Youth Development Research Articles

Ethnic-Racial (Mis)Match between Mentors and Mentees on Perceived Strength of Relationship

Mentoring programs are popular mechanisms for promoting positive youth development due to developmental research suggesting that youth with strong relationships with a special adult have a lower likelihood of a range of negative outcomes. Community-based mentoring programs are mechanisms for promoting access to mental health support and positive youth outcomes. Youth mentorship programs reveal mixed and modest outcomes, yet youth outcomes are more robust for high-quality relationships. Ethnic-racial identity is hypothesized to affect the relationship quality because shared identities are thought to facilitate trust and empower youth to succeed. However, studies have found that ethnic-racial match does not affect the strength of the dyadic relationship. This study attempts to address these disparate findings by explicitly examining ethnic-racial matching and relationship quality at two-time points. We conducted a two-step hierarchical regression to determine whether ethnic-racial match affected mentee reports of the relationship at follow-up. The results show ethnic-racial match did not significantly predict positive dimensions of the relationship at follow-up. Moreover, same-ethnic-racial matches reported a lower rate of change and slightly less relationship dissatisfaction at time 2 compared to cross-ethnic-racial matches. Results contribute to existing literature showing mixed results in ethnic-racial matching in youth mentorship programs.

Examining learners' engagement patterns and knowledge outcome in an experiential learning intervention for youth's social media literacy

Social media has become an integral part of youth's daily lives. Though it brings many benefits such as creative self-expression and opportunities for social connection and support, studies have revealed that exposure to cyberbullying, misinformation and disinformation, or phishing and scams pose great risks to youth's mental health and long-term development. There is no lack of education programs designed to teach youth media literacy, but very few offer experiential learning environments to support youth's development of social media literacy. Youth learners' engagement patterns and learning outcomes in such environments remain unknown. This study seeks to fill in this gap by examining how learners' engagement patterns predict learning outcomes (social media literacy) in a simulated environment that embodies the core components of experiential learning. Two types of data were collected from: 1) n = 150 youth participants in a controlled environment (“data from the classroom”), and 2) n = 3552 participants on the internet (“data in the wild”). The findings revealed learners' engagement patterns (e.g., time spent, completion rate of actions etc.) in different phases of experiential learning, and highlighted the importance of active participation (taking recommended actions instead of passively viewing the course content) in predicting better learning outcomes. This study contributes to understanding the relationship between learners' engagement patterns in experiential learning environments and their knowledge outcomes in social media literacy, and offers practical implications for the improvement of instructional design to enhance experiential learning.

Development of youth tourism in Kazakhstan: a conceptual approach to studying

The purpose of the study is to analyze the development of youth tourism, taking into account sociocultural and economic conditions, depending on the consumer behavior of young people based on a conceptual approach.Methodology. The study used interdisciplinary methodology, including analysis of existing literature, comparative analysis of world practice in youth tourism, methods of observation, analysis and comparison of data, conducting a survey among the youth of Kazakhstan.Originality / value of the study. The conceptual approach to the study of youth tourism in Kazakhstan can be important for understanding trends in the tourism industry, for the development of new products and services to meet the needs of youth, contributing to the economic and social development of the country. The analysis of youth tourism represents an important contribution to the study of youth tourism in Kazakhstan and can be useful for developing a strategy for the development of youth tourism.Findings. The study identified the main directions of youth tourism in Kazakhstan, identified the features of consumer behavior of young people in the conditions of adaptation to the world practice of the national environment. The results of the study represent a valuable contribution to the understanding of youth tourism and can serve as the basis for developing a conceptual model for the development of youth tourism in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Practical recommendations can improve the mechanisms for the development of youth tourism, create favorable conditions and increase attractiveness for young travelers.

Psychosocial Adjustment as a Mediator in the Relationship between Childhood Exposure to Maternal Depression and Subsequent BMI and Overweight Risk.

This study investigated the correlation between early exposure to maternal depression (from 1 month to Grade 3) and the body mass index (BMI) and potential for overweight in adolescents at age 15. It further examined if the pathway of this correlation was influenced by psychosocial adjustment during mid-childhood (Grade 3 to Grade 6), specifically through internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Our study utilized data from 844 participants in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) to assess the effects of maternal depression, observed from when the children were one month old to Grade 3, on BMI and the likelihood of overweight or obesity in adolescents aged 15. We also explored whether the average scores of internalizing and externalizing behaviors between Grades 3 and 6 mediated the impact of early maternal depressive symptoms on subsequent health outcomes. The analysis was adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic factors. Findings revealed that internalizing and externalizing behavioral issues significantly mediated the relationship between prolonged maternal depression exposure and subsequent BMI, as well as the risk of overweight or obesity, in adolescents at age 15. Notably, this mediating effect was predominantly evident in girls. Our research demonstrated that the correlation between prolonged exposure to maternal depressive symptoms in childhood and increased BMI and overweight risk in adolescence was significantly mediated through psychosocial adjustment behaviors. We advocate for further exploration of additional mediating factors in future studies.

