“[…] only by uniting the power of the entire village could they chase Snake away.” —In “The Virtue of Sacrifice”; The Kingfisher Story Collection [1].

In the first two decades of the twentieth century, the figure of the adolescent (Jugendlicher) was introduced into public discourse in the German-speaking world. The adolescent soon became an epistemic object for the still loosely defined field of psychology. Actors in the slowly differentiating scientific field of youth psychology were primarily interested in the normal development of adolescent subjects and sought out new materials and methods to research the inner life of young people. In order to access this inner (...) life, they turned to the interpretation of diaries and other self-descriptions. This article takes up the questions of how diaries were used in the scientific context of psychology, and how diary writing was psychologically interpreted and theorized. The theoretical and methodological contexts of psychological knowledge production grouped around the subject of the diary will be examined in keeping with Hans-Jörg Rheinberger’s concept of historical epistemology. This analysis is carried out by using the example of three central actors who were in conversation with each other during the 1920s and 1930s: the developmental psychologist Charlotte Bühler (1893–1974), the psychologist and founder of personalistic psychology William Stern (1871–1938), and the youth activist Siegfried Bernfeld (1892–1953), who was influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis. (shrink)

The construct of autonomy appears in the literature associated with individual psychological wellbeing. In Ryff's model, autonomy is presented as one of the dimensions of wellbeing, along with self-acceptance, positive relationships with others, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. The present study compared the levels of autonomy and psychological wellbeing between Spanish and Colombian young people. Ryff's Scale of Psychological Wellbeing and the Transition to Adulthood Autonomy (EDATVA according to its initials in Spanish) scales were used on a (...) sample of 1,146 young people aged between 16 and 21; 506 Spanish and 640 Colombian. Results showed differences in autonomy and in two of the four dimensions proposed by the EDATVA: self-organization and critical thinking. Similarly, important differences were observed in the subscales of positive relations and purpose in life. The importance of contextual factors in the development of psychological well-being and autonomy in young people in transition to adulthood is discussed. (shrink)

Publication date: 16 April 2018 Source: Author: Svitlana Serdiuk, Dmytro Volkov This article highlights the results of the research on psychological features of eschatological expectations of young people with different levels of creative thinking. Our study shows that 26 % of respondents believe that the End of the World will not arrive. Twenty-four per cent of respondents are skeptical about the likelihood of the Apocalypse, but they admit its possibility. Thirty-seven per cent of respondents believe that the End of Time (...) will not come soon and the remaining 13% expect the Apocalypse very soon. Some respondents indicate that growth in the rate of prophecies connected with the End of the World in recent years suggests that humanity itself seeks it, while 9 % of respondents state the religious point of view in their works. Also 9 % of respondents believe that there will be no destruction of civilization or destruction of the planet but there will be a mental transition to another level of being. The existence of correlation between creative thinking and eschatological expectations was also empirically established in our study, especially in the group of respondents with a high level of verbal creativity. There is no correlation between the index of non-verbal creativity, personal religiosity and eschatological expectations in the sample. These results confirm that our study is relevant and offers great prospects for further scientific research. (shrink)

The work examines the influence of the relationship that football players have with significant others on their psychological wellbeing (PWB), adopting a psychosocial perspective. According to this perspective, PWB can be considered a basic condition for an effective talent development and holistic growth of young athletes. Current literature on talent development in sport has been analyzed to support the theoretical hypothesis of psychosocial perspective. Thus, it has been tested empirically through a Structural Equation Model. Analysis reveals a strong and positive (...) influence of some dimensions of the relationships with significant others on the psychological wellbeing, specifically team effort, coach closeness and parental learning climate. Following ANOVA shows that élite players perceive significantly better relationships than sub-élite and amateurs and have significantly higher levels of PWB. Those results provide a first evidence for the importance of relationships within and outside sport for an effective talent development, since they positively influence players’ PWB, that is higher in higher competitive level players. It emerges the necessity to further investigate different aspects of psychological wellbeing and to deepen the knowledge about the meaning of relationship in developmental athletes according to a psychosocial approach. (shrink)

Treatment of sexual minority youth presents psychologists with a number of challenging ethical considerations. The APA Ethics Code is a valuable resource for addressing these issues, but psychologists require additional guidance in order to provide ethical treatment. This article provides relevant background, an overview of the ethical considerations of treating sexual minority youth, and recommendations to improve upon the current state of awareness and available resources. Psychologists must continually strive to improve our understanding of ethical decisions around treatment, (...) training, and research that will serve to address this vulnerable population's unmet mental health needs. (shrink)

