The price of youth: commodification of young people through malleable risk practices

Risk has become a dominant part of theory and practice in young people's services over the past 30 years [Kemshall, H. 2008. “Risk, Rights and Justice: Understanding and Responding to Youth Risk.” Youth Justice 8 (1): 21–37; Goldson, G. 2000. “Children in Need’ or ‘Young Offenders’? Hardening ideology, organizational change and new challenges for social work with children in trouble.” Child and Family Social Work 5 (3): 255–265]. Young people are simultaneously described as ‘at-risk’ and risky, ‘permanent suspects’ [Mcara, L., and S. Mcvie. 2005. “The usual suspects? Street-life, young people and the police.” Criminal Justice 5 (1): 5–36] with the potential for committing crime, using drugs, being sexually promiscuous or under-performing in the socio-economic climate [Turnbull, G., and J. Spence. 2011. “What's at risk? The proliferation of risk across child and youth policy in England.” Journal of Youth Studies 14 (8): 939–959]. This paper reports on a UK study of youth practitioners’ perceptions of young people in relation to ‘risk’ and how this affects practice. Findings identify a context where practitioners engage with notions of young people as at-risk or risky, managing tensions between external constructions and the ‘real’ individual on an on-going basis. ‘Risk’ becomes malleable, with young people's risk biographies being amplified or attenuated on the basis of the practitioner's view of needs, resource allocations, contracts, targets, practitioner or organisational fears, risk management processes, and the desire to get the best for the young person. Whilst of short-term benefit, this commodification of young people is counter-productive, magnifying the construction of youth as risky others. The paper calls for new approaches to challenge the continued dominance of the youth risk paradigm in practice, policy and the academic youth studies field.     

Sexual minority youth in romantic relationships: Associations with youth well-being

This study investigated differences in depressive symptoms, loneliness, and self-esteem for monosexual (lesbian, gay) and plurisexual (bisexual, pansexual, queer) sexual minority youth (SMY) by relationship status (single, partnered) and relationship configuration (same-gender partner, different-gender partner). Participants included 338 SMY (M_age = 19.10 years) who reported on their relationship status, partner's gender identity, well-being, and ability to confide in partner about LGBTQ issues. Results indicated that for plurisexual youth, single status was associated with greater loneliness; plurisexual youth with same-gender partners reported fewer depressive symptoms and marginally greater ability to confide in their partner about LGBTQ issues than those with different-gender partners. Findings reveal similarities across SMY while also highlighting some unique challenges among plurisexual youth with different-gender partners.     

The prevention of gambling problems in youth: a conceptual framework

Despite increased awareness of the need to begin educating young children about the potential dangers of gambling, empirical knowledge of the prevention of adolescent problem gambling and its translation into science-based prevention initiatives is scarce. This paper poses the question of whether or not the common elements of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug abuse prevention programs can be applied to gambling prevention. Common risk and protective factors across addictions, including gambling, appear to point to the need to develop a general model of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. The authors present the need for science-based prevention initiatives and describe a general adolescent risk-taking model as a basis for science-based prevention of adolescent problem gambling and other risk behaviors.     

Comprehensive assessment of youth violence in five Caribbean countries: Gender and age differences

Differences in gender and age have been established in the context of crime, violence, and prevalence of risk and protective factors. These studies are often notable only in the Western Hemisphere. Despite growth in crime and violence in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), relatively little understanding of violence in CARICOM member states exists. In light of these concerns, the major purposes of this study include: (1) comprehensively assessing the scope of the four behaviors (i.e., engagement, victimization, witness, and report) in relation to violence and youth’s perceptions of risk and protective factors in family and school domains, and (2) examining how they differ by youth’s gender and age. This study draws on assessment data on youth violence in five CARICOM Member States: Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago using a completed 51-item quantitative questionnaire from approximately 512 students. The results suggest that violence engagement, victimization, witness, and report significantly differed by gender and age. Male students were more likely to engage in violence, but less likely to report such violence to adults. Similarly, older students reported that they were more likely to engage in and witness violence. For risk and protective factors, female students reported significantly higher scores on domestic violence, whereas male students had higher scores on the access to drugs/weapons. Older students also tended to report higher levels of some school risk factors and lower levels of some protective factors in both family and school.     

