Search Results (54)

Background: Adolescence is a developmental phase characterised by profound biological, emotional and social changes and these changes make adolescents particularly vulnerable to the emergence of psychiatric disorders. In this context, gender differences in mental health disorders are of increasing clinical interest. Method: We conducted a scoping review of the literature regarding gender differences in psychiatric disorders during adolescence. Three databases, PubMed, Web of Science and EBSCO, were used to identify articles published in English from 2015 until 2025. Twenty-one studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Results: Ten studies deal with mood disorders, with a focus on gender differences in depression and anxiety during adolescence. Two articles analyse eating disorders, highlighting that girls show higher levels of food restriction and body dissatisfaction. Two studies focus on externalising and neurobehavioural disorders, showing a higher prevalence in boys than in girls. Four articles examine self-harm and suicidal behaviour, where girls report higher rates of suicidal ideation and self-harm. Finally, two studies address personality disorders in adolescence, noting a higher incidence of borderline traits and impulsive behaviour among girls. Conclusions: Research has revealed gender differences in the onset, frequency and factors associated with psychiatric disorders in adolescence. Understanding these differences is essential for developing prevention strategies, early diagnosis and specific interventions. Full article

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is emerging not only as a technological breakthrough but as a defining challenge for planetary health and global governance. Its potential to accelerate discovery, optimise resource use, and improve health systems is counterbalanced by risks of inequality, domination, and ecological overshoot. This paper introduces a Justice-First Pluralist Framework that embeds fairness, capability expansion, relational equality, procedural legitimacy, and ecological sustainability as constitutive conditions for governing intelligent systems. The framework is realised through a stylised, simulation-based study designed to demonstrate the possibility of formally analysing justice-relevant paradoxes rather than to produce empirically validated results. Three structural paradoxes are examined: (i) efficiency gains that accelerate ecological degradation, (ii) local fairness that externalises global harm, and (iii) coordination that reinforces concentration of power. Monte Carlo ensembles comprising thousands of stochastic runs indicate that justice-compatible trajectories are statistically rare, showing that ethical and sustainable AGI outcomes do not arise spontaneously. The study is conceptual and diagnostic in nature, illustrating how justice can be treated as a feasibility boundary—integrating social equity, ecological limits, and procedural legitimacy—rather than as an after-the-fact correction. Aligning AGI with planetary stewardship therefore requires anticipatory governance, transparent design, and institutional calibration to the safe and just operating space for humanity. Full article

Background/Objectives: Adolescence is a critical period of vulnerability for the onset of mental health difficulties, presenting an urgent need for scalable prevention strategies. Diet is a universal, modifiable factor, yet its evidence base remains inconsistent. This systematic review synthesised evidence from controlled trials and prospective cohort studies investigating the relationship between diet and mental health in adolescents aged 10–19 years. Methods: Searches were conducted to 20 July 2025, and risk of bias was assessed. Results: Nineteen studies met the inclusion criteria: six intervention trials and thirteen cohort studies. Examined exposures included vitamin D, omega-3s, polyphenol-rich foods, Mediterranean-style diets, and overall diet quality. Depressive symptoms were the most studied outcome, though the synthesis also included other dimensional outcomes such as anxiety, stress, well-being, and internalising/externalising indices. Across designs, healthier dietary patterns were often associated with fewer depressive symptoms, while poorer diet quality was linked to increased psychological distress. However, the current evidence is constrained by wide variation in assessments, small samples, and significant methodological limitations—particularly with high risk or some concerns noted in half of the included intervention trials—along with evidence suggesting that associations may differ by sex and are often sensitive to adjustment for socioeconomic status. Conclusions: Despite these challenges, the findings suggest diet as a possible, actionable target for supporting adolescent mental health. This review concludes by proposing a detailed roadmap for future research, prioritising harmonised symptom-based outcomes, biomarker-verified assessments, explicit analysis of sex and socioeconomic (SES) effects, and adequately powered trials to inform effective public health strategies for youth. Protocols were registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023413970) and archived on the Open Science Framework. Full article

The United Kingdom (UK) government continues exploring ways to externalise its border controls to deter people from travelling to its shores. States, including the UK, use externalised border controls to reduce responsibility and avoid legal obligations through distance-creation in a manifestation of ‘irresponsibilisation’. They argue that extraterritorial border controls do not trigger their obligations under international refugee and human rights law, which are primarily territorial in scope. Were such claims true, they would create accountability gaps, allowing states to evade responsibility through cooperation and offshoring their legal duties. This paper challenges this view. It introduces a ‘responsibility spectrum’ applicable to the UK and other states’ actions involving externalised border controls, especially offshore processing of asylum claims or returns. The argument demonstrates that responsibility can arise for breaches of negative obligations, aiding and assisting a state, or violations of positive obligations. It emphasises that, despite the difficulties posed by ‘irresponsibilisation’, international law will ensure the UK is held accountable for any breaches it facilitates through any future externalisation policies. Full article

