Greek Youth Research Articles

The ‘Normalization’ of Young Protestors in Greece

During the last decades, the number of demonstrations as well as of demonstrators has significantly increased in most Western European countries. Some scholars support that protesting has become so widespread leading to the ‘normalization’ of the demonstrators. Overall research examining the ‘normalization thesis’ of street youth protest by analyzing representative datasets is extremely scarce. The chapter by analyzing youth-over-sampled survey data collected as part of the EURYKA project examines key socioeconomic determinants in participating in demonstrations among Greek young adults aged 18-34 years old. Greece is an exceptionally interesting case study to examine the ‘normalization thesis’ of youth protesting as the recent recession and its severe socioeconomic impacts triggered an exceptional wave of protest mobilization where Greek youth was one of the main protest claimants. The findings indicate that the socioeconomic determinants under study, such as gender, educational attainment, income, and occupational class, do not play a significant role in predicting youth demonstrating in Greece. Such preliminary evidence provides empirical support to the ‘normalization thesis’ and accords with related studies underscoring that during the massive anti-austerity protests Greek citizens from a broad range of social strata were mobilized in protest activities.

Youth’s Entrepreneurial Intention: A Multinomial Logistic Regression Analysis of the Factors Influencing Greek HEI Students in Time of Crisis

Governments’ coronavirus disease (COVID-19) measures have forced the community to stay at home. During this period, youths have had time to think about their career paths. For some, a conventional eight-hour job in a private company is undesirable; meanwhile, entrepreneurship can mitigate the adverse effects of the crisis, such as unemployment. Accordingly, this study investigates the intention of Greek youths that study in a higher education institution (HEI) to engage in entrepreneurship in times of crisis, and highlights the factors that drive them to enter the business arena. This study designed and distributed a questionnaire to 369 Greek youths who were studying at the University of Thessaly. The data from the empirical research were used to develop a multinomial logistic regression model to investigate youths’ entrepreneurial intention and reveal the driving factors. The results showed that during times of crisis, youths appeared hesitant to enter the business arena. However, those who were more confident indicated that entrepreneurship could provide them with greater satisfaction. Driving factors for engaging in entrepreneurship were family and friends. Inhibiting factors for establishing a new business were having previous work experience in a family business and lack of educational knowledge. This study contributes to the understanding of youths’ entrepreneurial intention and the driving factors that play a key role in shaping this intention in Greece during a crisis period, since there are few studies on this topic.

“Is Restorative Justice Greek to Me?”: Exploring Its Applicability in Greek Youth Detention Centres

Abstract Justice systems around the world are constantly working to balance reform/rehabilitation/re-entry and punishment in response to juvenile delinquency. In recent years, there has been a strong emphasis on the notion of restorative justice as an alternative approach to criminal justice, yet there continues to be a dearth of information on the interrelation between restorative justice, religion and imprisonment, especially among youth. The present research seeks to explore the applicability and possible future implementation of restorative justice programmes for late adolescent and young adult male offenders (18–21 years old) held in the Special Detention Institutions of Greece. It also aims to identify any links between restorative justice and religion in youth custodial settings among the large migrant population hosted in these institutions. A self-administered quantitative study was distributed to achieve this aim. The data analysis provided no statistically significant relationships between the inmates’ willingness to meet with their actual/surrogate victims and ask for forgiveness/restore relationships with them. Equally insignificant was found the inmates’ eagerness to get involved in restorative mediation with their capacity to acknowledge the harm that their illegal actions inflicted on others, and to make amends.

