have been shown to be preventable in many cases. This study aims to investigate if the implementation of the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) has an effect on the annual number of physical restraint incidents in a residential treatment facility for children with complex mental health disorders. Data before and after NMT implementation were collected from the agency’s restraint records. The results showed that post-NMT implementation, there was a substantial and sustained reduction in restraint incidents, with a Cohen’s d value of 2.03, indicating a very large effect. Limiting restraint use in treating children with complex mental health disorders can foster a safer and more therapeutic environment, with potential improvements in treatment outcomes. This study demonstrated a substantial drop in restraint incidents following the implementation of the Neurosequential Model in a residential facility for children aged 7–13. This reduction is presumably pivotal for children with complex mental health disorders, making treatment less coercive and offering promise for settings in which restraint incidents are a concern. Full article

Background: Children and young people’s (CYP) mental health is a policy priority, with rates of poor mental health reported to be as much as one in five across the UK. Traditional mental health support services cannot meet demand, and new approaches are needed. The creative arts can be an effective tool in supporting mental health. However, little is known about how live music can be used to support CYP mental health and wellbeing. We facilitated three, two-day intergenerational and multi-disciplinary workshops to co-produce ideas about how live music could be delivered to this end. Results: Workshops were held in three locations in Scotland, attended by a mixture of CYP, youth workers, mental health practitioners, teachers, and musicians (n = 91). A range of co-created solutions were generated including a live music festival designed for and with CYP and free gig tickets. Barriers and facilitators for CYP accessing live music were also identified. Furthermore, these workshops were found to increase confidence for musicians in delivering live music events to CYP, and CYP felt their voices were heard in their design of the delivery. Conclusions: This study presents novel co-created solutions about how live music can be delivered to CYP that need to be tried and tested in future research. It also provides key insights for musicians, live music providers, and people supporting CYP about the best approach to delivering live music for CYP. Full article

(1) Background: Migrant and refugee youth’s (MRY’s) sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHRs) are a global health issue. MRY encounter adverse SRH experiences due to limited access to and knowledge of SRHRs services. Using a socioecological framework, this study examined the barriers affecting MRY’s SRHRs. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional study utilising a participatory action research design was used. A total of 87 MRY (ages 16–26, from 20 cultural groups within Greater Western Sydney, Australia) completed seventeen focus group discussions on their SRHRs experiences. The focus groups were co-facilitated by youth project liaisons to ensure their authenticity and validity. The data were analysed thematically and interpreted using socioecological theory. (3) Results: The findings identified socioecological barriers, a lack of awareness about and access to services, and sociocultural dissonance as leading to the under-implementation of SRHRs services. These barriers included cultural disconnects, language barriers, remote service locations, intergenerational cultural conflicts, and ineffective SRHRs services. The key themes identified included traditional and institutional stigma, lack of SRH education, reliance on social media for SRH information, and privacy concerns. (4) Conclusions: There is a limited consideration of MRY’s SRHRs and the impact of intergenerational discordance and stigma on MRY’s rights. The findings suggest the necessity for a collaborative SRHRs strategy and policy design that empowers MRY’s agency across multicultural contexts. Full article

This study of 18–24-year-old young adults (YAs) in Australia who use, or used to use, nicotine vape products (NVPs) sought to explore their experiences when attempting to quit vaping to understand the barriers and identify facilitators of cessation. We analysed data from a survey (n = 532) of 422 YAs who vape and 110 YAs who used to vape, as well as interactive workshops (n = 12) and semi-structured interviews (n = 3), which included 7 YAs using and 8 no longer using NVPs. Social Cognitive Theory informed the data collection, with open-ended questions exploring how personal, environmental and behavioural factors shaped vaping cessation. Qualitative analyses revealed 11 themes shaping vaping cessation, including the normalisation of vaping, easy access and a desire to fit in. Vaping cessation was complicated by using NVPs to manage symptoms of mental ill-health. Additionally, former vapers reported using combustibles to replace vaping, highlighting the risk of health impacts from smoking. Potential support sources included friends and general practitioners, or family doctors. Support service development must consider de-normalising vaping, addressing underlying mental health issues and providing effective campaigns around the health risks of vaping and smoking. The findings highlight the need to invest in vaping cessation, and they can inform the design of vaping cessation programs to better support those trying to quit and ensure the success of their quit attempts. Full article

