Young People's Emotional Well-being Research Articles

Supporting Young People's Emotional Wellbeing During The Transition To Secondary School In Regional Australia

Extensive international literature is available on aspects and impacts associated with students' transition from primary to secondary school. However, in regional and rural Australia, it is challenging for educators and healthcare professionals to ensure that interventions supporting the emotional wellbeing of students transitioning to secondary school are informed by context-specific evidence. This paper presents a narrative review of research published since 2010 investigating students' emotional wellbeing and psychological impacts of the transition to secondary school, with a focus on programs implemented to support young people during this transition. Research specific to students in regional and rural areas of Australia was lacking, with a marked absence of studies in regional and rural settings outside Western Australia and Tasmania. Similarly, research evaluating programs to support the psychological wellbeing of students transitioning to secondary school was lacking. However, this review provides a comprehensive overview of factors influencing the transition to secondary school from the perspectives of young people, their parents and teachers. These Australian data capture particular concerns and features that may inform development and implementation of interventions specific to the needs of young people in regional and rural communities across Australia. In schools where no specific intervention is planned, this review provides general guidance regarding challenges faced by transitioning students and possible ways students can be supported. In particular, this review highlights the need for educators and researchers to work together to develop and evaluate programs to support young people as they transition from primary to secondary school.

Sex and Relationship Education for the Autonomy and Emotional Well-Being of Young People.

In the transition to adulthood, sexuality and emotional relationships constitute one of the most important dimensions for the achievement of personal autonomy and emotional well-being. Despite advances in sex education, sexuality, and relationships remain conflictive areas in the development of young people. Inequalities between men and women, gender identities and sexual violence, along with the beliefs and expectations surrounding these issues, persist as handicaps to having a fulfilling relationship and sex life. At this stage, emotional well-being is also consolidated by one’s perception of sexuality and relationships from models learned in childhood, in which gender stereotypes and sexuality based on relationships of domination and discrimination persist. Therefore, we examined how the sexual beliefs and practices reported by young people correlate with their level of personal autonomy and responsibility in terms of risky behaviors and toxic relationships. The study shows the extent to which sexual beliefs and habits are linked to decision-making, personal development and social problems derived from conflictive relationships, affecting young people’s overall well-being. A questionnaire was developed based on the theoretical constructs of comprehensive sexuality and equality education (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2010, 2018; World Health Organization [WHO], 2010) with the following dimensions: sex education, sexual habits and practices, motivations, concepts, and beliefs about sexuality. It was distributed in institutions of higher education (N579) in Spain, Portugal, Argentina, and Brazil, and the results revealed a discrepancy between the reported practices and behaviors and the beliefs and models of reference. Key issues included sexuality and relationships as an aspect of personal life that generates confusion and conflict, as well as the propagation of gender and sexist stereotypes that influence young people’s emotional well-being, particularly important aspect in those young people who are training as future education professional.

Exploring young people's emotional well-being and resilience in educational contexts: A resilient space?

The term 'resilience' is pervasive in narratives of young people's emotional well-being. However, the meaning it has for those it describes is perhaps less well understood. Resilience was investigated as part of an engagement exercise into health improvement commissioning in educational contexts in the South East of England. One hundred and nine young people in total were involved, and this article reports data collected from two areas that were explored, comprising a sub-set of 58 participants: emotional well-being and resilience (n = 23) and the whole school approach (n = 35). It was apparent that while not all participants engaged with the term 'resilience' itself, they nevertheless often adopted creative individual and collective strategies to protect and enhance their emotional well-being. Furthermore, participants reported a sense of resilience that arose from a shared sense of adversity that helped strengthen collective support and solidarity, thus supporting previous work on emergent collective resilience. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, along with a recommendation for more participatory research, so that young people can be more confident that their views are being considered within such exercises.

Obesity and emotional well-being in adolescents: Roles of body dissatisfaction, loss of control eating, and self-rated health.

Weak or inconsistent association between obesity and impairment in emotional well-being in population-based samples has led to efforts to identify mediating variables. This study examined the relative importance of body dissatisfaction (BD), loss of control (LOC) eating, and self-rated health (SRH) in mediating the association between obesity and impairment in emotional well-being in a school-based sample of adolescents (boys, n = 437; girls, n = 950). Moderated mediation analysis was employed to assess the relative importance of the putative mediating variables and moderation of mediation effects by sex following the methods suggested by Hayes and coworkers. BD and SRH, but not LOC eating, were found to mediate the association between obesity and impairment in emotional well-being. Stronger mediation effects were observed for BD than for SRH. None of these results was moderated by sex. The findings suggest that it may be important to target BD in obesity prevention and treatment programs in order to reduce the adverse impact of excess body weight on young people's emotional well-being.

DfE innovation fund to aid young people with mental health issues

As the government announces funding for a further four initiatives to tackle social problems affecting children and young people's emotional wellbeing, CYP Now takes a look at how they will run and what they will offer

Supporting children's emotional wellbeing and mental health in England: a review

PurposeThis paper aims to inform the development of policies and programmes to support children and young people's emotional wellbeing and mental health. It seeks to bring together findings both from recent systematic reviews, and from individual evaluation studies which have adopted a relatively rigorous methodology but whose findings have not to date been included in such analyses. Research undertaken in England is to be prioritised, to complement an existing evidence base comprised largely of findings from US‐based research.Design/methodology/approachUsing five key search strategies, studies were categorised into three main categories – “demonstrably effective approaches”, “promising approaches” and “approaches for which there is little or no supporting evidence” – according to robustness of evidence. Overall, 171 potentially relevant studies were identified, with 20 of these being robust enough for inclusion in the final review.FindingsIn schools, sustained broad‐based mental health promotion programmes combined with more targeted behavioural and cognitive‐behavioural therapy (CBT) for those children with identifiable emotional wellbeing and mental health needs, offer evidence of a demonstrably effective approach. Early and brief intervention programmes which reduce waiting times for services appear promising approaches and seem to reduce the number of sessions a family require. There is a reasonably strong evidence base to support targeted work with both parents and children.Practical implicationsBy providing a detailed description of the successful initiatives reviewed, this paper should help policy‐makers and practitioners to develop their work.Originality/valueBy complementing the relatively narrow evidence base offered by systematic reviews, this more broadly based review offers policy‐makers and practitioners in England an up‐to‐date, context‐relevant guide for programme development within this field.