Redefining Greece in 2021: An Overview of the New Government's Plan to Revive Greece

This article aims to provide an overview of the two programs designed by the current Greek government to revive the country and prepare it for the 21st Century. Both plans, "Greece 2021" and "Greece 2.0" comprise four pillars outlining a wide range of programs to be implemented between 2021 and 2026. The first pillar of "Greece 2021" aims to highlight the significance of the events that led to the War of Independence in 1821. This will define how these events had impacted the world of politics and eventually the revolt of 1821. The purpose of "Greece 2021" is to remind the world, particularly the Greek youth, of the country’s glorious past,specifically, the previous 200 years of modern Greece. The young generation is also provided with the opportunity to envision the future status of Greece and play an active role in achieving the desired status. For this, a wide range of projects and events such as scientific conventions, cultural events, exhibitions are going to be held across the globe. However, at the same time, the EU has approved Greece’s proposed Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) worth over €30 billion. It contains massive plans to transform the Greek economy by means of investments in digitization, infrastructure development, and modernizing business processes. RRF is expected to generate around180,000 jobs and secure 7Percent GDP growth in a sustainable manner by reducing the impact of human activities on the environment

The Role of Snack Choices, Body Weight Stereotypes and Smoking Behavior in Assessing Risk Factors for Adolescent Overweight and Obesity.

This study investigated the relationship of behavioral factors, such as snack choices, obesity stereotypes and smoking with adolescents’ body weight. Individual-level data for 1254 Greek youths were selected via a formal questionnaire. Snack choices seem to be gender specific with girls showing a stronger preference for healthier snacks. Frequent consumption of high-calorie and more filling snacks was found to increase Body Mass Index (BMI) in both genders. Fruit/vegetable snacks were associated with lower body weight in females, whereas cereal/nut snacks had a negative influence in males’ BMI. The majority of participants expressed anti-fat attitudes and more boys than girls assigned positive attributes to lean peers. The endorsement of the thin-ideal was positively associated with the BMI of both adolescent boys and girls. This study also revealed that neglecting potential endogeneity issues can lead to biased estimates of smoking. Gender may be a crucial moderator of smoking–BMI relationships. Male smokers presented a higher obesity risk, whereas female smokers were more likely to be underweight. Nutrition professionals should pay attention to increase the acceptance of healthy snack options. Gender differences in the influence of weight stereotypes and smoking on BMI should be considered in order to enhance the efficacy of obesity prevention interventions.

Validation of the Instagram Addiction Scale in Greek Youth.

Instagram is one of the fastest growing social networking platforms. A body of evidence suggests that Instagram problematic use and addiction have negative effects on the psychological well-being of young people. The Instagram Addiction Scale, a self-report tool assessing Instagram problematic use and addiction, has been developed recently. The aim of the present study was to validate the Instagram Addiction Scale in the Greek language and to assess its psychometric properties. An online and on-print self-report survey was conducted among Greek youth, aged between 18 and 24 years. The survey included the Instagram Addiction Scale, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Big Five Inventory. A total of 967 respondents participated in the study. The analysis suggested that the Greek version of the Instagram Addiction Scale has good psychometric properties. The principal component factor analysis for construct validity generated two subscales as the original instrument: social effect and impulsion. Internal consistency for the two subscales and the scale’s total score was satisfactory, with Cronbach’s α at 0.76, 0.85 and 0.88, respectively. Correlation analyses revealed positive associations between the perceived stress scale and social effect, and the Instagram Addiction Scale’s total score (p<0.0001 and p=0.002 respectively). This is the first study validating the Instagram Addiction Scale in Greek youth, which can be used by researchers and practitioners for the evaluation of youth problematic use of Instagram.

Validity, Reliability and Factorial Structure of the Self Compassion Scale-Youth Version in the Greek Population

The scope of the current research is to validate the Self-Compassion Scale for Youth (SCS-Y). For this study, participants (N = 193, = 11.74) were recruited online. Each participant completed a battery of self-reported questionnaires. Normality was tested by examining the distributional indices for each of the SCS-Y items. We then examined the Pearson r intercorrelations of the SCS-Y items per factor. To test the predictive model in which SCS-Y items fit, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Model fit indices were great: x2 = 1.338 ( 0.90), RMSEA = 0.04 (<0.08) and SRMR = 0.06 (<0.08), which prove that the Greek version of SCS-Y has high construct validity. We evaluated the internal consistency of the SCS-Y factors using Cronbach’s alpha (a = 0.64). To further examine the scale’s construct validity, we examined convergent and discriminant validity by testing the correlations between other measures and scale’s factor scores. The results revealed that SCS-Y is a reliable and valid psychometric instrument to measure self-compassion in Greek youth. Furthermore, it reveals that these findings extend to the children population between 8 and 14 years old and suggest an imperative focus for future research and intervention.