Humanity currently faces a state of crisis, as it navigates the challenges of a quickly evolving world. The increasing number of conflicts and wars has had serious repercussions on human life, contributing to the displacement of populations and a growing influx of refugees. The high number of children and young people among this group requires urgent action to meet their needs for education, health, and a secure upbringing. Music education provides one platform for unique expression and identity for these age groups. In 2022, nearly a hundred young musicians from Afghanistan were welcomed into the cities of Braga and Guimarães in Portugal. They work to defend their culture through orchestral activity which has achieved international reach, thanks to the work of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM). This article examines how music connects Afghan refugee youth with host communities. It focuses on the role of musical practice in fostering integration within schools and the broader urban context. Using a qualitative approach, based on ethnographic observation of this orchestra’s rehearsals, this article explores the concept of affordances. Ethnographic observation was conducted throughout school activities, music workshops, and informal interactions during break periods. Field notes focused on participants’ non-verbal expressions, musical engagement, and interactions with both peers and educators. These observations were used to contextualise the interviews and triangulate the data. This theoretical–analytical approach shows that, for these youngsters, music plays a mediating role regarding social actions and experiences, shaping new subjectivities and their externalisations. It is a technology of the self, of (re)adaptation, resistance, and identity re-emergence. The main argument is that ANIM’s music in action is a communication tool that, like migratory processes, reconfigures the identities of its protagonists. Music has been demonstrated to function as a catalyst for connection, predominantly within the context of ensemble and orchestra rehearsals, serving as a shared language. Full article

Background/Objectives: Executive functions (EFs) play a fundamental role in children’s cognitive and emotional regulation and have been identified as key transdiagnostic predictors of psychopathology. Children with Special Educational Needs (SENs) are particularly vulnerable to difficulties with EFs and emotional–behavioural adjustment. This study aimed to examine the differences in the psychopathological symptoms between pupils with and without SENs and to explore the predictive ability of dimensions of EFs for psychopathology detection in both school and family contexts. Methods: A total of 123 primary school children (aged 6–12 years) participated in the study. Their psychopathology was assessed using the SPECI questionnaire completed by their teachers, while their EFs were measured using the BRIEF-2 from school and family perspectives. The analyses included mean difference tests and a backward stepwise multiple regression using the predictors that showed significant Pearson’s correlations with the psychopathological dimensions. Results: The students with SENs showed significantly higher levels of psychopathological symptoms, particularly in their attention, anxiety, and clinical global scores. The regression models revealed that several dimensions of EFs, such as inhibition, planning, task monitoring, and cognitive regulation, significantly predicted internalising, externalising, and total symptoms. The school-based models demonstrated greater explanatory power compared to the family-based models, suggesting that school contexts may be more sensitive for detecting EF-related difficulties. Conclusions: The results underline the transdiagnostic relevance of EFs in child psychopathology and support their integration into early detection and intervention strategies, especially in educational contexts. Strengthening the assessment of EFs in schools could contribute to a more accurate identification of at-risk pupils and inform targeted support for children with SENs. Full article

This article argues that the asylum policy and legislative changes introduced by the UK government in the years 2022–2024 altered the original meaning of the concept ‘safe country’ as understood in international and EU law. The UK modified this concept, which from a solidarity concept became a means of exclusion, and which negatively affects the lives and rights of people seeking asylum in the UK. Using a doctrinal approach, the first part of this article sets the legal and historical context of the concept ‘safe country’. Departing from the analysis of the Refugee Convention, the article discusses how this mechanism was used by the EU legislation. From an idea of solidarity among EU Member States, it shifted from responsibility-sharing to burden-sharing while still allowing some guarantees to people seeking asylum. Using content analysis, the second part of this article evaluates the legal requirements set by the UK legislation together with implications of applying the ‘safe country’ concept to the asylum claims. It argues that, in recent years, the UK Government used the term ‘safe country’ as synonym of two (possibly three) different concepts, such as ‘first safe country’ and ‘safe third country’. It also shifted and pushed its meaning beyond the current commonly agreed interpretation of the term because it eroded the requirement of a link between the person seeking asylum and the ‘safe country’. Thus, the UK legislation deviated even further from the rationale underlying the Refugee Convention, international human rights standards and EU legislation because it passed the obligation to assess asylum claims to states with no link to people seeking asylum and without adequate risk assessment. The final part of this article discusses the limit to this policy and analyses the legal battle between the UK Parliament, the Government’s executive power, the UK Supreme Court and the Belfast High Court, which barred the UK Government from deporting people seeking asylum to a third country. This article concludes that there is some irony in the fact the term ‘safe country’ has been weaponised as a bordering tool by the UK Government, but ‘a border’ between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is limiting the negative effect of the concept ‘safe country’ on the very same people that is attempting to exclude from protection. Full article

