Swedish Youth Research Articles

Street-level coaches and the question of ‘semi-professionalized’ volunteers in Swedish youth football: a Lipskian case study

Coaches in youth sport stand as crucial actors in the implementation of policies and rights. But there are expectations, stresses, and pressures on the coaches from parents, the culture, sport governance, local organizations, as well as the children, that work implicitly or explicitly, either as supports or obstructions. Thus, the vital aim of this article is to present and discuss the dilemmas in acting as a coach in youth football, at a minor level – at a ‘street-level’, Hence, Michael Lipsky’s study on several professions (in service and welfare) and, especially, his thesis on ‘street-level bureaucracy’ stands basically as the important influence in the design, presentation and final discussion and statements. The article is grounded in an empirical study, labelled as FC Countryside, which embodies and exemplifies a large number of Swedish football clubs in the lower divisions. These coaches in youth sports are regularly recruited and engaged as volunteers. Despite this position, due to sport policies, demands on skills and knowledge and the implementation of rights, they are subject to an increasing professionalization process of football in general. The discussion, due to the empirical findings, present the coaches as semi-professionals, and as ‘street-level coaches’, in the perspectives of Lipsky.

“We Pupils Had to Hear…” Marginalised Youths’ Experiences of Racialising Language and Symbolic Violence in Swedish Schools

Guided by Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical approaches of symbolic capital and symbolic violence, this article examines the everyday mechanisms of ‘otherising’ language practices in schools that reinforce racism against marginalised youths in Sweden. The empirical material is based on focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews with youths with migrant backgrounds in Sweden. The stories told by the participants in this study indicate how young people with immigrant backgrounds are discursively racialised and otherised as a group that does not belong to Swedish society, through the articulation of negative opinions, attitudes, and ideologies as part of established colonial discourses. It is argued that the marginalisation of migrants in Sweden, which is a consequence of social policy, has even resulted in utilisation of a marginalised language — one that deviates from the majority language in several different ways.

Respect and anxiety: Guns as ambiguous symbols for criminally involved youth in Sweden

Youth gun violence has surged in Sweden recently. Quantitative studies have described the prevalence and geographical locations of gun violence, but little research has examined how perpetrators and victims themselves experience and make sense of guns. This article draws on ethnographic interviews with young men who have firsthand experience of gun violence in a criminal context. Drawing on narrative analysis, it shows that guns are given multifaceted significance by the research participants and featured both implicitly and explicitly in their stories of their everyday lives. Guns were portrayed ambiguously, as a drastic means of self-protection that could also be used to remedy strained relations. Moreover, guns were presented as a means to build a reputation and gain respect. Gun violence was also charged with a range of emotions, notably hate, fear, and numbness. Even though young men considered that obtaining and using a gun could be justified, they also lamented the shootings, especially those committed by younger, putatively naive individuals.

Evaluating a School-Based Intervention on Adolescents’ Ethnic-racial Identity in Sweden

Finding developmentally appropriate ways to support youth in understanding their own ethnic-racial identity is needed, particularly in contexts like Sweden where such support is not the norm. This preregistered longitudinal study examined whether an 8-week school-based intervention, the Identity Project, impacted youth ethnic-racial identity exploration (participation and search), resolution, private regard, and centrality. Participants were 509 adolescents in the 10th grade (Mage = 16.28, SD = 0.80; 65% self-identified girls; 52% minoritized ethnic background), who were randomized into an intervention or wait-list control group and assessed at baseline and three times post-intervention. The findings indicated an initial and simultaneous effect of the intervention only for exploration participation and resolution but did not show the expected chain of effects with earlier exploration predicting later resolution. Growth models indicated a greater increase in exploration participation over time for the intervention group than the control group. The findings indicate a mixed picture about the effectiveness of the intervention, with effects primarily narrowly targeted to exploration participation, but nevertheless highlight the potential for supporting Swedish youth in engaging with their ethnic-racial identities.