Relative age and sex effect in equestrian sports across the Olympic disciplines and FEI endurance at all age group competition

Abstract Relative age effect (RAE) has been established in many sports, but there is no evidence known in equestrian sports. Equestrian sports do not have a consistent or traditional model of youth development. The aim of the study was to establish whether RAE is evident in equestrian sport and to identify whether rider sex has an effect on ranking. Data were collected from FEI results pages for Endurance, Dressage, Eventing and Showjumping. Birth date and quartile was compared at U18, U21, U25 and Senior in each sport. Chi-squared and Kruskal-Wallis were used to identify any RAE and whether there was a ranking difference between quartiles. A Mann-Whitney U test identified any ranking difference between sexes. No RAE was found in any sport or age category, however there were differences identified in sex for both ranking and participation. Males were shown to rank higher in jumping sports (senior) whereas females were ranked higher in Dressage and Endurance (all age categories). Further studies are required to evaluate the psychosocial factors and development structures in equestrian sport development can affect success. Results question whether a sex difference exists that requires further research into the sex-integration of all equestrian sport.

Examining Sexual Health Organizational Networks in Urban African American Communities Using Social Network Theory.

Collaboration among organizations offering sexual health and youth development services has the potential to provide youth with effective sexual health support. However, formally structured efforts (eg, coalition formation) may be impractical or unsuitable for low-income communities where resources are often already limited. Social network theories provide an alternative approach for building collaborative organizational networks. Research aims to evaluate the barriers and facilitators to collaboration in sexual health organizational networks. Organizations in low income, urban, communities in Chicago and San Francisco that serve African American adolescents. Providers (n = 22) from organizations that offer sexual health services and youth development services. Focus groups (n = 4) were conducted and analyzed utilizing a combination of coding strategies. Barriers to collaboration included resource limitations and competition, differences in organizational roles and deliverables, and prejudice and stigma. Identifying common ground among organizations was found to be a facilitator to collaboration. Social network concepts in conjunction with study findings lead to the development of a practice model that hypothesizes a pathway for organizations to improve collaboration without formally structured efforts. Our findings offer ways to encourage collaboration among organizations that support youth sexual health in low-income, urban, African American communities without relying on formal structures. Such collaborations may be critical for improving the provision of comprehensive sexual health support.

Research on the Internet Behavior of Teenagers in Xi'an and Its Parental Intervention Mechanism

With the development of modern Internet technology, China's Internet services are playing an increasingly important role in youth theme education and youth growth and development. People's understanding of the growth and development of adolescents is limited to their physical fitness and intellectual development, and less attention is paid to the mental health of adolescents. To this end, this article plans to use a questionnaire survey method to conduct research. Through the survey, we can promote the continued development of the mental health of teenagers, so that more teenagers and parents can get better communication, so that teenagers can have a better growth environment, and more Good healthy growth and happy development.

Technologies for Teaching Law Students a Professionally Oriented Foreign Language

The article considers the influence of traditional and innovative technologies on the process of learning a foreign language by law students, investigates their educational potential, identifies advantages and disadvantages. The author presents the prospects of integration of “Foreign Language in Law” and artistic means (literature, music, cinema) as a means of vocabulary expansion, introduction to the socio-cultural reality of the country of the studied language, development of students’ creative potential, removal of psychological barriers to communication in a foreign language. Examples of working out professional lexical units and grammatical structures with the help of song compositions are given. The positive influence of cinema on moral and ethical development of youth is also noted.