(1) Background: In the face of global concerns regarding unhealthy lifestyles among youths, understanding dietary habits, physical activity, and weight management strategies among third-cycle students in Portugal becomes essential. This study aims to evaluate the extent to which middle school students adhere to the Mediterranean diet and assess their physical activity habits and overall weight perceptions. (2) Methods: This study is a cross-sectional observational study. Using self-reported data from a sample of 232 students aged between 12 and 18, this study delved into their dietary patterns, engagement in physical activities, perceptions of weight, and weight management approaches, measured by the KIDMED and YRB questionnaires. (3) The results demonstrated that adolescents engaged in a varied diet, and 65.5% had recently engaged in physical activity. However, 25% reported exercise-related injuries, suggesting potential safety gaps. Extreme weight management practices were minimal, but a disparity in weight perception and weight loss desire emerged, hinting at underlying societal and media influences. Gender differences in certain habits were minimal. (4) Conclusions: While students were generally inclined towards healthy habits, there are evident areas of concern, particularly regarding safety in physical activities and weight perceptions. In the future, interventions should be implemented to increase students’ literacy and raise awareness of the Mediterranean diet and physical well-being. Full article

Background and Purpose: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked with multiple adverse outcomes, including adolescent dating violence (ADV). ADV is a serious public health issue, with the U.S. rates ranging from 6.4% to 73% for victimization across all types and from 11% to 77% for perpetration. Given the high prevalence of ADV and the fact that it has been frequently linked with ACEs earlier in life, it is crucial to thoroughly understand this relation and apply this information to prevention and intervention efforts. However, to date, there are no known reviews synthesizing the link between ACEs and ADV, nor exploring which ACEs have been included across other studies. Methods: To address these gaps, this study included three comprehensive searches to identify the following: (1) the measurement tools used to measure ACEs; (2) the type of ACEs significantly linked with ADV; and (3) the risk and protective factors considered in this relation. Results: A total of 34 studies were included. There were 24 different assessment tools used to measure the ACEs of adolescents, with the number of ACEs included ranging from 1 to 93. All but one study linked at least one ACE to ADV. The types of ACEs linked with ADV consisted of victimization (e.g., child abuse and bullying), witnessing violence (i.e., home and school), and household dysfunction (e.g., caregiver substance abuse). Several risk and protective factors were considered. Conclusions/Implications: This study found the measurement of ACEs in the literature to be inconsistent, making it difficult to synthesize and compare the findings across studies. Despite the measurement inconsistencies, however, most studies linked ACEs with ADV, emphasizing the importance of considering this relation in prevention/intervention programming. Full article

College is an important context for young adults to cultivate developmental assets, solidify vocational plans, and nurture meaningful relationships. National data from Gallup have highlighted key experiences that positively impact a student’s experience while at college and their life after graduation. These “Big Six” experiences, including relationships with faculty and mentors and participation in high-impact practices, predict student success. Similarly, both theory and research underscore the importance of relationships, active engagement, and exploration in cultivating purpose and long-term aims. Little work has examined the cumulative and relative value of the “Big Six” experiences in explaining purpose development in college. The present cross-sectional and exploratory study sought to address this gap. Specifically, this study utilized hierarchical linear regression to examine the impact of different experiences and relationships on college student purpose at a small, liberal arts university in the Southeast region of the United States (n = 758). The results indicated that a greater number of “Big Six” experiences were predictive of a stronger purpose. Furthermore, experiences centered on relationships mattered relatively more in fostering purpose among college students than participation in high-impact practices. The findings are discussed in the context of the literature and recommendations for higher-education institutions are made. Full article

Pregnancy termination, also referred to as abortion, is a contentious subject in many countries. Uganda’s culture requires young people to remain celibate; they therefore suffer from restricted access to any sexual and reproductive health information, products, and services, including contraceptives. Girls who are pregnant in Uganda are oppressed in various ways, including being expelled from school. Since abortion is illegal under Ugandan law, those abortions that take place are assumed to have a high risk of being unsafe. Most previous studies in the African context have thus focused on the phenomenon of unsafe abortion. Adolescent abortion is characterized by a rhetoric of pathology that frames girls as victims of deadly unsafe abortion practices. This paper aims to critique the view that pregnant adolescent girls are merely vulnerable victims who passively accept the denial of SRH services, including abortion. We analyzed the life histories of 14 girls in Uganda who had undergone pregnancy termination. Our findings showed that adolescent girls are not passive victims of the structural barriers to abortion. They use their agency to obtain knowledge, make decisions, successfully terminate pregnancy, and conceal the information as needed. It is therefore important for policymakers to acknowledge the agency of adolescent girls in regard to pregnancy termination and how this recognition could be of benefit in terms of devising appropriate supports for them. Full article

This study examined how household chaos, perceived stress, and their interaction are related to borderline personality disorder (BPD) features both cross-sectionally and at 1-year follow-up in outpatient youth. Data from 143 youth were analysed. Their mean age was 18.72 years (SD = 2.98) and 80.4% self-identified as female. The results indicated that both perceived stress and household chaos were positively associated with BPD features at baseline. Additionally, the link between perceived stress and BPD features was slightly stronger in youth with more household chaos. The associations were not maintained in the longitudinal analyses. The discrepancy between the cross-sectional and longitudinal findings suggests that household chaos and perceived stress might be intertwined with BPD features, rather than predictive of change in BPD features over time. Full article