The present study aims to identify contextual and psychological factors of proneness to radicalization and violent extremism operationalized through the Militant Extremist Mindset scale consisting of three distinct aspects: Proviolence, Vile World beliefs, and trust in Divine Power. A community sample of 271 high school students from Belgrade and Sandžak regions in Serbia completed: a 24-item MEM scale; contextual measures including a 6-item scale of family dysfunction and a 4-item composite measure capturing exposure to a harsh school environment and peer (...) abuse ; psychological measures including the 9-item Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale, the 5-item Social Dominance Orientation scale, and the 20-item UCLA Loneliness scale. A path analysis was conducted with contextual factors on the first and psychological factors on the second level of the model predicting the three factors of MEM. LON was positively predicted by FDys and HSE, SDO by HSE only, while RWA was positively predicted by FDys only. Contextual and psychological factors accounted for 27% of the variance in PV, 15% of the variance in VW, and 31% of the variance in DP. Obtained findings reveal a complex interplay of contextual and psychological drivers in the prediction of different aspects of RVE and build upon existing knowledge on risk factors associated with RVE. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine undergone by children in many countries is a stressful situation about which little is known to date. Children and adolescents' behaviors to cope with home confinement may be associated with their emotional welfare. The objectives of this study were: to examine the coping strategies used out by children and adolescents during the COVID-19 health crisis, to analyze the differences in these behaviors in three countries, and to examine the relationship between different coping modalities and (...) adaptation. Participants were 1,480 parents of children aged 3–18 years from three European countries. The children's mean age was 9.15 years. Parents completed an online survey providing information on symptoms and coping behaviors observed in their children. The most frequent coping strategies were accepting what is happening, collaborating with quarantine social activities, acting as if nothing is happening, highlighting the advantages of being at home, and not appearing to be worried about what is happening. Compared to Italian and Spanish children, Portuguese children used a sense of humor more frequently when their parents talked about the situation. Acting as if nothing was happening, collaborating with social activities, and seeking comfort from others were more likely in Spanish children than in children from the other countries. Compared to Portuguese and Spanish children, Italian children did not seem worried about what was happening. Overall, an emotional-oriented coping style was directly correlated with a greater presence of anxious symptoms, as well as to mood, sleep, behavioral, and cognitive alterations. Task-oriented and avoidance-oriented styles were related to better psychological adaptation. Results also show that unaffected children or children with a lower level of impact were more likely to use strategies based on a positive focus on the situation. This study provides interesting data on the strategies to be promoted by parents to cope with the COVID-19 health crisis in children. (shrink)

In contrast to mainstream theories focusing on adolescent developmental deficits, the positive youth development (PYD) approach highlights adolescent developmental plasticity and potentials. There are rich empirical research and review studies showing that PYD attributes promote adolescent well-being. However, the existing literature shows several limitations. First, while there are many Western studies, Chinese studies are sparse, particularly studies in mainland China. Second, most PYD studies are cross-sectional studies with data collected at one single time point. Third, researchers in different Chinese (...) contexts seldom employed validated Chinese scales assessing different domains of PYD attributes. Fourth, few studies have examined the relationships between PYD attributes (measures of eudaimonic well-being) and life satisfaction (measure of hedonic well-being) and hopelessness (measure of negative well-being) in a single study. Finally, the role of life satisfaction or hopelessness as a mediator of the relationship between PYD attributes and psychological well-being is unclear. To explore the importance of PYD attributes to Chinese adolescent psychological well-being, we conducted a longitudinal study with two waves of data collected from junior high school students in mainland China ( N = 2,648). At both times, validated measures of PYD attributes, life satisfaction, and hopelessness were employed. Results showed that PYD attributes concurrently and longitudinally predicted life satisfaction and hopelessness with small effect sizes. Cross-lagged panel analyses showed that while Wave 2 life satisfaction did not serve as a mediator of the relationship between Wave 1 PYD attributes and Wave 2 hopelessness, Wave 2 hopelessness served as a mediator of the link from Wave 1 PYD attributes to Wave 2 life satisfaction. In view of the paucity of research findings in this area, the present findings clarify the association between PYD attributes and hedonic well-being (indexed by life satisfaction) and negative psychological well-being (indexed by hopelessness) in Chinese adolescents. (shrink)

