British Youth Research Articles

The Subcultures Network. Let's Spend the Night Together: Sex, Pop Music and British Youth Culture, 1950s–80s Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2023. Pp. 336. $150.00 (cloth).

The Subcultures Network. Let's Spend the Night Together: Sex, Pop Music and British Youth Culture, 1950s–80s Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2023. Pp. 336. $150.00 (cloth).

Russia as a Frontier of Europe in the British Educational Games of the Georgian Age

In the eighteenth century, an entertainment industry grew in England, including educational games such as playing cards, puzzles, and board games. The educational aspect implied that the game was not only a way of entertainment, but also a source of knowledge. The author examines the image of the Russian Empire shaped by British games of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He gives special attention to the problem of the player’s interaction with the game reality, analyses the implicit properties of geographical spaces, which manifest themselves when, depending on the characteristics of the “place”, the player is asked to perform a certain action. The author divides the games of the period under review into three types, namely card games, board games designed as geographical maps, and board games with an individual playing field and booklet. He concludes that, regardless of the game format, the traditional early modern division of Russia into Asian and European parts was reflected in its image in all the games under consideration. The European part of Russia, as a rule, was described in the same tones as other regions of Europe. Asian Russia could be endowed with a variety of qualities. In some games it could be described as inhabited by ignorant nomadic tribes of Tartaria, in others – as frosty and deserted Siberia. Sometimes these characteristics were combined, but it is clear that the fragmentation into the “European” and “Asian” worlds presented in British educational games influenced significantly the formation of identification patterns among British youth of the Georgian era.

British Youth Council: five factors for demise of youth voice stalwart

The British Youth Council had been at the forefront of the youth movement for 75 years, but in recent times was unable to weather a perfect storm of internal and external pressures that led to it becoming unsustainable

A Collective Case Study of Parent–Athlete–Coach Triads in British Youth Tennis

While important for athletic development and well-being in youth sport, knowledge remains limited around the processes underpinning triadic relationships between parents, athletes, and coaches. This study aimed to examine the relational processes that drive the functioning of parent–athlete–coach triads across three developmental stages of youth tennis. Using a collective-case-study design, 10 players, 10 coaches, and 9 mothers completed preinterview tasks and semistructured interviews and provided conversational history. Reflexive thematic analysis led to the generation of two higher order themes: foundations of relationship quality and factors enabling team effectiveness. Findings highlighted how specific relationship qualities (i.e., commitment, trust, respect, and parent–coach proximity) and team effectiveness constructs (i.e., shared goals, collaborative and adjusted roles, support, and role-specific communication) served to facilitate the tennis experience for triads. Scholars are encouraged to consider integrating small-group principles (e.g., team building) into tailored support programs that address the psychosocial needs of the triad.

Exploring Youth Preferences for Collective Action: A Comparison of a Grassroots Initiative with a Union-Led One

Many young individuals now prioritize involvement in collective action as a means to instigate societal change. Crucially, they have access to social media platforms, which help them connect with like-minded peers and coordinate efforts. Some of them may be thus more inclined to favour less conventional collective action over formal union membership. In this study, which draws on data from young British workers during the period from December 2022 to March 2023, we endeavoured to ascertain this cohort’s preferred approach to collective action. We distinguished between an informal grassroots initiative and one led by a labour union as a means to advance the rights of gig economy workers. To this end, we conducted a controlled online experiment. We focused exclusively on a specific age cohort within a particular timeframe, thus limiting our ability to determine generational differences in preferences for collective action and in attitudes toward unions. Nevertheless, the results do offer insights into the forms of collective action preferred by Generation Z. British youth were found to view the informal grassroots initiative more positively than the union-led one. However, they viewed the latter as potentially having greater influence on government policy. Furthermore, they were not significantly more willing to join one initiative than the other. Nonetheless, they were more inclined to recommend the grassroots initiative. This paper contributes to the body of research on the relationship between labour unions and young people. It also provides insight into how members of Generation Z think about various ways of participating in collective action.