Underserved parents,underserved youth: Considering foster parent willingness to foster substance-using adolescents

Adolescents involved with foster care are five times more likely to receive a drug dependence diagnosis when compared to adolescents in the general population. Prior research has shown that substance use is often hidden from providers, negating any chance for treatment and almost guaranteeing poor post-foster care outcomes. There are virtually no studies that examine the willingness (and its determinants) to foster youth with substance abuse problems. The current study conducted a nationally-distributed survey of 752 currently licensed foster care parents that assessed willingness to foster youth overall and by type of drug used, and possible correlates of this decision (e.g., home factors, system factors, and individual foster parent factors such as ratings of perceived difficulty in fostering this population). Overall, willingness to foster a youth involved with alcohol and other drugs (AOD) was contingent upon the types of drugs used. The odds that a parent would foster an AOD-involved youth were significantly increased by being licensed as a treatment foster home, having fostered an AOD-involved youth in the past, having AOD-specific training and past agency-support when needed, and self-efficacy with respect to positive impact. Surprisingly, when religion played a large part in the decision to foster any child, the odds of willingness to foster an AOD-involved youth dropped significantly. These results suggest that a large proportion of AOD-involved youth who find themselves in the foster care system will not have foster families willing to parent them, thereby forcing placement into a variety of congregate care facilities (e.g., residential treatment facilities, group homes). Specific ways in which the system can address these issues to improve placement and permanency efforts are provided.     

Examining area- and individual-level differences in suicide ideation severity and suicide attempt among youth

Youth suicide is a pressing problem and suicide rates are not equally distributed across geographic areas or socioeconomic status (SES). Death by suicide is often preceded factors including hopelessness and suicide ideation, planning, and attempt. The current study examined area- and individual-level differences in suicide ideation severity and suicide attempt in a state-representative sample of youth from 2019 (N = 78,740) and 2021 (N = 61,396). Youth from higher SES and rural areas showed lower suicide ideation severity and odds of suicide attempt. After including individual-level covariates, SES differences in ideation severity and suicide attempt persisted for 2019 but not 2021. Rural differences for ideation severity persisted across years but not for suicide attempt. Further research on geographic variation in suicide risk is needed.     

On the political economy of youth: a comment

This article is written as a brief comment on a recent discussion that has taken place in the pages of the Journal of Youth Studies on the question of youth, youth studies and political economy, in a series of articles by Côté [2014. “Towards a New Political Economy of Youth.” Journal of Youth Studies 17 (4): 527–543; Côté, J. 2016. “A New Political Economy of Youth Reprised: Rejoinder to France and Threadgold.” Journal of Youth Studies. doi:10.1080/13676261.2015.1136058] and France and Threadgold [2015. “Youth and Political Economy: Towards a Bourdieusian Approach.” Journal of Youth Studies. doi:10.1080/13676261.2015.1098779]. It argues for the value of embracing a broad understanding of the term political economy, and for the importance of increasing the attention paid to political economy in the field of youth studies. The comment draws on a simple review of articles published in the Journal of Youth Studies over a five-year period between 2011 and 2015 in order to clarify the different approaches that can be taken by youth studies researchers with respect to the question of political economy.     

Diasporic youth culture of K-pop

This study examines how diasporic Korean youth engage with the recent global circulation of South Korean pop music (‘K-pop’). It explores how young diasporic Koreans negotiate K-pop as an ethnic and/or global cultural form in their transition to adulthood. Drawing on interviews with young people of Korean heritage in Canada, the study addresses how a diasporic sound, which connects the nostalgia for the ancestral homeland and the global mediascape, is appropriated for young people’s identity work. By examining diasporic Korean fans’ consumption of K-pop, this study suggests a perspective for understanding the recent K-pop phenomenon as a diasporic youth cultural practice.     

The mobility imperative for rural youth: the structural,symbolic and non-representational dimensions rural youth mobilities

Mobilities of money, symbols and young people themselves are central to the formation of the contemporary youth period. While rural young people remain marginal to theoretical development in youth studies, this paper shows that mobilities are especially significant for rural youth, who experience a kind of mobility imperative created by the accelerating concentration of economic and cultural capital in cities. Drawing on theory and evidence from contexts including Europe, Australia, Africa and South America, this paper explores the mobility imperative for rural youth and offers a new theoretical framework for understanding rural youth mobilities. The framework understands mobilities across three dimensions: the structural, the symbolic and the non-representational. These dimensions refer to material inequalities between rural and urban places in a global context; symbolic hierarchies that concentrate the resources for ‘youthfulness’ in cities and the affective entanglements between embodied subjectivities and spaces that emerge as young people move. The paper shows how these dimensions interact in the production and experience of the mobility imperative, offering an ontological and theoretical platform for future research into rural youth mobilities.     