_Purpose._ This article reveals the importance of the analysis of the theory of generations to identify the essential characteristics of the phenomenon of youth. _Theoretical basis_ of this study is socio-philosophical anthropology, i.e. philosophical anthropology using certain methods of sociological, socio-psychological and ethnological research, as well as philosophical comprehension of the application of these methods in special sciences. _Originality._ The authors rethought the theoretical and practical potential of generational theory through its reconceptualization based on philosophical anthropology, which created an (...) opportunity to shift research attention from the attempts to identify superhistorical characteristics of youth to the identification of the essential nature of specific historical and sociocultural features of young people as representatives of a particular culture. _Conclusions._ Defining the youth phenomenon requires accounting at least three constraints that on the one hand, play a role of warnings that deter from theoretical and practical errors in the study of the youth phenomenon, and on the other hand, guidelines for identifying real, specific characteristics of youth as a social phenomenon. Limitations of theoretical and practical analysis of young people are as follows: first, the need to consider demographic data not as final, but only as initial and preliminary, such that require further substantive socio-cultural analysis; second, the inadmissibility of ignoring the cultural diversity of the manifestations of the youth phenomenon, instead the need to identify the special characteristics of youth of different ethnic, religious and other groups; third, the need to take into account the specifics of self-identification of those who identify themselves as young people as a social group. (shrink)

This study examines some of the perceptions amongst Spanish LGBTQ+ youth during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent confinement and lockdown measures, between March and May 2020. During this time, many of these young people were forced to return to their family homes and restrict their social relations. This new situation often exposed them to forms of violence from which there was no escape, with negative consequences for their psychosocial health. The study evaluates the correlations (...) between perceived social support, burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness and the people with whom LGBTQ+ youth lived during confinement. A descriptive and multivariate analysis of variance and bivariate correlations is used to examine the responses of 394 LGBTQ+ youth, between 17 and 21 years of age, residing in Spain. Overall, the study finds that gender is key when explaining the differences between the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth, with women and non-binary individuals experiencing a greater perception of stigma in the places where they lived during the lockdown. Moreover, trans men and women and non-binary individuals reported receiving less support and a greater feeling of burdensomeness then the other participants. These results suggest that LGBTQ+ youth must be given special consideration during times of crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic, and may benefit from intervention with an intersectional and transfeminist perspective. (shrink)

. The article examines the specifics of the formation of the religious identity of schoolchildren in Lutsk and identifies the main factors influencing this process. The main approaches in defining the concept of religious identity are analyzed. The focus is on ontological, psychological, revealing the individual level of religious identity and sociological approaches, which are represented by confessional and institutional religious identity. Emphasis is placed on the use of a constructivist approach to understanding religious identity through the prism of the (...) process of formation and its transformation. Based on this, the structure of religious identity and its features are described, in particular, it is determined that it is formed individually for each individual and is able to change during life. The peculiarities of the formation of religious identity at a young age and the psychological preconditions of this process are highlighted. The classification of religious identity, its division on individual and collective level is given and analyzed. The role of each of them in the formation of worldview and life principles of the individual, their influence on decision-making and the choice of a particular way of life is described in detail. The process of formation of religious identity, which consists of three levels of self-determination of the individual, is described. Based on the analysis of narrative interviews, the indicators of each of the levels of formation of religious identity of school youth in Lutsk are clarified, the most important factors that determine the process of formation of religious identity at a young age are clarified. These include the influence of the family and the immediate environment, the phenomenon of secularization, the rapid development of science and unimpeded access to the media. The main youth tendencies regarding faith and religion are described, and how they can be replaced. The prevalence of atheistic and agnostic views among schoolchildren, the clear popularity of the nominal Orthodox identity and the real inclusion and awareness of Greek Catholics and Protestants have been established and substantiated. The tendencies of transformation of traditional religion in accordance with modern challenges into the form of private faith of non-institutional character are determined. (shrink)

Under the hit of the epidemic, an increasing number of young people exchange and purchase goods by watching and resorting to mobile short video advertisements. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the influence mechanism of mobile short video advertising on the consumption behavior of young people. This study develops a theoretical framework including fashion, socialization, entertainment, personalization, brand, psychological needs, satisfaction, and consumption behavior using a stimulus–organism–response (SOR) theory. The data from 332 young people using mobile short video (...) advertising revealed that psychological needs exerted significant impacts on satisfaction, mediating the advertisements, and consumer satisfaction. The attributes of advertising, including fashion, socialization, entertainment, personalization, and branding, significantly promote young people’s psychological needs and satisfaction. In addition, satisfaction affects consumer behavior, and in the same manner, fashion and brand attribute directly impact consumer satisfaction. (shrink)