Prospective associations of non-HDL cholesterol with premature structural and functional cardiac damage progression in British youth: the ALSPAC study

Abstract Background Non high-density lipoprotein (non-HDL) cholesterol from childhood has been associated with signs of cardiac damage and subclinical atherosclerosis in middle age adults. Cumulative non-HDL cholesterol has been associated with subclinical atherosclerosis during growth from mid-adolescence through young adulthood. Due to the scarcity of repeated measures of cardiac structure and function, there is limited knowledge regarding the independent associations of non-HDL cholesterol with premature cardiac damage in youth. Purpose To investigate the longitudinal association of changes in non-HDL cholesterol with structural and functional cardiac damage progression during growth from adolescence through young adulthood. Methods From the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), UK birth cohort, 1595 adolescents aged 17 years who had fasting plasma non-HDL cholesterol computed from the difference between total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol at 17- and 24-year clinic visits were included. Repeated echocardiography measured LVM indexed for height2.7 (LVMI2.7), relative wall thickness (RWT), LV diastolic function from mitral E/A ratio (LVDF), and LV filling pressure from E/e´ ratio (LVFP) were available at baseline and follow-up. LVMI2.7 ≥51g/m2.7, RWT ≥0.44, LVDF <1.5, and LVFP ≥8 were categorised as LV hypertrophy, high RWT, LVD dysfunction, and high LVFP, respectively. Multivariable adjusted associations were examined using generalized linear mixed-effect models and generalized logit mixed-effect models and adjusted for sex, and time-varying covariates measured at both baseline and follow-up such as age, insulin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, glucose, fat mass, lean mass, smoking status, family history of hypertension/diabetes/high cholesterol/vascular disease, socioeconomic status, sedentary time, light physical activity, and moderate to vigorous physical activity. Results Among 1595 adolescents (mean [SD] age at baseline, 17.74 [0.38] years; 955 [59.8%] females]) mean non-HDL cholesterol values increased in males from 2.34mmol/L to 2.82mmol/L and in females from 2.60mmol/L to 2.77mmol/L, over 7 years. The prevalence of LV hypertrophy increased in males from 3.6% to 11.9% and in females from 1.6% to 4% over 7 years. The prevalence of LVD dysfunction increased in males from 7.8% to 16.6% and in females from 10.3% to 15.4%. In a fully adjusted model, 1 mmol increase in non-HDL cholesterol was significantly associated with higher odds of LV hypertrophy progression (odds ratio 1.21; [95% CI, 1.11 – 1.33], p<0.0001), high RWT (1.16; [1.07 – 1.29], p=0.005), and high LVFP (1.15; [1.06 – 1.25], p=0.001) but not LVD dysfunction (1.05 [0.95 – 1.18], p=0.342), over 7 years. Conclusion Increased non-HDL cholesterol during growth from adolescence through young adulthood was prospectively associated with worsening structural and functional cardiac damage in asymptomatic youth.

Cumulative accelerometer-based light physical activity from childhood through young adulthood progressively decreases left ventricular mass in British youth: a 13-year longitudinal study