Translating Bourdieu into youth studies

ABSTRACT

Against a backdrop of lively discussion about the best ways to do youth studies, or sociology of youth, this article asks: Can Pierre Bourdieu’s work be translated into youth studies in ways that benefit the field? We begin by considering Bourdieu’s thoughts on the category of ‘youth’ using a new translation of this text, and then turn to an important discussion by Furlong, Woodman, and Wyn about certain long standing tensions in youth studies. These tensions are between writers engaging in the ‘structure versus agency’ debate that is mapped onto the ‘culture versus transitions’ binary. We consider the case for adopting a ‘middle-ground’ represented by Bourdieu’s writings. We argue that many in youth studies work from an unacknowledged substantialist tradition, which is contra to Bourdieu's relational perspective. The result includes misunderstandings of Bourdieu's thinking and expectations of his work, for example, that it can pass certain empirical tests. We argue that if Bourdieu's relational perspective is to be translated into youth studies, we will need a more determined effort to understand that perspective first.     

Revisiting the youth corridor: from classical through post-modern to late-modern sociology

This paper makes a critical appraisal of the contemporary sociological conceptualisations around the study of social transformations and youth transitions. It is argued that new theoretical positions, mnemonically indicated by the prefixes post, reflexive, late, and liquid, tend to challenge the adequacy of classical notions about ‘youth’ as a transitional phase of life, and life-course as a series of stages, linear, cumulative, and non-reversible. Conversely, the post/late variety theories draw upon flexibility, diversity and communication, decentralisation, internationalisation, and de-traditionalisation, reflexivity and individualisation. By repercussion, the ‘take-off’ from childhood to adulthood is increasingly understood as non-linear and heterogeneous. Indeed, youth is conceptualised as one identity amongst many, which may be adopted or dropped at will – something highly contested and fluid, rather than static and given. This paper is divided into seven sections. It begins by considering the literature on classical conceptions of youth transition, and then moves on to post-modern social theory and youth identity. The third section examines reflexive/late-modernisation and transition to adulthood. The fourth section explores the socio-economic terrain of contemporary young people through the lens of global perspective. The fifth section analyses a tendency of returning to a classical sociological toolbox in youth research. The sixth section takes on Bourdieu's key arguments on habitus and social reproduction, and the last section develops the concluding arguments.     

Beyond a bed: Support for positive development for youth residing in emergency shelters

This study examines environmental and personal characteristics that support positive development among youth residing in emergency shelters. The Developmental Assets Profile (DAP; Search Institute 2005) was used to measure external and internal developmental assets and adapted to additionally measure agency assets, i.e., external assets specific to the shelter setting. Eighty-two youth completed the DAP and additional measures of psychosocial functioning (distress, life satisfaction, health behavior, program satisfaction, caregiver relationships, and academic functioning) during shelter stay. At admission, youth asset scores were positively correlated with measures of healthy functioning. Youth ratings for agency assets were significantly higher than external asset ratings. Youth completing multiple surveys reported decreases in distress and increases in life satisfaction, health behavior, positive caregiver relationship, and internal assets during shelter stay. Results extend research on developmental assets and underscore the value of opportunities for positive development among homeless youth and the agencies that serve them.     

Trends and transitions from secondary school: insights from a boarding school for disadvantaged New Zealand youth

Engagement in further education, employment or training following the completion of compulsory schooling is an important predictor of adult life adjustment. As a key microsystemic context, supportive school environments can facilitate positive transitions, especially for disadvantaged youth who are at higher risk of underachievement and not engaging in further education, employment or training (NEET) in emerging adulthood. The present research consists of quantitative and qualitative analyses of secondary data of three student cohorts from a New Zealand boarding secondary school for males from disadvantaged backgrounds to investigate positive transition outcomes and experiences. The quantitative study (N = 178) compared participants’ educational attainment and NEET status across cohorts and with national statistics. Results showed that participants’ achievement and transition outcomes were consistently superior to the national comparison. The qualitative study (N = 38) examined the subjective experiences of a subsample of participants who transitioned to tertiary study and apprenticeship courses. These findings highlight the importance of cultivating students’ holistic development during the secondary school years. Implications for secondary schools are discussed.     