Youth constitute one third of total population in Nepal. This paper looks at the work and motivation of youth volunteers in disaster management in Nepal in order to evaluate how these ideas and values among the youth played roles in the re-construction of the Nation from the 2015 Earthquake. The study used primary data through group interviews with volunteers of Youth’s UNESCO Club in Kathmandu city who were actively involved in disaster-relief programs at Sindhupalchowk, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur (...) and Ramechhap districts, together with key informant interviews and case studies. Findings from the study shows most youth joined in the volunteer program on their own initiative. They are concerned about issues including personal safety, quality and appropriate training, coordination, wrong attitudes, gender inequality and media coverage. People engaging in similar acts may have different underlying motivations for doing so. Findings from the study shows that mostly, the volunteers are motivated based on their values which are welfare of others or unselfishness. Other underlying motives include opportunity to learn, career prospects, social pressure, to reduce feelings of guilt and enhance one‘s self-esteem. Activities for taking forward their work includes ensuring quality and appropriate training and appropriate gears and tools for search and rescue work, awareness raising, recognition and visibility of their work. Psychosocial counseling is important after rescue operations, as it is important to heal the psychological wounds after an emergency or a critical event. The study suggests involving volunteers in all stages of disaster management planning process. It is a matter of combined responsibility that volunteers are recognized for the contributions and their needs are ensured for them to accomplish their efforts successfully. (shrink)

This article focuses on feelings of anxiety among radical young Muslims, not just as a result of radicalism and terrorism but rather as an important cause of both. In contrast to many other publications which mainly deal with the radicalization of Muslim youths without taking into account their personal experience, the feelings of fear and anxiety expressed by radical young Muslims are central to this research. On the basis of an ongoing case study of 23 young Muslims who have participated (...) in a lengthy de-radicalization program in Amsterdam since 2009, an attempt has been made to gain insight into the interaction between radicalization processes and feelings of anxiety among this target group. The case study suggests that the three forms of anxiety expressed by radical Muslim youths, namely, (1) fear of victimization, (2) fear caused by guilt feelings, and (3) fear of being controlled by hatred and revenge, are related to the three phases presented in the “staircase model to terrorism.” This research into the various forms of anxiety experienced by radical young Muslims provides a concrete starting point for the de-radicalization process. (shrink)

A basic contradiction in education is that while education and guidance from people with more knowledge is necessary for the development of higher psychological functioning, the constraints imposed on student activity often become a hindrance to development. This contradiction is revealed in how youth participate in video production programs and becomes analyzable because video production brings the conflict to the surface. During video production, students often act with greater agency than they do in other school activities. This shift evokes (...) the agency|structure dialectic as the root of tensions surrounding authority, collaboration, and youth cultures. Based on data from five programs, a comparison of different cases demonstrates how schools damage motivation and initiative, neglect to connect with students and their worlds, and teach passivity while emphasizing an individualistic conception of human activity. New understandings of agency and its connections to the individual|social dialectic are urged. Based on a Vygotskian concept of development as overcoming contradictions, the relationships youth have within school are viewed as an essential part of development, requiring a theoretical shift from individualistic ideas of agency and a clearer connection between youth problems and societal contradictions. (shrink)

In mainstream medical discourse, self-harm and suicide are considered to be individual behaviors that have psychological causes in their psychological conditions, that is to say, they are psychopathological behaviors that somehow originate from the individual's psyche and are aberrations from a healthy, rational mind. This model of psychologization of self-harm relies on the medical discourse of health as a personal issue and an individual task, and this approach isolates individuals from the society in which they are embedded.In their co-authored book (...) Queer Youth, Suicide And Self-Harm: Troubled Subjects, Troubling Norms, Elisabeth McDermott and Katrina Roen, writing from the disciplines of medicine and... (shrink)

Soccer, or football, attracts vast numbers of passionate fans from all over the world; yet clinical psychology is yet to study it in depth. In this book, David Huw Burston, a consultant football psychology and performance coach, uses a phenomenological research method inspired by Amedeo Giorgi to consider what we can learn from the spirit of the game, and how this can be used positively in the consulting room and on the field of play. By examining detailed qualitative research with (...) professional soccer players of both sexes, Burston identifies and considers nine particular themes, including the family, god, heroes and dreams, and discusses how what we can learn from the game of football and team culture can be applied to Jungian analysis today. This book bridges the gap between clinical psychology and sport, outlining potential shortfalls in current youth development in sport, as well as discussing how traditional Jungian archetypes can be identified in everyday settings. It will be of key interest to researchers from both the fields of analytical psychology and sports studies. (shrink)