Risk, discomfort and disruption: experiences of (im)mobilities in public spaces among Swedish youth racialised as non-white

ABSTRACT Mobility can be understood as both an everyday part of, and a normative imperative in, young people’s lives. It is also an unequally distributed resource. Based on interviews and focus groups with people in their teens, this article analyses how young people racialised as non-white experience (im)mobility in public spaces in Sweden. Drawing on Sarah Ahmed’s theorising, the article discusses how spaces are experienced in the racialised social-spatial order of Stockholm and Malmö. The analysis shows that the negative reactions of others, such as ‘looks’ and ‘comments’, in places perceived as white (Swedish) makes the young people feel unwelcome and disrupt their mobility. The young people’s experiences correspond to overall societal patterns of racialisation and segregation within these cities and Sweden as a whole. The analysis also shows that the young people express aversion towards visiting certain spaces or talk about complete withdrawal from spaces seen as risky. To analyse such responses of ‘being stopped’ we introduce the concepts of ‘socio-spatial reluctance’ and ‘socio-spatial withdrawal’. The article concludes that youth spatial mobilities must be understood as restricted by racialised structures, which affect not only where this category of young people feel safe to go but also what they can do.

Exploring cross-boundary collaboration for youth mental health in Sweden – a qualitative study using the integrative framework for collaborative governance

BackgroundYouth mental health is a major health concern in almost every country. Mental health accounts for about 13% of the global burden of disease in the 10-to-19-year age group. Still there are significant gaps between the mental health needs of young people and the quality and accessibility of available services. Collaboration between health and social service actors is a recognized way of reducing gaps in quality and access. Yet there is little scientific evidence on how these collaborations are applied, or on the challenges of cross-boundary collaboration in the youth mental health space. This study aims to explore how collaboration is understood and practiced by professionals working in the Swedish youth mental health system.MethodsWe conducted 42 interviews (November 2020 to March 2022) with health and social care professionals and managers in the youth mental health system in Sweden. Interviews explored participants’ experience and understanding of the purpose, realization, and challenges of collaboration. Data were analysed under an emergent study design using reflexive thematic analysis.ResultsThe analysis produced three themes. The first shows that collaboration is considered as essential and important, and that it serves diverse purposes and holds multiple meanings in relation to professionals’ roles and responsibilities. The second addresses the different layers of collaboration, in relation to activities, relationships, and target levels, and the third captures the challenges and criticisms in collaborating across the youth mental health landscape, but also in growing possibilities for future development.ConclusionWe conclude that collaboration serves multiple purposes and takes many shapes in the Swedish youth mental health system. Despite the many challenges, participants saw potential in further building collaboration. Interestingly our participants also raised concerns about too much collaboration. There was scepticism about collaboration directing attention away from young people to the professionals, thereby risking the trust and confidentiality of their young clients. Collaboration is not a panacea and will not compensate for an under-resourced youth mental health system.

Rebels and criminals on the small screen: How Swedish youth delinquency film turns televisual in the 1960s and 1970s

From the mid-1940s until the early 1960s, youth delinquency was such a frequent motif in Swedish cinema that it was almost regarded as a genre of its own. This article investigates how the theme survived in Swedish television in the 1960s, focusing on three case studies, Trängningen (‘The squeeze’) (1962), Väcka åtal (‘Prosecution’) (1970) and Konfrontation (‘Confrontation’) (1969).

Essentialist traps and how to avoid them

Through the monolingual bias and essentialist understandings of language in education, multilingual youth across the globe have consistently been portrayed as deficient based on their linguistic practices. Deficit approaches in education stem from a colonial project meant to silence the voices and erase the experiences of the Other, and although there is a long tradition of pedagogies that try to counteract this form of discrimination, these attempts are typically built on principles and assumptions that reproduce essentialism and dynamics of marginalization. In this position paper, I argue that it is necessary for educators to engage with non-essentialist understandings of language and multi-sided perspectives on multilingualism to develop pedagogies that are empowering for multilingual youth in Sweden. By engaging with the decolonial notion of linguistic citizenship, educators in Sweden can allow fluid understandings of multilingualism to enter the classroom, creating spaces for socio-political participation and dialogue at the margins of institutional arenas in which language can be negotiated. This measure creates opportunities for empowerment for all students, engaging them in the reconstruction of language and giving voice to stories that would otherwise remain silent.