Editing hip-hop within youth work activities: an actor-network theory analysis

Debates concerning hip-hop have tended to centre on controversy. For example, critics of hip-hop have focused on its association with bads such as violence, misogyny and drug use, gangsta culture, and the vandalism associated with graffiti art, while hip-hop’s defenders have celebrated the enactment of goods such as youth expression and empowerment. Increasingly, practitioners and educators have sought to mobilise particular forms or activities of hip-hop in order to draw on the potential of hip-hop in youth work. This article draws on an ethnographic study that explored how hip-hop activities were produced across a range of youth work sites in Christchurch, New Zealand. Using Actor-Network Theory (ANT) the study traced how hip-hop controversies were negotiated within youth work sites of practice, illustrating the collective editing work that was undertaken in order to handle these controversies (bads). The ANT approach to consider what is sometimes referred to as the ‘mess’ of social reality [Law 2004, 230 After Method: Mess in Social Science Research. New York: Routledge] was well suited to the study’s goal of understanding the complexities involved in using and assembling hip-hop in youth work contexts. This paper provides ‘snapshots’ of the study’s findings, to reveal the collective work in the editing of hip-hop music to avoid hip-hop bads.     

Navigating “illegality”: Undocumented youth & oppositional consciousness

In recent years, a vibrant political movement has emerged, led by a sector previously thought to be too vulnerable to engage in public protest-undocumented youth. This article explores the experiences of undocumented youth and their emergent activism. I posit that growing up within the context of dominant discourses regarding immigration in a moment marked by a re-entrenchment of borders and citizenship shapes not only the lived experiences, but also the political consciousness of many undocumented young people. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic research with undocumented Latino youth activists in California, this article argues that oppositional consciousness is forged through the constant navigation of “illegality”. I examine two sites upon which this navigation takes place – the negotiation of fear and shame and the navigation of the exclusion – and explore the way in which negotiation of “illegality” in these sites of daily life contributes to the development of an oppositional consciousness.     

Integrating youth participation and ecosocial work: New possibilities to advance environmental and social justice

ABSTRACT

This article reveals possibilities to expand the role of youth within ecosocial work practice. The Where I Stand Youth Summit held in Chicago, Illinois, provided a safe space for young people to reflect upon their understanding of, and roles within, social and environmental justice movements. Drawing upon critical youth empowerment theory and participant observation, we note that youth shared experiences of oppression across unique social identities, while displaying authentic communication, acceptance, and desire for solidarity. Re-defining what knowledge matters, along with intention and self-restoration, also emerged as critical to building young people’s agency and power to effect social change.     

Sexual risk behaviors among youth in the child welfare system

This study uses data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) to provide estimates of sexual risk behaviors for 877 youth, age 11–14 at baseline, in the child welfare system. It examines the association between baseline psychosocial risk and protective factors on engagement in sexual risk behaviors after 36 months. It further compares rates of sexual risk behaviors between youth placed in out-of-home care and those who remained with their biological family. Key findings include a high rate of pregnancy, a high percentage of youth who initiated sexual activity at or before age 13 as well as a limited role of protective factors in moderating sexual risk behaviors. A history of placement into out-of-home care is not significantly associated with greater engagement in sexual risk behaviors. Implications for intervention development and child welfare policy for this population are discussed.     

Mental health and substance use disorders among foster youth transitioning to adulthood: Past research and future directions

At a time when there is increasing attention being given to systematically integrating the well-being of children with the goals of safety and permanence in child welfare, little is known about the psychosocial functioning of foster youth transitioning to adulthood from substitute care. This article systematically reviews 16 peer-reviewed articles and/or research reports to identify lifetime and past year prevalence rates of mental health disorders and service utilization. At ages 17 or 18, foster youth are 2 to 4 times more likely to suffer from lifetime and/or past year mental health disorders compared to transition aged youth in the general population. Findings show that mental health service use declines at ages when the prevalence rate of mental health disorders is peaking. The findings of this review suggest the need to focus future efforts in three main areas: 1) setting a common research agenda for the study of mental health and service use; 2) routine screening and empirically supported treatments; and 3) integration and planning between child and adult mental health service systems.     

The NEET concept in comparative youth research: the Nordic countries and South Africa

The NEET concept has become widely used internationally since its emergence in the UK almost two decades ago. This article reviews the adoption of the concept in two extreme contexts in terms of NEET rates, youth opportunities and youth welfare: the Nordic countries and South Africa. The article discusses the situations of NEET young people in the two contexts, and how the concept is used in the wealthy and relatively homogenous Nordic welfare states and in relatively poorer and racially divided South Africa. While the concept has been problematised in different ways in Nordic youth research, it has been more readily accepted by South African researchers. We argue that, in both contexts, the NEET concept can be taken as an invitation to look beyond individual life situations and biographies, and to focus on how structural forces such as the political economy shape young people’s lives. The NEET concept provides a way of discussing changing opportunity structures and how global social forces such as globalisation and neoliberalisation shape young people’s lives in different contexts. The NEET concept is useful in comparative youth research.