This timely, in-depth examination of the educational experiences and needs of mixed-race children focuses on the four contexts that primarily influence learning and development: the family, school, community, and society-at-large. The book provides foundational historical, social, political, and psychological information about mixed-race children and looks closely at their experiences in schools, their identity formation, and how schools can be made more supportive of their development and learning needs. Moving away from an essentialist discussion of mixed-race children, a wide variety of (...) research is included. Life and schooling experiences of mixed-raced individuals are profiled throughout the text. Rather than pigeonholing children into a neat box of descriptions or providing readymade prescriptions for educators, _Mixed-Race Youth and Schooling_ offers information and encourages teachers to critically reflect on how it is relevant to and helpful in their teaching/learning contexts. (shrink)

This article examines the content and appraisals of youth ministry leader goals. Responses to an open-ended survey question by 378 leaders primarily working in the United States who held significant responsibility for the discipleship of high school-aged young people in their ministries were coded, resulting in 29 categories of goals. Participants named goals associated with service, relationships in general, relationships with God, biblical/gospel knowledge, and discipleship most frequently. Leaders rated each goal according to factors that contribute to goal achievement (...) and well-being. Appraisals of goal difficulty (“this goal involves challenge”), clarity (“this goal is well-defined”), satisfaction with progress (“this goal is moving forward satisfactorily”), and support (“other leaders and congregants encourage the pursuit of this goal”) varied significantly across goals. Of note, participants rated discipleship and partnerships with parents/families as progressing the least satisfactorily and as some of the most difficult goals. By contrast, participants rated service goals as some of the least difficult and most clear. The content and appraisals of these goals bear implications for both the psychological study of goals and strivings and for ministry practice. (shrink)

The general proposition of the positive youth development approach is that developmental assets such as psychosocial competence can promote healthy adolescent development and reduce problem behavior. Despite that many Western studies have shown that PYD attributes are negatively related to adolescent delinquency, not all empirical findings support the negative associations. Although different dimensions of PYD attributes may bear differential relationships with delinquency, this possibility has not been properly examined so far. In addition, related studies in mainland China do not (...) exist. Finally, the possible mediating role of life satisfaction in linking PYD attributes to delinquency has rarely been studied. To address the research gaps and understand how PYD attributes are associated with adolescent delinquency and the underlying mediating effect of life satisfaction, matched longitudinal data were collected from 2,648 mainland Chinese secondary school students at two waves which were separated by one year. On each occasion, participants completed a questionnaire containing validated measures of PYD attributes, life satisfaction, and delinquency. Congruent with the general theoretical prediction of the PYD approach, different PYD attributes were inversely related to concurrent and future adolescent delinquency in separate regression analyses. In addition, the negative predictions were mediated by life satisfaction. When all PYD attributes were included in a single path analysis model, three findings were observed. First, two PYD dimensions, including self-identity and general PYD attributes, showed robust negative predictions on delinquency via life satisfaction. Second, prosocial attributes displayed a weak and unstable negative predictive effect. Third, cognitive-behavioral competence showed an unexpected positive predictive effect on delinquency directly or via its negative effects on life satisfaction. The present findings add value to the existing literature by revealing the predictive role of PYD attributes on life satisfaction and delinquency among mainland Chinese adolescents. The findings also reinforce the importance of investigating individual dimensions of PYD attributes simultaneously in the research field. The present study suggests that it is promising to cultivate PYD attributes as a strategy to reduce delinquency among adolescents in mainland China. (shrink)

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) of the U.S. Department of Justice presents the full text of the report entitled "Animal Abuse and Youth Violence," by Frank R. Ascione that was published in September 2001. Ascione discusses psychiatric, psychological, and criminal research linking animal abuse to violence perpetrated by juveniles and adults. The report covers the definition of animal abuse, the prevalence of cruelty to animals by children and adolescents, animal abuse and violent offending, animal abuse (...) and conduct disorder, motivations that may cause animal abuse by children and adolescents, and the etiology of animal abuse. (shrink)

Depression is a major public health issue and the literature has consistently showed that the rates of depression increase dramatically during youth transition to adulthood, and gender differences merge in this period. Positive youth development framework is focused on strengths that make young people more resistant to negative outcomes, like depression, and more capable to choose a positive life direction. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between the 5Cs of PYD and depression in Croatia (...) and Spain, as well as to analyze gender differences. This research was conducted within the PYD Cross-National Project. High school and university students from Eastern Croatia and Southern Spain participated in the study. There were 584 students from Croatia and 768 students from Spain, who filled in self-reports of PYD and depression. Results showed that male participants presented more Competence and Confidence, while female participants reported more Connection, Caring, Character, overall PYD, but also more depressive symptoms. Furthermore, Confidence and Connection were negative correlates of depressive symptoms, with neither Spain nor Croatia showing remarkable gender differences. These results may have some implications concerning the promotion of the 5Cs of PYD as a recommendable approach to promote youth mental health in Croatia and Spain from a gender perspective. Youth mental health services and initiatives that engage the partnership of youth contexts, such as the family, schools and neighborhoods, should not only address risk factors for mental health problems, but also protecting factors as the 5Cs, thus providing a more inclusive and sustainable support for youth well-being. (shrink)

