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Navigating Challenges: Exploring the Intersection of Youth Well-Being and Social...
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Navigating Challenges: Exploring the Intersection of Youth Well-Being and Social Environments

A special issue of Youth (ISSN 2673-995X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 1097

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Suman Kakar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA
Interests: youth crime; human trafficking; immigration; juveniles; child abuse; race and crime; policing; crime prevention
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the intricate landscape of contemporary society, today's youth confront unprecedented challenges that impact their health, welfare, and overall well-being in complex, interconnected ways. This Special Issue, titled “Navigating Challenges: Exploring the Intersection of Youth Well-Being and Social Environments,” aims to dissect the multifaceted aspects of young lives within their social contexts. From the interplay between physical and mental health to the influence of societal structures, the research articles in this Special Issue will endeavor to unravel the complex experiences of the current generation.

The overarching purpose of this Special Issue is to enhance the ongoing discourse on youth health and welfare. By providing a platform for thorough exploration, this initiative seeks to comprehensively examine the intricate challenges faced by today's youth while generating valuable insights to inform discussions, inspire further research, and influence evidence-based interventions.

The primary focus centers on a holistic examination of the myriad factors influencing youth health and welfare within their social environments. The objective is to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the challenges encountered by youth and the pivotal role played by their social contexts in shaping their overall well-being.

Encompassing a broad scope, therefore, this Special Issue invites contributions that delve into diverse dimensions of youth health and welfare. Topics spanning from the impact of cultural diversity, family dynamics, education systems, and digital spaces to socio-economic factors on the overall well-being of youth are welcome. Interdisciplinary perspectives from criminology, criminal justice, psychology, sociology, public health, and education are strongly encouraged, especially those seeking a comprehensive exploration of the complex issues surrounding today's youth.

Prof. Dr. Suman Kakar
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Youth is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 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

  • youth
  • crime
  • mental health
  • violence
  • cultural diversity
  • family dynamics
  • education systems
  • digital spaces
  • socio-economic status

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 306 KiB  
Article
Contemporary Coping Patterns Among Violence-Impacted Adolescent Black Males: An Interpretive Descriptive Study
by Chuka Emezue, Andrew Paul Froilan, Aaron Dunlap, Abigail Shipman, Debbin Feliciano, Santiago Ortega-Chavez, Jr. and Dale Dan-Irabor
Youth 2025, 5(2), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/youth5020044 - 28 Apr 2025
Viewed by 24
Abstract
Young Black males (YBM), ages 15–17, experience disproportionately high rates of firearm violence and related structural disadvantages, shaping both their psychological and practical responses to violence-related stressors. These intersecting exposures influence their coping strategies, mental health, help-seeking behaviors, and broader social functioning. Generational [...] Read more.
Young Black males (YBM), ages 15–17, experience disproportionately high rates of firearm violence and related structural disadvantages, shaping both their psychological and practical responses to violence-related stressors. These intersecting exposures influence their coping strategies, mental health, help-seeking behaviors, and broader social functioning. Generational shifts in how young males conceptualize identity, mental health, help-seeking, and masculinity, combined with increasing exposure to firearm violence, underscore the need for a closer examination of contemporary coping strategies. This qualitative study applies Thorne’s Interpretive Description (ID) to explore coping patterns among YBM navigating violence exposure in physical and online environments. Drawing from two focus groups of 33 YBM (M = 15.8, SD = 1.19) from a Midwest high school, we conducted a thematic analysis grounded in the interpretive description tradition. Integrating the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) and the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (TMSC), we examined how structural and interpersonal factors shape YBM agency and coping responses. Four coping patterns emerged: (1) Problem-Focused Adaptive, (2) Problem-Focused Maladaptive, (3) Emotion-Focused Adaptive, and (4) Emotion-Focused Maladaptive. The findings underscore the dynamic interaction between environmental stressors, available resources, and cognitive appraisals, indicating that for Black adolescent males, coping strategies are neither static nor inherently adaptive or maladaptive. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Navigating Challenges: Exploring the Intersection of Youth Well-Being and Social Environments)

Review

Jump to: Research

21 pages, 454 KiB  
Review
A Scoping Review of Contextual Factors Contributing to School Violence in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region
by Gift Khumalo, Nosipho Faith Makhakhe and Bokang Nephtali Lipholo
Youth 2025, 5(1), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/youth5010030 - 14 Mar 2025
Viewed by 654
Abstract
School violence is a prevalent phenomenon across Southern African Development Community (SADC), affecting children’s psychosocial and mental well-being. As part of SADC’s educational goals, access to quality education is a priority and is beneficial for the region’s economic growth and development. This goal [...] Read more.
School violence is a prevalent phenomenon across Southern African Development Community (SADC), affecting children’s psychosocial and mental well-being. As part of SADC’s educational goals, access to quality education is a priority and is beneficial for the region’s economic growth and development. This goal cannot be achieved without addressing school violence at its roots. Using Arksey and O’Malley’s five-step framework, this scoping review explored evidence of contextual factors that contribute to school violence in the region. Twenty-four articles were included, and six themes were identified: home contextual factors, parental factors, community risk factors, school contextual factors, sociability factors, and demographic and individual characteristics. The findings suggest that factors contributing to school violence were from the learners’ immediate environments, including exposure to violence at home and poor parental methods, interactions with teachers and lack of appropriate disciplinary methods and processes, disruptive ideas related to masculinity, lack of understanding and intolerance to demographic and individual differences, and exposure to violence, drugs, and alcohol at the community level. To address this phenomenon, a comprehensive approach is needed, which includes developing clear school policies, teacher training on managing disruptive behaviours and professionalism, mapping incidents of school violence, and interventions involving collaboration between schools, parents, and school social workers to curb school violence. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Navigating Challenges: Exploring the Intersection of Youth Well-Being and Social Environments)
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