Motivation Psychological Characteristics of Canoe-Kayak Sprint Elite Youth Athletes

Abstract The objective of the current study was the investigation of anxiety and satisfaction levels among Elite Greek Youth athletes of Canoe-Kayak Sprint. Additionally, whether elements such as gender, age, athletic experience, and weekly practice-time, differentiated the sample. 122 athletes, (61 males and 61 females) between the ages of 15-17 yrs. old, who competed in the Hellenic Federation’s Canoe-Kayak Sprint National Championships. Study participants were invited to complete two questionnaires: a) the Greek version of “CSAI-2” (Stavrou, Zervas, Kakkos, &amp; Psichoundaki, 1998), and b) the Greek version of the “Athlete Satisfaction” scale (Bebetsos &amp; Theodorakis, 2003). Results of the conducted study revealed that the sample differentiated: a) on somatic, and cognitive anxiety, according to their athletic experience, and b) on somatic, and cognitive anxiety, self-confidence, leadership, and personal outcome, according to their weekly practice-time. Finally, no sex differences were found in any questionnaire variable. In conclusion, the survey results highlighted the importance of the psychological factors tested on Canoe-Kayak Sprint athletes’ performance. Knowing and understanding athletes’ psychological state, can help them out (the athletes) in identifying aspects such as stress and satisfaction that directly affect their racing performance.

Migrant Advocacy under Austerity: Transforming Solidarity in the Greek-Refugee Regime

AbstractWith the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ declaration of an emergency in 2016, Thessaloniki’s refugee regime began to develop rapidly. Local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were transformed from underfunded initiatives to institutions managing large budgets and requiring staff with intercultural competencies and experience with migrant populations. For this, they turned to the ‘lost generation’— Greek youth who had come of age during the economic crisis and who had formed close relationships with migrants through political mobilizations and local solidarity networks that had sprung up in response to widespread austerity. In this article, I ask: How is the conversion of young ‘radicals’ from ‘anti-state’ activist networks into NGO representatives achieved? How does this transition impact former activists’ relationships with migrants and how do former activists make sense of this change? What, if anything, makes this a ‘Thessaloniki story’? My argument is three-fold. First, the conversion of activists into NGO representatives is made possible by a combination of young people’s exclusion from economic opportunities and the state’s disciplining of forms of solidarity that exist outside of the refugee regime. Second, the refugee regime converts solidarity established through political struggle into a form of human capital that affords former activists social mobility. Existing solidarity between former activists and migrants is undermined as a result. Third, on account of their new role as gatekeepers in NGOs, former activists struggle to offer a compelling narrative of continuity with their left-wing identity and their politicized commitment to migrants. In doing so, they rely on identifiable forms of boundary work and justification.

Employment/ unemployment, education and poverty in the Greek Youth, within the EU context

The paper deals with the state of play concerning Greek Youth’s unemployment and social vulnerability, including comparative insights related to the European context. It analyses some of the key findings of the recent EEA-funded large-scale project titled “NEETs2” (EEA Grants/ GR07-3757). The paper presents the key quantitative findings related to the impact of the Crisis to Greek NEETs’ (young people Not in Education, Employment or Training) and Young People’s (in total) life course and employability, while it provides evidence-based insights on youth’s priorities and survival strategies. It focuses on the role of the educational capital and family background to the youth’s employment status and life chances, while it highlights the intergenerational transmission of poverty among youth in today’s Greece.