IntroductionA framework for understanding the interrelationship of individual and environmental factors that influence adolescent health and well-being, as well as opportunities for policy-level interventions, is known as Positive Youth Development. The current study represents one of the largest studies of Croatian adolescents to date, and aimed to examine associations between school and family factors linked to PYD, and mental health outcomes experienced by Croatian youth.MethodsA multi-site survey study was conducted among adolescents residing in the five most populous cities (...) in Croatia, with the aim of examining cross-sectional associations of family and school factors with adolescent mental health. The mean age of participants was 16.3 years, and 52.5% of participants were female. School and family factors included school attachment, school commitment, family communication, and family satisfaction. Depression, anxiety, and stress were assessed as outcomes. Multigroup structural equation modeling was used to examine relations of interest among female and male adolescents.ResultsAmong school factors, increased school attachment was found to be significantly associated with reduced depression, anxiety, and stress for female adolescents, and with decreased depression and stress for male adolescents. Increased school commitment was significantly associated with decreased depression and anxiety for female adolescents; conversely, an increase in school commitment was associated with an increase in anxiety and stress for male adolescents. Increases in family communication were significantly associated with reduced depression, anxiety, and stress only for male adolescents, while increased family satisfaction was significantly associated with reduced depression, anxiety, and stress for female adolescents and with decreased depression and stress for male adolescents.ConclusionFindings suggest that interventions for mental health promotion and prevention of internalizing problems should address both school and family contexts, and may be more effective when accounting for differing developmental experiences of female and male adolescents. (shrink)

Bernard Stiegler works systematically through the current crisis in education and family relations resulting from the mesmerizing power of marketing technologies. He contends that the greatest threat to social and cultural development is the destruction of young people's ability to pay critical attention to the world around them. This phenomenon, prevalent throughout the first world, is the calculated result of technical industries and their need to capture the attention of the young, making them into a target audience and reversing the (...) relationship between adults and children. _Taking Care_ exposes the carelessness of these industries and urges the reader to re-enter the "battle for intelligence" against the drive-oriented culture of short-term attention characteristic of the negative aspects of the new technologies. Long-term attention, Stiegler shows, produces retentions of cultural memory mandatory for social development—and for the counteracting of ADD and ADHD. Examining the history of education from Plato to the current quagmires in France and the United States, he tracks the notion of critical thinking from its Enlightenment apotheosis to its current eradication. Stiegler is unique in combining the most radical of theoretical constructs—such as "grammatization"—with quite traditional values, values he proposes we re-address in our not-so-brave new world. (shrink)

The world’s population is currently aging, and the issue of ageism has become serious worldwide, including in Japan. Negative attitudes toward older adults can have undesirable effects on the mental and physical health of this group. We focused on the effects of contact experience with older adults and germ aversion, or the degree of aversion to infection, on negative attitudes toward older adults. Additionally, we included a moderating variable; youth identity, or the sense of belonging with younger rather than (...) older age groups. An online survey was conducted with Japanese participants. We conducted multiple regression analyses and the results showed that the interaction effect between youth identity and contact experience on negative attitudes toward older adults was significant. The findings suggest that contact experience may help in reducing negative attitudes toward older adults among people with low youth identity. The interaction effect between youth identity and germ aversion, however, was not significant. Academic research on the effects of some psychological interventions should pay particular attention to the role of youth identity. Future directions for empirical studies are also discussed. (shrink)

The aim of the studies was to ascertain how far psychology students are ready to learn the vocation of education assistants to children and youth. Four general ways of acquiring knowledge and skills - by assimilation, by doing, by discovering, and by impression - were distinguished and interpreted with regard to the students’ prospective employment in educational institutions. Learning by doing and by impression turned out to be more expressive in the student self-reports than learning by assimilation and by (...) discovering. A proof that the Nosal/paluchowski typology of diagnosticians applies to psychology students was also in search. However, the pertinent Educational Diagnostician Inventory appeared satisfactorily valid only for those psychology sophomores who manifested the best-shaped attitudes towards educational diagnoses. They belonged mostly to concrete-objective and global-subjective attitude categories. Transactional analysis partly supported these findings of the survey. (shrink)