A Descriptive Study of Swedish Secure Youth Homes in Terms of Their Spatial Factors and Residents’ Individual Characteristics

ABSTRACT This study aims to describe secure institutional youth care homes in Sweden in terms of the conditions of their spatial environment (i.e. physical design and objects) and the individual characteristics of the youths placed there. Data were collected through a survey and from the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care. The study population consisted of 18 units and 1,859 youths in secure institutions in Sweden from 2006 to the end of 2016. The results showed that 74.1% of the youths were enrolled under acute circumstances. They often present with physical and mental health problems, such as sleep disturbance and lack of impulse control; the young people are placed in a restricted environment with little possibility to maintain a sense of security. Due to their previous traumatic experiences, this can be problematic in terms of care and treatment. The results show a tension between different aspects of control, highlighting the importance of offering care environments that both offer the staff “control functions” (i.e. functions facilitating observation and control over the environment) and offer the youths “control opportunities.” Such environments need to be as homelike as possible, while simultaneously maintaining safe care for young people and a safe working environment for staff.

Down and out? the role of household income in students’ friendship formation in school-classes

Research suggests that coming from a lower economic background compromises social integration at school, yet the precise mechanisms underlying this link remain unknown. Therefore, this study examined the effect of household income on friendship network dynamics among classmates in a large sample of Swedish youths (n = 4787 from 235 classes, m age = 14.65, 51% girls, and 33% immigrant background), using multilevel longitudinal social network analysis. Over time, students from poorer households were less often selected as a friend by classmates and they less often initiated or maintained friendship ties than students from higher income households. Furthermore, different conceptualizations of income relative to classmates did not impact friendship formation tendencies. The findings indicate that theories of relative income do not extend understanding of students’ friendship formation beyond processes related to absolute income. In addition, this study suggests that the social integration of students from low-income households could be boosted by both promoting their agency in forming friendships and preventing exclusion by classmates.

Access to healthcare among transgender and non-binary youth in Sweden and Spain: A qualitative analysis and comparison.

Transgender and non-binary (TGNB) people tend to report worse health than cis people, however, despite an increased need for care, they face several barriers when trying to access healthcare. These barriers might be exacerbated when young age intersects with a trans identity, and so there is a need for studies highlighting the experiences of TGNB youth. To explore and compare how TGNB youth (15-26 years old) in Sweden and Spain experienced their access to healthcare, in order to shed light on the strengths and limitations of different kinds of healthcare systems and improve healthcare provision and policy development. This study was based on a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with TGNB youth living in Sweden (n = 16) and Spain (n = 18). Of these, 22 identified as male or transmasculine, six as non-binary, and six as women or transfeminine; 25 had undergone some type of gender-affirming care, and the rest were on the waiting list or undergoing preparatory visits and had not started hormonal treatment. The interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. An abductive approach was applied, and the Levesque conceptual framework was used to compare the analyses of each set of materials. We present our findings using the structure of the accessibility framework, focusing on approachability, acceptability, availability, affordability, and appropriateness. The conceptualization of accessibility in combination with the concept of cisnormativity illustrates how specific ideals and normative expectations affect access to healthcare for TGNB people across contexts, with most barriers arising from the appropriateness of the services. Young TGNB people experience barriers to accessing healthcare both in the Spanish and the Swedish contexts. Strategies to reduce these barriers should be framed within the critique of and resistance to cisnormativity and should focus on users with intersecting marginalized identities to promote health equity.

Banal humour and social order: Overlooked affects in staff interaction with incarcerated boys

Correctional institutions such as youth detention centres are highly emotional places, yet there are only a few studies of youth in locked institutions that take emotions as their starting point, and those who do primarily focus on explosive affects. Drawing on video ethnographic data from a Swedish youth detention home, this study highlights a mild form of joking, what we call ‘banal humour’, employed by staff and youth as a form of affective practice. Grounded in critical humour studies and affect theory, the paper demonstrates how banal humour contributes to maintaining positive affects, and to mitigate both anger and embarrassment, while simultaneously constructing social order and producing desirable subjectivities in the detention centre.

Extensive husbandry and animal welfare are important for acceptance of rabbit meat production among Swedish youth

Global meat production and consumption are increasingly unsustainable. One way to counteract this development is to change the type of meat consumed. Rabbit meat has relatively lower climate impact than many other types of meat, but consumer acceptance is crucial for a socially sustainable production. In this study we examine the acceptance of industrial, extensive and urban rabbit production among Swedish senior high school youth, 17 to 19 yr old. An electronic survey was sent to ten randomly selected senior high school classes with 17 to 19 year-old students. The survey included inquiries about background, scaled responses and open-end questions with the opportunity to comment. A total of 111 students completed the survey, of which 62 were women, 74 from rural areas and 91 with previous animal experience. Extensive production was more accepted than industrial and urban production, while no difference was observed between industrial and urban production. Thus, the results advocate a farming system with more animal movement, less productivity and higher space requirements. In general, male respondents were more accepting of all production systems than women, while no difference could be detected between rural and urban citizens. The scaling shows that animal welfare, local production and meat quality was given priority over climate impact, biodiversity and price. Our study suggests useful prerequisites to consider for the meat industry in general, and for the development of Swedish rabbit production.