Mapping talent pathways: A comparative study of developmental activities and practice structure in Brazilian and Spanish U-18 elite youth male soccer players

The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to compare the engagement in various types and amounts of soccer activities during childhood and adolescence between Brazilian and Spanish elite youth soccer players; (2) to test what talent development pathway characterizes youth development in elite soccer in Brazil and Spain and (3) to compare the practice structure between elite youth soccer in Brazil and Spain. Participants were 131 U-18 elite male soccer players from Brazil ( n = 68) and Spain ( n = 63) competing in the national league. The Participant History Questionnaire was used to measure the soccer activities undertaken by players. Developmental activities were analyzed for two age periods: childhood (6–12 y/o) and early adolescence (13–15 y/o). In Spain, players started their involvement in practice and competition in soccer earlier compared to Brazilian players ( p < .05). Brazilian players were more involved in structured activities, such as practice in soccer and futsal, and participated in a greater number of sports in childhood and early adolescence ( p < .05). We found a very similar percentual practice structure (individual, pair, drills, group tactics and collective tactics activities) between Spain and Brazil, although Brazilian players accumulated a greater practice volume. It is concluded that Spanish and Brazilian U-18 elite youth male soccer players were differentiated by their milestones in soccer and their engagement in practice activities during childhood and early adolescence. Talent development pathway of male soccer players in Spain was characterized by the early engagement pathway, while the Brazilian system was characterized by the specialized sampling model.

The Possibilities of Indigenous Inquiry and Third Space Youth Development Work – Towards Decolonising Praxis

ABSTRACT Despite theorisation and consistent Pracademic (academics who are also practitioners) contributions to the concepts of truth-telling and decolonising epistemologies in the fields of activist research, there remains ongoing need for articulating the everyday praxis and positionality of empirical work. This paper considers the practice of two intercultural Australian-based practitioners’ examination of the ethical practices towards decolonising praxis as a contributor to third-space youth development which considers the space between participants. First Nations terminology is drawn on to explore the empirical nature of third space theory (Bhabha) acknowledging the social construct of hybrid identities within individuals and communities’ personhood. Through exploring Indigenous inquiry as a contributor to third-space youth development, this paper argues that co-creation of knowledge amongst young people and practitioners considers a third space which can allow for deeper understandings of intercultural work and power dynamics. This article provides the opportunity to further explore a critical analysis of the challenges and possibilities of practitioners/pracademics working towards a decolonising journey which has implications for the ethics of youth work practice globally.

Vision problems and positive youth development: The mediating role of vision-related quality of life and the moderating role of self-control

BackgroundVision problems are still widespread among children and adolescents in rural areas of China. Previous studies on the effects of vision problems on adolescent development have mostly focused on the effects of vision problems from a negative and problematic perspective, but the associations of vision problems with adolescent development potential and resources and potential mediating and moderating mechanisms are unclear. In this study, we investigated thepotentialmediating effects of vision-related quality of life (VR-QoL) and the potential moderating effects of self-control in the relationship between vision problems and positive youth development (PYD). MethodsUsing a two-stage sampling method, 2,837 students in grades 7–9 at five middle schools in four townships in Zhenping County, Henan Province, completed self-report questionnaires that included measurements of vision problems, PYD, VR-QoL and self-control as well as covariates such as sex. The relationships among variables were analysed with a moderated mediation model using the PROCESS macro of SPSS. ResultsThe total effect and direct effect of vision problems on PYD were not significant, but PYD was predicted negatively by the emotional dimension of VR-QoL. VR-QoL may fully mediate the association between visual problems and PYD. The moderated mediation analysis results showed that self-control enhanced the positive effect of the emotional dimension on PYD. Simple slope analyses indicated that the emotional dimension positively predicted PYD at a high level of self-control, while the emotional dimension did not significantly predict PYD at a low level of self-control. ConclusionThe present study revealed the relationship between vision problems and PYD and related mechanisms. Vision problems affected PYD through VR-QoL, and the mediating effect was greater in adolescents with high levels of self-control.

Ethnic church mentoring: buffer against outside prejudice and inside pressure for success

ABSTRACT This study investigates the influence of church mentoring on the psychosocial development of adolescents from immigrant and ethnic minority backgrounds. Framed within ecological systems and sociocultural theories, it examines mentoring processes in fostering positive youth development. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen adolescents, mentors, and parents from a Protestant congregation, primarily comprising immigrants from South Koreaand Hispanic families. Qualitative content analysis identified thematic categories, revealing that multicultural church mentors acted as bridges between first-generation immigrant parents and their U.S.-born offspring, shielding against external prejudice and buffering academic pressures from immigrant parents. They provided guidance on practical issues and served as role models, validating adolescents’ identity and belonging. Findings suggestthe need for mentor training programs and parenting workshops addressing generational differences. Leveraging community resources and relational capital is crucial for promoting positive youth development among immigrant and ethnic minority communities.