Raising young people’s awareness on sexual and reproductive health issues

Abstract Issue/problem Despite the high prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases(STIs) and abortions among Greek youth, sexuality education is not yet part of the curriculum of Greek schools and the Greek family is not ready to address these issues with comfort. Description of the problem A “one-stop information point” was organized for one week in major cities of Crete Region as part of a community health program, which was funded by the Regional Authority of Crete to address “Gender Equality in the Region of Crete within 2018-2020”. The project aimed at increasing young people’s awareness of sexual health issues using a “peer education” approach and a youth-friendly information package. Undergraduate students from health, mental health and social care professions acted as volunteers upon receiving a rigorous 2-day training by sexual and reproductive health experts. The questions to be answered by the project were: “What are the main concerns of adolescents regarding their sexual health? How much satisfaction could adolescents gain by a “one stop information point” and a youth friendly “information package” offered by peers? Results Serious information gaps regarding contraception and STI’s and a number of stereotypes regarding healthy relations and sexual orientation have been recorded. Gender dysphoria is still an issue that remains unaddressed among young people. A youth-friendly website (LaHeRS Lab) and short videos are now available as part of the project to facilitate young people’s access to information. A large social media network of young people interested in sexual health issues has been formed locally and is growing nationally. The intervention was received with satisfaction. Lessons “One-stop information centres” and “peer education” have been an ideal combination to address sensitive issues among young people. Key messages Knowledge gaps and unsafe sexual practices are prevalent among adolescents. Sexuality education should be offered in early school life.

The Social Power Dynamics of Post-truth Politics: How the Greek Youth Perceives the “Powerful” Foreigners and Constructs the Image of the European Partners

The present study starts from the premise that, for human communities, it is difficult to penetrate each other, so that even the globally diffused communication infrastructure is not enough to create an effective common life. This grounds our assumptions about the way the Greek young interviewees, aged between 18 and 32, belonging to main political orientations (centre right, centre left, radical left, and extreme right), are perceiving themselves and their transnational sociopolitical environment, especially Europe and the powerful foreign institutions in the era of financial crisis. We first focus on the question of collective identity, on how the sense of we-ness (the self-perception of the Greek citizens as a human group) is represented in the consciousness and attitudes of the young interviewees of different ideological orientations. A theoretical starting point pertains to the assumption that the collective identity does involve imagining or representing things; but the imaginary it involves is an instituting social imaginary in the sense of an implicit cognitive infrastructure of the Greek society, which originates in the past and shapes the image Greeks have about the world, their values, their common reality. The main research objective is to make intelligible how the young interviewees perceive the diverse facets of their collective identity, how the Greek instituting social imaginary and the imaginary significations it produces (values, ideas, habits, and so on) are expressed in their individual imaginary, what it means for them as responsible citizens, how they frame religion and the ancient Greek past, whether they feel represented by the representatives they have supported, how they perceive the powerful foreign institutions, the European Union and their relationship to the Greek society.

Health risk behaviors among high school and university adolescent students.

Tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse constitute a public health concern. Data regarding health risk behaviors among Greek youth are scarce. The aim of the present study was to investigate health risk behaviors of a large adolescent sample (730 adolescents, 294 males and 436 females), residing in different areas of Greece, trace perceived side effects and associate the findings with the adopted lifestyle. High school students and University newcomers, aged 14–21 years (17.8±4.5 years), self-reported health risk behaviors via an anonymous, closed-type, validated questionnaire. Simultaneous adoption of unhealthy habits, such as smoking and drug abuse, were not independent (χ2=38.668, P=0.01). Age was the most significant factor in the adoption of unhealthy behaviors; smoking (χ2=27.220, P=0.01), misuse of cannabis and recreational drugs (χ2=9.874, P=0.05) and combining alcohol and smoking with entertainment (χ2=8.708, P=0.05; χ2=317.309, P=0.05, respectively) were adopted more by the elder (18–20 years) than the younger (15–18 years) teenagers. Males were more prone to abuse of cannabis (χ2=8.844, P=0.01), whereas females combined drinking and smoking with loud music during entertainment (χ2=6.618, P=0.05). The majority (64%) reported driving after drinking alcohol and intense entertainment, especially in urban areas. Almost half of smokers (53.1%) and drug users (46.3%) first encountered smoking or drugs from friends. Educational institutions and entertainment venues were the main places of initiation of smoking (26%) or drug use (35.2%), respectively. Adolescents from touristic regions were more prone to smoking (33.9%, P=0.01) and drug abuse (53.7%, P=0.01). The lower the frequency of exercise, the higher the consumption of psychoactive substances (P=0.022). Youth engaging in unhealthy habits were also willing to use prohibited doping substances (56%, P=0.043). Health problems were the main reason to consider changing habits (72%). In conclusion, health risk behaviors were multifactorial and tended to cluster. Thus, preventive youth strategies should target negative peer influences, especially during late adolescence.

Youth purpose during the great recession: A mixed-methods study

ABSTRACTAlthough research reveals purpose can buffer youth from negative states in other contexts, little is known about how youth with purpose function amidst significant economic challenges. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study, conducted with a sample of Greek youth during the Great Recession, sought to determine (1) if the presence of purpose buffered youth from the potentially demoralizing effects of the economic crisis, and if so, (2) how it managed to do so. Survey results suggest youth with high purpose scores were resilient enough to look past the present challenges and envision a positive future. Qualitative findings suggest youth with purpose remained hopeful about the future by focusing on commitments to their friends, families, communities, and country, and at times, by tuning out the negative economic news. Implications of these findings for positive youth development are discussed.

Trust in alternative and professional media: The case of the youth news audiences in three European countries

This exploratory paper applying cross-cultural and developmental perspective analyses and discusses trust in alternative media and its relation to trust in professional media, seeking to identify the national specifics of media trust and its developmental patterns. Employing 2016 survey data of Czech, Estonian and Greek youth (aged 14–25, N = 3654) collected as part of the international CATCH-EyoU project (Horizon 2020), the study outlines the typology of media trust, comprising trust in alternative and professional media, and compares social and political predictors influencing media trust in the three countries. The study illustrates the diversity of relations between the two types of media trust, concluding that differences in selected predictors of media trust and the distribution of media trust types across national sub-samples illuminate the strong role national context plays, illustrating the varying pathways development of media trust follows in these varied contexts along socioeconomic and cultural lines.

Golden Dawn, Austerity and Young People: The Rise of Fascist Extremism Among Young People in Contemporary Greek Society

The contemporary rise of popular support for fascism is investigated in this article through an examination of Golden Dawn's remarkable appeal to a section of Greek youth. This leads to the problematization of mainstream explanatory and interpretive discourses that attribute Golden Dawn's electoral and political attractiveness almost exclusively to anger and a will to punish the political system which is regarded as being responsible for the country's collapse and the harsh consequences of austerity and recession. Drawing upon the findings of ethnographic research on Golden Dawn and its young voters' and supporters' ideology and political activism conducted as part of the MYPLACE project, we argue that Golden Dawn's young voters and supporters are much more than angry youth. Their choice to support a fascist political agenda and practice cannot be reduced solely to an emotional reaction to the crisis but rests on wider ideological and political affinities and links that have been building over the previous two or three decades. In this sense, the contemporary rise of fascism in Greece appears as not merely a straightforward and simple outcome of the crisis but the complex result of previous socio-political transformations, sharpened, magnified and accelerated by the current systemic crash.