Peer acceptance and rejection during secondary school: Doassociations with subsequent educational outcomes vary bysocioeconomic background?

Research shows that peer relationships are associated with students' school adjustment. However, the importance of advantageous and disadvantageous factors for students' educational outcomes may vary by socioeconomic positioning. Drawing on sociometric and register data from a nationally representative sample of Swedish youth (n = 4996, girls 50%; migration background 19%), this study asks if family socioeconomic status moderates associations between youth's peer relationships and their subsequent educational outcomes. Based on preregistered analyses, associations that peer acceptance and rejection at age 14-15 years share with school grades at ~16 years and completion of upper secondary school at ~20 years were tested. The findings showed that positive and adverse peer relationships are most consequential for the educational outcomes of socioeconomically disadvantaged youth.

The Irony of “Drottningen av Åland”: Politics and Aesthetics in the Changing Landscape of Finland Swedish Popular Music

Abstract In the spring of 2012, Radio X3M, the Swedish language youth station of YLE, Finland's national public service broadcasting company, released a song with an accompanying music video called “Drottningen av Åland” (The queen of Åland). The music and the video were created as an ironic reply to a public comment made by Teuvo Hakkarainen, a populist nationalist member of the Finnish parliament, who had suggested that the members of the gay, lesbian, and Somali minorities should be moved to the Åland islands. By analyzing the music video, the article discusses how music is used to create social belonging and distancing through cultural means in the politically and technologically changing environment of the beginning of the twenty-first century. The article shows how popular music and videos can be used to negotiate and renegotiate cultural belonging in a Finland Swedish context. A key argument is that music and audiovisual formats offer polysemic possibilities of expressing both critical and self-ironic humorous commentary in a multilayered form. From this perspective “Drottningen av Åland” clearly managed to highlight perspectives on ongoing debates in such a way that it both provoked and entertained, and manifested and questioned many issues that were experienced as important within a Finland Swedish cultural framework.

Trends in alcohol-related harm among Swedish youth: Do in-patient care registry data match drinking trends?

Youth drinking has been declining in Sweden since the year 2000. There is a paucity of studies examining trends in alcohol-related harm during this period. The overall aim of the present study is to examine how trends in alcohol-related harm match trends in drinking among Swedish youths during 2000-2021. Measures of alcohol use were obtained from national school surveys. Prevalence rates of any alcohol use and heavy episodic drinking were used. Alcohol-related harm indicators were obtained from registry information from the National Board of Health and Welfare. Annual trends in harm indicators were tested with linear regression models and correlations between alcohol use and alcohol-related harm indicators were assessed using Pearson's correlation on annual data. Statistically significant negative trends were observed for all alcohol-related harm indicators for the period 2000-2021. Significant correlations were found for both measures of alcohol use and all alcohol-related harm indicators. The levels of alcohol-related harm have declined among youths in Sweden during the period 2000-2021. The trends in harm seem to reflect the decline in youth drinking that has occurred during the same period.

Complying with COVID‐19 policy: The role of citizenship norms for young people's compliance with Sweden's voluntary COVID‐19 recommendations

AbstractSweden's COVID‐19 policy was characterized by reliance on voluntary compliance. Citizens were expected to act responsibly. Previous research has not focused on the role of citizenship norms (duty‐based, engaged, and critical) in the COVID‐19 crisis. This is an important omission, since citizenship norms are expected to raise social responsibility and trigger prosocial behavior. This article asks how important citizenship norms are for explaining voluntary COVID‐19 policy compliance. Additionally, it considers perceptions of how other people comply, individual background factors, and interpersonal and institutional trust. The study focuses on Swedish high school youth, a group reported to comply less with voluntary COVID‐19 measures. Using survey data (N = 1823), we find higher reported voluntary compliance by high school youth who adhere more strongly to the duty‐based citizenship norm. Importantly, believing that other people follow the COVID‐19 recommendations is strongly associated with following them. Thus, next to citizenship norms, “descriptive norms” (i.e., what other people are doing) are central for individuals to decide how they will comply. We further find that differences in worry about the pandemic and socioeconomic background factors (migration background and economic situation of the household) explain variation in compliance. Institutional and interpersonal trust play a less important role. These findings challenge the strong focus on trust in previous research. Our findings have implications for research on policy compliance in the context of crisis, and for public policy.