Social psychological research on youth intergroup relations has primarily examined interactions between dichotomous groups through cross-sectional and self-report measures in single contexts. Such traditional approaches, however, are not adept to capturing the dynamic nature of intergroup relations for youth growing up in multicultural societies. In this chapter, we briefly review the existing literature on youth interethnic interactions. We next discuss some theoretical and methodological limitations of this research. We then review the handful of studies focused on youths’ (...) behaviour in diverse contexts, as well as emerging research examining youth and behavioural trajectories when moving beyond the dichotomies of Black and White. We end the chapter by proposing a new research agenda which brings youth into context and extends theoretical boundaries by drawing on a range of innovative methods. We argue this broader approach is needed if we are to truly understand the implications of growing ethnic diversity for youth. (shrink)

Psychological well-being is one of the greatest concerns in children and adolescents with Borderline Intellectual Functioning. Those youths are frequently exposed to stress and social inequality, and they are particularly prone to developing mental health issues which persist through adolescence and into adult life. The purpose of this article is to introduce a framework for promoting psychological resilience in children and adolescents with BIF. Three interrelated and complementary factors require professional attention and efforts to improve resilience in children with borderline (...) intelligence: a) protecting a child’s self-worth, b) generating sources of social support, c) training of adaptive coping skills. The significance of early diagnosis and continuous monitoring of a child’s development is also discussed. Children with BIF should be provided with internal and external resources to enhance their resilience and ability to confront adversities, and to reduce the risk of mental health issues. (shrink)

BackgroundThe use of dedicated training programs for improving decision-making (DM) in team sports players has grown in the last several years. Approaches such as imagery training, video-based training, or game-based drills are some of the interventions used in youth players in order to improve DM. However, no systematic reviews or meta-analyses have been conducted to summarize the main evidence regarding the effects of these programs on the players and identify the magnitude of the effects compared to control groups.ObjectiveThis systematic (...) review (with meta-analysis) was conducted to assess the effects of training programs on the DM of youth team sports players.Data SourcesThe data sources utilized were PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science.Study eligibility criteriaThe criteria included the following: (i) youth (≤ 18 years old) team sports players with no restriction on sex or competitive level; (ii) players subjected to training programs to develop DM; (iii) control groups; (iv) pre–post outcomes related to tactical behavior, technical execution, reaction, and decision time; and (v) controlled trials.ResultsThe database search initially identified 2497 titles. From these, six articles were eligible for the systematic review and meta-analysis. The results showed a significant beneficial effect of DM interventions on tactical behavior (ES = 1.12;p= 0.035;I2= 80.0%; Egger’s testp= 0.066), whereas no significant effect of DM interventions on technical execution was found (ES = 0.74;p= 0.180;I2= 69.1%; Egger’s testp= 0.873).ConclusionThe DM interventions were significantly effective in improving tactical behavior in youth team sports players independently from the number of sessions to which players were exposed. In addition, DM interventions were significantly effective in improving technical execution. However, the results should be carefully interpreted due to the heterogeneity of the articles’ overall methodological quality. Future DM interventions should consider using combined approaches that allow players to develop both tactical behavior and technical execution. (shrink)

Although there is clearly a need for evidenced‐based behavioral or biomedical prevention or treatment programs for suicide, substance abuse, and sexual health targeted to members of the LGBT population under the age of eighteen, few such programs exist, due in substantial part to limited research knowledge. Ambiguities in regulations that govern human subjects protections and the related inconsistencies in institutional review board (IRB) interpretations of regulatory language are the key reason for the lack of rigorous clinical trial evidence to support (...) treatment choices and prevention approaches to reducing health disparities for this population. Given the socially sensitive nature of suicide, substance abuse, and HIV and STI research in general and LGBT research specifically, in the absence of empirical data to guide their decisions, IRBs must often rely on subjective judgments of minimal risk, which can lead to overestimation of the magnitude and probability of psychological, social, and informational harms that might arise from LGBT youth participation in clinical trials. In addition, more than other youth, LGBT adolescents whose families are unaware of their sexual orientation or gender identity or whose families have victimized them on account of it may be reluctant to participate in studies that require guardian permission. This, in turn, intensifies problems of recruitment and unbiased sampling. However, many IRBs are reluctant to apply federal regulations permitting waiver of guardian permission under conditions in which such permission is clearly not “feasible” or “reasonable” to require. Consequently, many investigators have excluded LGBT individuals under eighteen years of age in health intervention research proposals because of anticipated or actual difficulties obtaining IRB approval. This situation is in conflict with current ethical discourse focusing on the right of youths to participate in trials that will protect them from receiving developmentally untested, inappropriate, and unsafe treatments. In this article, we describe these barriers and recommendations for providing LGBT youth safe and fair access to health research. (shrink)

This book investigates how young adults build their identities in modern society. Looking at narratives from Italian young adults living with their parents and from university students, along with sociological, psychological, and anthropological literature, Pierluca Birindelli explores “intergenerational collusion” that defines modern adulthood.