Why High School Students Aspire to Emigrate: Evidence from Greece

This paper investigates why Greek high school students aspire to emigrate, in relation to their educational and socio-economic background. Through fieldwork research conducted at three specialist high schools in Thessaloniki, three main conclusions have been drawn. Firstly, potential emigrants are ambitious, with high educational and professional expectations and a clear migration plan. Secondly, they are middle and upper middle class and excel at school—in socio-economic and educational terms, they therefore constitute the most dynamic Greek youths. Thirdly, in a period of recession on a European level, the alarming fact is that student emigration can undermine recovery for a country in crisis such as Greece. That is, middle-class shrinkage caused by the recession can be aggravated by emigration, which in turn might cost the loss of developmental human resources for Greece and a deepening of the recession. This can further stimulate migration, resulting in a vicious circle between crisis and emigration. Furthermore, if potential emigrants do not return because temporary emigration for studies becomes permanent migration for work, the economic crisis is worsened, and Greece’s prospects for development are further undermined.

Constructing hegemonic masculinities

In this article we draw upon the notions of heterosexuality, heteronormativity, agency and responsibility in order to investigate the construction of hegemonic masculinities through stories produced by Greek male adolescents. Our data are part of a broader set of narrative data collected in the context of a research project aiming to record and analyse naturally occurring talk of Greek youths. We adopt the model of narrative positioning in order to explore how young men narratively construct their identities as heterosexual human beings. The narratives at hand deal with sexually related encounters in which our male narrators are involved with women who hold senior, institutional roles. The story topics are presented as unconventional, and our narrators diminish their agency and responsibility for the sexually related acts, which, in turn, are attributed to female characters. We explore and unpack the subtle ways in which our narrators position themselves in relation to heterosexuality and heteronormativity, and how this contributes to the construction of their (hegemonic) masculine selves. To this end, we attempt to probe deeper into the notion of hegemonic masculinity.

Greek adolescents' intimate relations before their transition to adulthood

The study examined whether the characteristics of the other partner in a dyad could reveal some unique intimate relationships regardless of the commonalties in the intimate relationships adolescents and emerging adults endorse with four important partners (mother, father, female and male peers). Six hundred and thirteen (56.8% female) Greek adolescents and emerging adults participated in the study. Participants endorsed their agreement to nine items addressing issues of intimacy and companionship. The intimate relationships with the four important partners share some common characteristics reflecting the person who endorses the intimate relationships and are also reciprocal, depending on who is the other partner in the dyad. The intimacy participants endorsed with their parents contributed to the intimate relationship with their peers of the same sex with the parent. The way Greek youth is gendered could explain the characteristics of the intimate relationships they endorse with the other partners in the dyads.

Psychosocial distress and functioning of Greek youth with cystic fibrosis: a cross-sectional study.

BackgroundTo assess psychosocial functioning and distress of children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis compared to healthy controls.MethodsThirty-six patients with cystic fibrosis aged 8–18 years (24 boys, mean age ± SD: 11.5 ± 2.6 years) and 31 sex- and age-matched healthy control subjects (18 boys, mean age ± SD: 12 ± 2.5 years) were enrolled in the study. In order to assess the self-esteem, social adjustment, and family functioning of these young people, the Culture-free Self-esteem Inventory, the Social Adjustment Scale–Self-Report, and the Family Assessment Device were administered. Emotional/ behavioral problems were assessed through the Youth Self Report and the Child Behavior Checklist given to both the subjects and their parents.ResultsNo significant differences were found for self-esteem between the two study groups. Regarding social adjustment, children with cystic fibrosis reported significantly worse friendship and overall adjustment (P < 0.05). Moreover, no difference was found in the levels of family functioning between the two groups. No significant differences between the groups were found in emotional/ behavioral problems from the self-reports. On the contrary, parents of children with cystic fibrosis reported significantly higher levels of withdrawal/ depression, thought problems, and delinquent behavior (P ≤ 0.01) as compared to controls.ConclusionsChildren and adolescents with cystic fibrosis appear to be a psychosocially vulnerable group. A biopsychosocial approach should emphasize the assessment and treatment of the psychosocial distress of these patients alongside multiple somatic treatments.