Perceived stress and psychosomatic complaints in Swedish youth

Abstract Background Psychosomatic complaints are common in youth, and are often assumed to reflect stress. Previous studies have reported associations between perceived stress and psychosomatic complaints. The current study extends this research by examining the longitudinal links between perceived stress and psychosomatic complaints. Methods The data was derived from two survey waves of the Swedish cohort study Futura01, with participants aged ∼17-18 in 2019 (t1) who were followed up in 2022 (t2; n = 2708). Perceived stress was measured by Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4). Psychosomatic complaints were captured by three items on the frequency of stomach ache, headache and sleeping problems, which were added to an index. Sex stratified linear regression analyses were performed, controlling for parental education and parental country of birth, based on information from official registers. The longitudinal analyses were carried out using the first difference (FD) approach, regressing the change in psychosomatic complaints on the change in perceived stress. Results Females reported higher levels of stress and of psychosomatic complaints than males at both time points. There were cross-sectional associations between perceived stress and psychosomatic complaints at t1 (females: b = 0.40, 95% CI 0.36, 0.45; males: b = 0.33, 95% CI 0.29, 0.38) and at t2 (females: b = 0.40, 95% CI 0.36, 0.45; males: b = 0.33, 95% CI 0.29, 0.38). The FD analyses showed that increases in perceived stress were associated with increases in psychosomatic complaints (females: b = 0.19, 95% CI 0.15, 0.23; males: b = 0.19, 95% CI 0.14, 0.23). Conclusions This study provides further empirical support for the assumption that psychosomatic complaints can be regarded as stress-related. Decreasing stress and strengthening young people's resources and strategies to cope with stress may thereby help to reduce the risk of developing psychosomatic complaints. Key messages • Psychosomatic complaints are responsive to perceived stress and can thus be regarded as stress-related. • Reducing stress and strengthening coping resources may increase well-being in youth.

Predisposing, need and enabling factors for service utilization amongst newly arrived youth in Sweden

PurposeThe reasons for and experiences during migration, as well as additional stressors in the new host country, may give rise to mental health problems and additional need for public services. The purpose of the study was to investigate factors related to service utilization among newly arrived refugee youth.Design/methodology/approachCross-sectional data were gathered in Sweden where 37 youth aged between 19 and 23 reported on factors related to service utilization, encompassing health-care and support services in school. These factors included predisposition (demographic), need (migration status and mental wellbeing) and enablement (living situation). Service utilization was estimated using multiple logistic regression analysis.FindingsAbout a fourth of the sample used psychosocial services. Use of general support was more common. Neither predisposing, need nor enabling factors were associated with the use of psychosocial or general health-related services.Originality/valueSelf-reported factors related to use of health-related services have previously not been investigated for refugee youth, which is important in assuring access to appropriate services for this exposed youth population.

To pay or not to pay? Parents’ view of the commercialisation process in children and youth sports

The commercialisation of children’s and youth sports has experienced a significant rise in recent decades. Currently, there is a lack of in-depth knowledge regarding the implications of this commercialisation for Swedish youth participating in sport as well as family members directly involved in the youth sport experience. As such, the purpose of this study was to investigate parents’ perceptions of commercialisation processes in children and youth sports in Sweden. In particular, we sought to examine why some parents are willing to pay for commercial alternatives and how the increased commercialisation of youth sport are associated with youth sport participation. We also sought to investigate parents’ views about the impact of commercialised alternatives on coaches and voluntary sports clubs, both now and in the future. A total of nine focus group interviews were conducted, including a total of 48 parents (22 men and 26 women) strategically chosen based on their children’s participation in different strands of commercialised sports businesses. The findings indicate that the excessive demands from voluntary sports clubs combined with the desire to be considered a good parent appear to influence parents’ willingness to pay for commercialised businesses.