Abstract Background Several studies have reported the beneficial effect of moderate to vigorous physical activity on metabolic indices in children and adolescents. However, longitudinal evidence is lacking on the effect of objectively measured light physical activity on cardiac health in the pediatric population. An increased ventricular mass has been associated with cardiovascular events in adults. Purpose To investigate the longitudinal association of cumulative light physical activity from childhood through young adulthood with cardiac structural changes. Methods From the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), UK birth cohort, 766 children aged 11 years who had at least two follow-up time-points accelerometer-measured light physical activity over 13 years follow-up, and complete cardiac structural measures at age 17 years clinic visit were included. Light physical activity was assessed with ActiGraph accelerometer worn for 4-7 days at the 11-, 15-, and 24-year clinic visits. Repeated echocardiography measured left ventricular mass indexed for height2.7 (LVMI2.7) and relative wall thickness (RWT) were available at baseline and follow-up. Multivariable adjusted associations were examined using generalized linear mixed-effect models and adjusted for sex, and time-varying covariates measured at both baseline and follow-up such as age, insulin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, glucose, fat mass, lean mass, smoking status, family history of hypertension/diabetes/high cholesterol/vascular disease, socioeconomic status, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, sedentary time, and moderate to vigorous physical activity. Results Among 766 children (mean [SD] age, 11.75 [0.24] years; 422 [55.0%] females]) males spent on average 373, 288, and 146 minutes/day in light physical activity at ages 11, 15, and 24 years, respectively. Females spent an average of 373, 272, and 161 minutes/day in light physical activity at ages 11, 15, and 24 years respectively. LVMI2.7 was significantly higher among males than females with an average difference of ∼4g/m2.7 both at ages 17 and 24 years but no significant sex differences in RWT. In a fully adjusted model, every 1-minute spent in light physical activity from ages 11 – 24 years was associated with progressively decreased changes in LVMI2.7 (effect estimate -0.017g/m2.7 [CI -0.020 – -0.015] p<0.0001), and increased RWT from ages 17 – 24 years in the total cohort. Among males, each minute spent in light physical activity from ages 11 – 24 years was associated with progressively decreased changes in LVMI2.7 (-0.046g/m2.7 [CI -0.050 – -0.041] p<0.0001) and increased RWT but not in females. Conclusion Cumulative light physical activity during growth from childhood through young adulthood was associated with a progressive decrease in cardiac mass in the total cohort and males.

Cumulative accelerometer-based sedentary time from childhood through young adulthood with progressive left ventricular remodelling in British youth: a 13-year longitudinal study

Abstract Background Questionnaire-based sedentary time and behaviour has been associated with worse cardiometabolic profiles such as adiposity, insulin resistance, and blood pressure, in the pediatric population. However, objectively measured sedentary time has not been consistently associated with poor cardiometabolic health. Till date, there is no evidence of the cumulative effect of time spent sedentary assessed with an accelerometer and cardiac structural changes in youth. Purpose To investigate the longitudinal association of cumulative sedentary time from childhood through young adulthood with structural cardiac changes during growth from adolescence through young adulthood. Methods From the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), UK birth cohort, 766 children aged 11 years who had at least two follow-up time-points accelerometer-measured sedentary time over 13 years follow-up, and complete cardiac structural measures at age 17 years clinic visit were included. Sedentary time was assessed with ActiGraph accelerometer worn for 4-7 days at the 11-, 15-, and 24-year clinic visits. Repeated echocardiography measured left ventricular mass indexed for height2.7 (LVMI2.7) and relative wall thickness (RWT) were available at baseline and follow-up. Multivariable adjusted associations were examined using generalized linear mixed-effect models and adjusted for sex, and time-varying covariates measured at both baseline and follow-up such as age, insulin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, glucose, fat mass, lean mass, smoking status, family history of hypertension/diabetes/high cholesterol/vascular disease, socioeconomic status, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, light physical activity, and moderate to vigorous physical activity, Results Among 766 children (mean [SD] age, 11.75 [0.24] years; 422 [55.0%] females]) males spent on average 360, 467, and 527 minutes/day sedentary at ages 11, 15, and 24 years, respectively. Females spent 364, 481, and 535 minutes/day sedentary at ages 11, 15, and 24 years respectively. LVMI2.7 was significantly higher among males than females with an average difference of ∼4g/m2.7 both at ages 17 and 24 years but no significant sex differences in RWT. In a fully adjusted model, a 1-minute increase in sedentary time from ages 11 – 24 years was associated with progressively increased changes in LVMI2.7 (effect estimate 0.004g/m2.7 [CI 0.001 – 0.006] p=0.002) from ages 17 – 24 years in the total cohort and females (effect estimate 0.009g/m2.7 [CI 0.005 – 0.012] p<0.0001). There was no statistically significant longitudinal association between cumulative sedentary time and changes in RWT in the total cohort, males, and females. Conclusion Cumulative increase in sedentary time during growth from childhood through young adulthood was associated with progressive left ventricular structural remodelling.