Despite being acknowledged as a complex and multi-faceted condition, the prevailing view within society is that obesity is the result of individual choices and can be reversed simply by “eating less and moving more”. This is oversimplistic and leads to the view that obesity is the individual’s fault and is therefore their responsibility to remedy. These views are grounded in individuals’ beliefs around health and contribute to weight bias and stigma. In the present study, participants (n = 143) completed a cross-sectional survey which explored views around weight and health and whether weight bias or stigma differed based on demographic characteristics, weight status, and prior experience of weight stigma. Results indicate differences in the way individuals living with overweight and obesity are viewed in comparison with those of a healthy weight, with the former viewed in a more negative light. Interestingly, while women presented with higher weight bias scores (p = 0.036), men scored higher for externalised weight stigma (p = 0.001). Weight status was seen as an important factor contributing to overall health. These results demonstrate that weight bias and stigma are prevalent and highlight the need for further measures to reduce stigmatising views of people living with overweight and obesity. Full article

BOAM is a family-based method in which children and parents together create an explanatory, personal and systemic diagnosis. Based on ten playful and visual models, the therapist provides universal psychoeducation to gain insight into the personal, relational and contextual causes of the child’s problems for a shared understanding of how to approach them. This case report describes a seven-session BOAM trajectory in a family with a 6-year-old child with emotional and behavioural dysregulation, such as frequent temper tantrums, hitting her infant sister, and threatening with knives. In this case report, the course of the sessions is described, including the way the family applied the BOAM models within their (cultural) family values. The mother completed questionnaires on child psychopathology (Child Behaviour Checklist), executive functioning (Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function), parenting stress (Parenting Stress Index) and partner relationship (Family Functioning Questionnaire) at baseline, pretest, post-test, and 3- and 5-month follow-up, and the father completed questionnaires on child psychopathology and parenting stress at baseline and 5-month follow-up. Parents reported clinically significant improvements, as calculated with reliable change indexes, in child externalising psychopathology, self-regulation, and parenting stress (post-test and 3- and 5-month follow-up). BOAM is a short and accessible method for psychoeducation, diagnostics and treatment. BOAM seems to be an effective intervention for this family; however, more research is necessary to demonstrate its effectiveness. This case report painted a vivid picture of how family conversations can be structured and targeted using the models. Full article

The current global mobility paradigm suffers from a great paradox. The illegality of human mobility is manufactured through restrictive migration and asylum policies, which claim to address the supposed challenges of human mobility, such as erosion of border security, burden on the labour market, and social disharmony. On the contrary, they reinforce them, resulting in strengthened anti-migrant sentiments at the domestic level. The contradiction is that the more restrictive migration policies are and the more they are directed at containment of human mobility, the more counterproductive they become. The fact that the policies of the destination states are shaped through the votes of their citizens, and migrants are never part of the conversation which would bring the reality check of their lived lives, is a defining factor that enables state policies preventing and deterring access to territory and containing asylum seekers elsewhere. We demonstrate that this is the dynamic behind the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, as it thickens the European borders even further through harsher border procedures and expanded externalisation of migration control. Whereas the Global Compacts represent the paradigm of facilitated mobility and are a significant step in the right direction for moving beyond the defined paradox, the EU Pact represents the containment paradigm and showcases that the tension between the commitments and the actions of states is far from being resolved. Through an assessment of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum’s alignment with the Global Compacts, this article scrutinizes the trajectory of the global mobility paradigm since the adoption of the Global Compacts. Full article