Bullying is a global issue that, beyond school, is present in different social contexts, such as sport environments. The main objective of this study was to get to know the experiences of victims of bullying in sport throughout their youth sport training. Semi-structured interviews to four Spanish women and seven Spanish men were carried out, within an age range of 17–27. The following main themes were established by means of a hierarchical content analysis: “bullying characterization,” “dealing with bullying,” and (...) “consequences of bullying.” The results show the presence of physical, verbal and social bullying in the sport context, with the changing room being the space where this type of behavior is most frequently developed. Most victims show an internal attribution for the bullying event, related to their motor skills and their personal physical and psychological characteristics. Double victimization can be observed, at the sport club and at the educational center. Passive strategies are used to deal with the situation, while little support is shown by sport agents. The victims, as a consequence of the bullying experience, suffer from short and long-term negative effects on a psychosocial level. The study highlights the necessity to design and implement programs focused on the prevention, detection and intervention of bullying for sport organizations, bearing in mind all the agents that make them up. Furthermore, the importance of promoting the creation of safe sport environments, free from any kind of violence, is emphasized. (shrink)

Physical activity has wide-ranging consequences for people’s physical, mental, and social health. Although the beneficial effects of physical activity on well-being were widely studied, how it promotes well-being remained unclear. The present study utilized the measure of physical activity rating scale, flourishing scale, Chinese- meaning in life questionnaire, and general self-efficacy scale to examine the connection between physical activity and flourishing and the multiple mediation effects of meaning and self-efficacy with 827 Chinese undergraduates. The results indicated that physical activity positively (...) predicted flourishing; meaning in life and self-efficacy played mediating roles in physical activity and flourishing, separately and jointly. Our findings revealed the mechanism of physical activity fostering flourishing, thereby providing an empirical basis for promoting health and flourishing, especially during COVID-19. (shrink)

Purpose: Our aim was to determine if self-determined motivation (SDM) in elite, men’s soccer changes over time and differs as a function of age, skill-grouping, and engagement in soccer play and practice. We tested predictions from the Developmental Model of Sport Participation (DMSP) regarding relations between practice and play and SDM among both elite and non-elite samples. Methods: Elite youth soccer players in the UK (n = 31; from the Under 13/U13 yr and U15 yr age groups) completed practice (...) history and motivation questionnaires at time1 (T1) and ~2 years later (T2: now U15 yr & U17 yr). Non-elite players (n = 32; from U15 yr and U17 yr) completed the same questionnaires at T2 only. Results: For the elite groups, global SDM decreased over time for the current U17 group (from U15), but no change was seen for the current U15 group (from U13). Age group differences at T2 mirrored these data, with U17 players showing lower global SDM and higher controlled motivation than U15 elites. The non-elite players did not show age group differences, but elites scored higher for global SDM and autonomous motivation than non-elites. The recent hours accumulated in practice negatively correlated with global SDM in elite and non-elite groups, but play was unrelated to measures of motivation. Conclusions: Differences in SDM as a function of age and skill point towards the dynamic nature of these motivations over time, likely a result of proximity to external rewards related to professional status. Although high volumes of practice are related to lower global SDM in both skill groups, the absence of any relations between SDM and soccer play does not support a key prediction related to the DMSP. (shrink)

The study investigates how the territorial community can influence the individual and social well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual youth and especially the recognition of their feelings and the construction of their own identity as well as their needs to be socially recognized. This research focuses on the experiences of 30 LGB individuals, with a mean age of 25.07 years, living in urban and rural areas of Southern Italy. Focalized open interviews were conducted, and the Grounded Theory Methodology, supported by (...) the Atlas.ti 8.0 software, was used for data analysis. The textual material was first coded, and then codes were grouped into five macro-categories: Freedom of identity expression in the urban and rural context, identity construction and acceptance process, need of aggregation and identification with the LGB community, role of the interpersonal relationship in the process of identity acceptance, socio-cultural context, and LGB psychological well-being. The results showed a condition common to the two contexts that we can define as “ghettoization.” The young LGB is alone in the rural area due to a lack of places and people to identify with and greater social isolation. On the contrary, although there are more opportunities in the urban area, young people feel stigmatized and ghettoized because “their places” are frequented exclusively by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual, queer community. The work will extensively discuss the limitations of the research, future proposals, and the practical implications of the results. (shrink)