British Travelers and British Travel Writing: An Overview to British Travelers Visiting Albania in the First Half of 19th Century

The Grand Tour played an important role in the education of the aristocratic British youth. Several requirements served for its classical qualification. The Tour lasted from some months to some years. Travelers’ individual choices, spread of diseases, priority to special places, as well as historical events shaped the travel plan. The Tour changed its classical denotation in the 19th century, reflecting a radical social transformation in the British society. The middle class would be engaged in travelling beyond the borders of the British territory. The Romantic traveler of the 19th century differers from the classic traveler of the Grand Tour, stressing heroism and bravery, avoiding scenic descriptions. These travelers resembled the explorer. A term introduced by the Romantics. The dense narrative produced in this period would permit the British public to become familiar with unalike people, experiences, and lands. There are five travellers that visited the Albanian land in the first half of 19th century, during British Romanticims. Dodwell, Hughes, Martin Leake, Urquhart and Best published works mentioning the Albania theme, people, culture, nature, geography. Dodwell’s work is significant because of classical archeology. T.S. Hughes gives information about Ali Pasha and his mystical figure. Topographical data on the Albanian population, customs, and traditions are introduced in Leake’s book. Urquhart looks at the Orient from a philosophical viewpoint. A work about hunting, natural beauty, customs, traditions is written by Best. Therefore, their books give essential information about the country in the first half of this century.

Waterloo Sunrise: London from the Sixties to Thatcher, by John Davis

The London of the 1950s was a city the late Victorians would have recognised. By the 1970s, John Davis writes in his idiosyncratic and wide-ranging history of post-war London, the city’s driving economic, social and cultural forces had shifted in ways that would have confounded a Victorian observer. Davis examines this process of urban transformation in sixteen chapters that cover, among other things, the life and death of ‘the Sixties’, changing patterns in home ownership, the rise of the conservation movement, and the Notting Hill riots. Ultimately, he argues, these changes laid the groundwork for a political environment in which the ideology of Thatcherism could take root. In lieu of an introduction, Chapter One examines how the capital’s increasingly visible youth culture and a trend-hungry media converged to create ‘Swinging London’, a public relations exercise that nonetheless captured the city’s post-war optimism. So why did the party end? Davis highlights the obvious factors, notably deindustrialisation and the erosion of manufacturing jobs, paired with economic headwinds after the Wilson government’s deflationary measures in 1966–7. But the book also identifies a growing, if inchoate, resistance to the paternalism of the Beveridge welfare state. Chapters Six and Seven detail the backlash against urban modernism, as expressed in protests against motorway construction and a renewed impulse to conserve the Victorian cityscape. Chapters Nine, Ten, and Twelve chart the emergence of new, oppositional identities among groups as varied as East End cab drivers, suburban home-owners, and Black British youth. Chapters Eight, Thirteen, and Fourteen sketch the reorientation of municipal politics, from the demise of the consensus around the East End’s subsidised post-war prosperity to the emergence of grass-roots voluntary action groups that sought to redefine the imperatives of the welfare state, to the breakdown of local Labour Party hierarchies in the 1960s and 1970s.

Maintaining Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Network Analysis of Well-Being Responses from British Youth

COVID-19 has significant impacts on young peoples’ lives and emotions. Understanding how young people maintain well-being in the face of challenges can inform future mental health intervention development. Here we applied network analysis to well-being data gathered from 2532 young people (12-25 years) residing in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify the structure across well-being and crucially, its central defining features. Gender and age differences in networks were also investigated. Across all participants, items emerged in two clusters: 1) optimism, positive self-perception, and social connectedness, and 2) processing problems and ideas. The two central features of well-being were: “I’ve been dealing with problems well” and “I’ve been thinking clearly”. There were minimal age and gender differences. Our findings suggest that the perception of being able to process problems and ideas efficiently could be a hallmark of well-being, particularly in the face of challenging circumstances. These findings contrast with pre-pandemic studies that point to positive affect as central aspects of well-being networks. Future interventions that encourage problem-solving and mental flexibility could be useful in helping young people maintain well-being during times of stress and uncertainty.