A Quantitative Investigation of Black and Latina Adolescent Girls’ Experiences of Gendered Racial Microaggressions, Familial Racial Socialization, and Critical Action

As Black and Latina adolescent girls experience race and gender discrimination, they may turn to their families to explore their beliefs about and responses to systemic injustice and oppression. Familial racial socialization is a likely entry point for critical action (like community activism), linking ethnic–racial identity and critical consciousness in youth development. We used hierarchical linear regression to investigate whether familial racial socialization moderated the relationship between experiences of gendered racism and community activism. We analyzed survey data for 315 Black (n = 158) and Latina/Afro-Latina (n = 157) girls (n = 282) and gender expansive youth (age 13–17) from the southern United States. We found that girls who received more familial socialization and were more frequently stereotyped as being angry participated in more low-risk and formal political activism. Also, Black and Latina girls who were more frequently stereotyped as angry and received more messages about racism from their families engaged in more high-risk activism, while girls who were more frequently perceived as angry and received less racial socialization engaged in less high-risk activism. We discuss the implications of our results for families, educators, and scholars who support Black and Latina girls’ sociopolitical development.

Diverse pathways from adolescence to early adulthood among China's rural youth: A new perspective

Past studies examining the transition to adulthood within the Chinese context often implicitly or explicitly assume that the rural population is a homogeneous group and suggest that rural individuals tend to enter the workforce and marry at younger ages than their urban peers. This assumption overlooks the distinct challenges faced by rural youth, who often confront higher poverty risks and greater uncertainties compared to urban counterparts, yet empirical research on these unique challenges is limited. Using both a national survey and a unique longitudinal sample of rural youth in one of the poorest regions of China, this study demonstrates that rural youth experience a greater diversity of pathways from adolescence to early adulthood than do urban youth, which contradicts many earlier studies in Western contexts. In addition, this study identifies a variety of childhood environment factors that structure the transition pathways of rural youth. This study highlights the growing rural–urban disparity in China and has important implications for research on social stratification and rural youth development.

Spiritual Health and Its Determinants Among Urban Adolescents in Northern India: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Spiritual health is an important dimension of positive health and is often ignored as it is not amenable to measurement. The present study was conducted to generate relevant evidence on spiritual health among adolescents living in urban areas of Northern India. A cross-sectional study was done from June 2019 - May 2020 in an urban area of Northern India on a sample of 300 adolescents selected purposively. After collection of demographic details of the participants, the Index of Core Spiritual Experiences (INSPIRIT) tool was used to capture their spiritual health. The Cronbach's alpha for the scale was 0.832 (0.797-0.863) indicating good internal consistency of the measure. As far as spiritual health is concerned, 217 (72.3%) of the study participants scored medium-high to high, followed by 83 (27.7%) who scored medium-low to low on the spiritual health scale. Adjusted multivariate analysis using binary logistic regression showed that positive traits like caring (odds ratio (OR) 1.19, 95% CI: 1.08-1.33), connection to school (OR 1.16, 95% CI: 1.04-1.29), having positive identity (OR 1.19, 95% CI: 1.04-1.36) and having highly educated (post-graduate) parents (OR 2.18, 95% CI: 1.13-4.21) lead to significantly higher spiritual health scores. Discussion: Although spiritual health is not routinely measured among adolescents, the current study demonstrated high levels of spiritual health among half of the urban adolescents. Parental education was found to have a positive association with spiritual health scores, indicating the indirect effect of parental spiritual inclination. The study has important implications for policy, as it demonstrates the feasibility of measuring a covert dimension of health which tends to have an indirect effect on holistic youth development.

The Impact of Sports Participation on Youth Development: A Longitudinal Study of Physical, Social, and Psychological Outcomes

The Impact of Sports Participation on Youth Development: A Longitudinal Study of Physical, Social, and Psychological Outcomes

Research on the Effect of Organizational Culture of Chinese Youth Entrepreneurial Enterprises on Innovation Performance - Focusing on the mediating effect of organizational learning

In the era of knowledge economy, market competition is constantly changing, and enterprises are developing rapidly in China. With the strong support of the Chinese government for innovation and entrepreneurial activities, the entrepreneurial development situation is optimistic,especially as the main business enterprises to enter the stage of rapid development of youth entrepreneurship.However, while having opportunities, we can also see that the global economic competition environment is complex.Chinese youth entrepreneurs still need to improve their competitiveness and promote the development of innovative technologies. It is necessary for employees to continuously absorb knowledge culture and update their innovative technologies. This paper mainly studies the relationship between organizational culture, organizational learning and innovation performance of young entrepreneurs. 302 questionnaires were collected from Chinese entrepreneurial enterprises, and we uses SPSS and AMOS to analyze organizational culture, organizational learning and innovation performance, and shows the organizational culture affects innovation performance through organizational learning. Finally, in order to make a good organizational culture, enterprises need to continuously update their knowledge,improve the soft power of enterprises, to cope with the changing market environment, enhance the creativity of enterprises and their innovation performance.