Background/Objectives: Parent–child attachment and family relationships have been identified as risk factors for childhood internalising symptoms such as anxiety and depressive symptoms. This mixed-methods evaluation examined the feasibility of a recently developed attachment-based family intervention, Behaviour Exchange Systems Therapy-Foundations (BEST-F), delivering 16 h of therapy over 8 weeks to treat internalising symptoms in children aged between 3 and 11 years. Methods: The quantitative outcomes of this uncontrolled study of 17 families were based on the parent-reported Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) measure, completed at four-timepoints (baseline, pre-, post-intervention, and follow-up), while qualitative data were collected from interviews with participants at follow-up. Results: Pre- and post-BEST-F intervention results demonstrated a significant change in internalising symptoms from the borderline and clinical range to the normal range, with a large effect size (d = 0.85). Notably, additional reductions in internalising symptoms were reported two months after cessation of treatment, with a very large effect size (d = 1.85). Furthermore, there were substantial reductions in child externalising symptoms and parental mental health symptoms, with large effect sizes ranging from d = 0.80 to 1.12. Qualitative reports were consistent with these quantitative findings. Conclusions: These pilot results suggest that children presenting with clinical-range internalising symptoms may benefit from family-based approaches where the parent–child relationship is a focus. Full article

Irregular migration is rapidly becoming a permanent feature of the twenty-first century. Amid the European “refugee crisis”, Italy and Spain represent two major destination countries that are affected by substantial irregular flows. Despite this comparable condition, and notwithstanding the significance of their relevant policies, they have rarely been compared, a gap in the literature that this research addresses through a novel comparative analysis of their irregular migration governance. Following a broad contextualisation of destination countries’ strategies against irregular migration, this article delves into the two case studies’ external dimension of control policies from the 1990s to 2024 inclusive. In doing so, it assesses the nature of their foreign policy on irregular migration, their specific measures, and their geographical scope. It finds that there is a noticeable convergence towards readmission measures and externalisation, along with the growing use of informal deals. In terms of differences, the article highlights Italy’s much higher number of irregular arrivals compared to Spain, and the impact that this has had on domestic debates, priorities, and relevant policy formulation processes. As a novel investigation of two influential case studies, this article therefore contributes to the literature on both externalisation and Italy’s and Spain’s foreign policy. Full article

Background/Objectives: Children with Attention and Hyperactivity Deficit Disorder (ADHD) and those at risk of ADHD typically exhibit challenging behaviours that may disrupt the classroom environment and be frustrating for teachers. This study aimed to explore teachers’ experiences and emotions regarding teaching children with high levels of ADHD symptoms and their perceptions of what might help to meet their unmet support needs. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 primary educational practitioners for children aged between four and eight years in the UK. Interview scripts were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Six main themes and 8 subthemes were developed. These included: (1) ADHD behaviours can disrupt the learning environment; (2) teachers face practical demands on their expertise and particular skills; (3) managing ADHD behaviours can be overwhelming for teachers; (4) teachers and children may treat children with ADHD negatively, which can impact on children’s emotions and lead to labelling; (5) existing support for teachers is limited; and (6) teachers need more specific training about ADHD. Results: The analysis revealed that teachers working with children with externalising behaviours such as ADHD can feel overwhelmed. Conclusions: The findings from this study suggest that teachers require more training in managing externalising behaviour in the classroom. Full article

Migration governance, migration management and migration crises have been key themes among migration scholars and governments over the last decade. Historically, systemic political economic crises are accompanied by the scapegoating of migrants, often as a strategy to shift the focus away from political and economic decisions taken by states. The EU has been no exception, and political and social tensions around migration are arguably at an all-time high, as European governments aim to protect their interests and manage their borders amidst increasing migration pressures globally. In this paper, we will examine these three EU immigration prevention strategies, with a focus on the recently adopted Pact on Migration and Asylum. Specifically, we ask the following research question: what are the roles of temporariness and return/readmission as important EU strategies to hinder, stop, and exclude the movement of migrants to EU (and Schengen)? Full article

Only a few studies, mainly qualitative thematic analyses of interviews, have dealt with the psychological experience of parents of children and adolescents with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a rare genetic syndrome involving skeletal fragility and increased exposure to bone fractures. The aim of the present study was to evaluate both negative (i.e., parental burden and parenting stress) and positive (i.e., coping strategies and perceived social support) experiences of parents related to their children’s disease and behaviour. The participants were 34 parents of children and adolescents with OI who completed a specifically developed online survey assessing their psychological experience with caregiving, their perception of the severity level of their children’s condition and any possible behavioural problems experienced by their children. Data analyses showed that 65% of the parents showed a clinical level of caregiver burden and nearly 30% a clinical level of parenting stress. Caregiver burden was related to the perceived severity level of the condition and the externalising problems shown by their children. Concerning the positive aspects of the parents’ experience, a high level of perceived social support was connected to a lower level of parenting stress; the same did not happen for caregiver burden. Coping strategies were connected to stress and burden; in particular, a higher level of stress corresponded to a higher level of avoidance, and a higher level of burden corresponded to a higher level of positive attitude. Full article