MULTIPLE NEGATION IN CORPUS AND DISCOURSE

The relevance of the chosen topic is substantiated, research tasks and methods are formulated, literary sources of analysis are indicated, and the compositional structure of the article is outlined. A brief overview of the theoretical material and a working definition of the linguistic category of negation are presented, the main terms are defined, and the main approaches to the interpretation of the category of negation are defined in domestic and foreign sources. The objection is considered in the views of scientists of various fields of linguistics.Attention is drawn to the historical issues of language development, namely: the use of multiple negation and its separate subtypes in different periods of the English language. The specifics and pragma-functional features of the speech of British youth are determined. Emphasis is placed on the psychological and linguistic (discourse) development of adolescents. Part of the article is devoted to the level analysis of systemic means of negation in terms of their functioning in the text. The pragmatic character of units-components of negative intensification is described.Along with the main laws, narrower points are also involved: presented, analyzed and divided into classes and semantic subcategories and idioms with negative polarity in modern English. The focus of the article is the context as an independent object of observation, which proves the undeniable pragmatic motivation of negation in modern English writing and speech. The results of the research are summarized, the main characteristics of which are the establishment of functional equality of all means of negation at each language level, in the text and in speech; and also -in revealing their unlimited possibilities for the transfer of negative information of the most varied volume.

Exploring the Use of Imagery to Synthesise Voice Science and Vocal Artistry When Training Singers in the Youth Choir Context

This qualitative practitioner research project seeks to broaden the debate between voice science and artistry by investigating choral conductors’ pedagogical needs. In particular, it explores the application of imagery in the vocal training and development of young singers. As the science versus imagery debate continues in the pedagogical community, the interrelationship between physiological accuracy, artistic expression and vocal health is becoming ever more prescient. Despite advances in vocal health research, relatively few studies investigate the impact of imagery use in choir training compared to other areas of voice pedagogy, and fewer still extrapolate findings to consider conductors’ professional development. This study seeks to bridge that gap. Six conducting staff members at a British youth choir participated in observations, interviews and a questionnaire aimed at identifying, analysing and evaluating their use of imagery in rehearsals. Investigation of imagery type, function and application during the training of youth choir singers begins to indicate the efficacy of various strategies in synthesising the two competing strands of science and artistry. Where imagery does not adequately unite the technical and artistic, three core themes have been identified as underlying the deficit. Findings suggest that additional training, development of physiologically accurate personalised imagery, and nuanced understanding of professional roles are all vital for ensuring the vocal health of youth choir singers.

Between Hard and Soft Power: British and Russian Youth on National Pride

AbstractThis study examines the collective memory of British and Russian youth. We used the results of a comparative survey conducted among Russian and British students. The study focuses primarily on pride in the collective memory of young people with the aim of analyzing the category of pride among young people across several dimensions. First, we look at the qualitative content of national pride: pride in the realization of tasks related to “soft power” (for example, culture, education, sports), and pride in manifestations of “hard power” (for example, pride in military victories or power politics). Second, we analyze the temporal localization of national pride: where are the main events, personalities, and phenomena study participants take pride in, both in the past and in the present. Third, an important element of understanding pride in a country is the relationship between pride and shame: what events are mentioned more often: shameful or pride-inspiring.

An Examination of the Latent Structure and Reproducibility of the Life Skills Scale for Sport in Botswana and Ghana.

With the growing interest in sport-based positive youth development (PYD) programs across the African continent, there is a need to establish suitable measures to evaluate the success of these programs in fostering PYD. The Life Skills Scale for Sport (LSSS) was recently developed as a sport-specific measure of life skills development. Despite its good psychometric properties among British youth sport participants, cross-cultural evidence indicates differences in the conceptualization of the eight factors measured by the LSSS. To determine the suitability of the LSSS for use in the African youth sport context, this study examined the latent structure and reproducibility of scores produced by the scale in a sample of youth sport participants from Botswana and Ghana. Cross-sectional data from a sample of 495 youth athletes (male = 51.72%), aged 12–21 years (M = 16.76, SD = 1.58), from junior and senior secondary schools was used in this study. Confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling were conducted, and conventional fit indices were used to assess model fit. Results on the original LSSS model indicated the need for model re-specification in the current sample. A re-specified LSSS, consisting of the original eight factors, but only 34 of the original 43 items, demonstrated improved fit and adequate internal consistency. Scores derived from the re-specified LSSS proved to be a valid estimate of life skills development in the current sample of youth sport participants. This has important implications for the utility of the LSSS in different cultures.