Pubertal timing: A life course pathway linking early life risk to adulthood cardiometabolic health.

To evaluate a series of prospective life course models testing whether the timing of pubertal development is a pathway through which prepubertal risk factors may influence adulthood cardiometabolic health. Subjects were 655 female participants in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) and recent SECCYD 30-year follow-up, the Study of Health in Early and Adult Life (SHINE). Prepubertal risk factors included maternal menarcheal age, child race/ethnicity, child health status indicators, and child adversity indicators. Pubertal timing was indexed by breast development onset (Tanner stage [TS] II), pubic hair onset (TS II) and menarcheal age. Adulthood cardiometabolic risk (CMR) was indexed by a composite of waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, hemoglobin A1c, C-reactive protein, and high-density lipoprotein. Inspection of paths between the prepubertal risk factors, pubertal timing indicators, and adulthood CMR composite showed later breast development onset (-0.173, p < .01), later pubic hair onset (-0.182, p < .01), and later menarche (-0.145, p < .01) each predicted lower adulthood CMR, and each pubertal timing indicator mediated effects of prepubertal risk factors on adulthood CMR. Specifically, the timing of breast development onset and menarche mediated effects of maternal menarcheal age, Black (vs. White), Asian/PI (vs. White), child BMI percentile, and child SES on adulthood CMR (all ps < .05), and the timing of pubic hair onset mediated effects of maternal menarcheal age, Black (vs. White), and child BMI percentile on adulthood CMR (all ps < .10). Findings in the current study contribute to the broader literature by identifying pubertal development and its timing as a potentially important pathway through which early life exposures may shape adulthood cardiometabolic health and disease. These findings have important implications for novel opportunities for increased surveillance and potential intervention focusing on pubertal development as a target to improve health more broadly.

The family as a key context for positive youth development. Legal, organizational, and psychological opportunities for integrating the family into the network of support and development of adolescents

This article presents the importance of the family as a context for adolescent development. The concept of positive youth development was presented, which emphasizes strengthening adolescents' strengths, resources and potential, as opposed to theories focusing on the deficits and difficulties of adolescence. The idea is to propose creative forms of spending free time as a way to "break away" from various risky behaviors typical of the turbulent times of adolescence. The basis is the assumption that everyone regardless of previous functioning and experience, has the potential to develop and self-realization. To achieve this, it is necessary to believe in the teenager's abilities and to be surrounded by appropriate mentors who show development paths and create a support network. Among them, teachers, trainers, educators and extended family play an important role, but the primary role can and should be played by parents. The article presents the practical use of the theory of positive youth development in the Polish educational system - both legal possibilities and limitations that require research and development of interdisciplinary cooperation.

Menarche, pubertal timing and the brain: female-specific patterns of brain maturation beyond age-related development

BackgroundPuberty depicts a period of profound and multifactorial changes ranging from social to biological factors. While brain development in youths has been studied mostly from an age perspective, recent evidence suggests that pubertal measures may be more sensitive to study adolescent neurodevelopment, however, studies on pubertal timing in relation to brain development are still scarce.MethodsWe investigated if pre- vs. post-menarche status can be classified using machine learning on cortical and subcortical structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from strictly age-matched adolescent females from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) cohort. For comparison of the identified menarche-related patterns to age-related patterns of neurodevelopment, we trained a brain age prediction model on data from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort and applied it to the same ABCD data, yielding differences between predicted and chronological age referred to as brain age gaps. We tested the sensitivity of both these frameworks to measures of pubertal maturation, specifically age at menarche and puberty status.ResultsThe machine learning model achieved moderate but statistically significant accuracy in the menarche classification task, yielding for each subject a class probability ranging from 0 (pre-) to 1 (post- menarche). Comparison to brain age predictions revealed shared and distinct patterns of neurodevelopment captured by both approaches. Continuous menarche class probabilities were positively associated with brain age gaps, but only the menarche class probabilities—not the brain age gaps—were associated with age at menarche.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates the use of a machine learning model to classify menarche status from structural MRI data while accounting for age-related neurodevelopment. Given its sensitivity towards measures of puberty timing, our work suggests that menarche class probabilities may be developed toward an objective brain-based marker of pubertal development.