Mediating Rock and Roll: Tommy Steele in Denmark, 1957–8

Though rarely acknowledged in later historiography, British singer Tommy Steele was a key figure in the early European negotiations of rock and roll in 1957–58. As an accommodating British working-class youth with an energetic, yet non-sexual mode of performance, he was favourably compared with the image of American rock and roll with its associations of juvenile delinquency, cultural ‘blackness’ and illegitimately sexuality as personified by Elvis Presley in particular. Yet, Tommy Steele's version of rock and roll provided not simply an alternative to the ‘hard’, more rebellious strands of American youth culture. Rather, it allowed him and his fans to negotiate the dominant adult conceptions of rock and roll and its cultural associations of place, race, gender, class and age, thus inadvertently creating a pattern for a rapid succession of new youth idols, including the relaunching of Presley and other American rock and roll artists to European youth though a complex pattern of locating counterparts to individual celebrities. In that sense, Tommy Steele functioned as a ‘vanishing mediator’ of rock and roll culture in Europe. This article is a particular case study of such developments of celebrity and fan culture as they occurred in 1950s Denmark.

'Saying Things That You Can't Say Tomorrow Day'

This article investigates whether Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner’s use of northern English linguistic features decreased from the band’s first album Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not (WPS) (2006) to their fifth album AM (2013); whether this was because Turner began to accommodate to American audiences instead of British audiences. An auditory analysis of two songs from each album was conducted to see if Turner’s use of glottalisation and th-fronting, typical northern English variants, changed. The results showed a clear decline in Turner’s use of northern English linguistic features between the two albums. The article concludes that British youth was the intended audience in WPS, but it is unclear who the intended audience is in AM as Turner continued to use other non-standard features that index Turner’s British roots.

Gender Culture in British and American Youth Cinema: Women's Resistance and Compromise during the Gender Equality Process

In the 1960s, as a result of the Western feminist movement, feminism gained widespread attention from all sectors of society. Feminism has been discussed in a variety of British and American youth films in recent years. They have focused on the collision and intermingling of the two sexes within the framework of a patriarchal society through this mode of expression, expressing the cultural aspiration for harmonious coexistence of the two sexes.

The Phenomenon of Gemination in the Speech of British Youth

The Phenomenon of Gemination in the Speech of British Youth

The Liminal Leisure of Disadvantaged Young People in the UK Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The global COVID-19 pandemic has created, exposed and exacerbated inequalities and differences around access to—and experiences and representations of—the physical and virtual spaces of young people’s leisure cultures and practices. Drawing on longstanding themes of continuity and change in youth leisure scholarship, this paper contributes to our understandings of ‘liminal leisure’ as experienced by some young people in the UK before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. To do this, we place primary pre-pandemic research on disadvantaged young people’s leisure spaces and practices in dialogue with secondary data on lockdown and post-lockdown leisure. Subsequently, we argue that existing and emergent forms of youth ‘leisure liminality’ are best understood through the lens of intersectional disadvantages. Specifically, pre-existing intersectional disadvantages are being compounded by disruptions to youth leisure, as the upheaval of the pandemic continues to be differentially experienced. To understand this process, we deploy the concept of liminal leisure spaces used by Swaine et al Leisure Studies 37:4,440-451, (2018) in their ethnography of Khat-chewing among young British Somali urban youth ‘on the margins’. Similarly, our focus is on young people’s management and negotiation of substance use ‘risks’, harms and pleasures when in ‘private-in-public’ leisure spaces. We note that the UK government responses to the pandemic, such as national and regional lockdowns, meant that the leisure liminality of disadvantaged young people pre-pandemic became the experience of young people more generally, with for example the closure of night-time economies (NTEs). Yet despite some temporary convergence, intersectionally disadvantaged young people ‘at leisure’ have been subject to a particularly problematic confluence of criminalisation, exclusion and stigmatisation in COVID-19 times, which will most likely continue into the post-pandemic future.