problems of the youth essay

3 biggest issues affecting youth today

There are a variety of issues facing young people today. Image:  Unsplash/Priscilla Du Preez

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• More than two-thirds of Europe’s young adults live with their parents.
• Life expectancy among working-age Americans is declining.
• 10 young leaders under the age of 20 will attend this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.

A group of 10 young leaders, all under the age of 20, will be attending this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos for the first time.

Alongside their – slightly older – peers among the Global Shapers Community , they will be championing the involvement of the next generation in policy decisions that will affect them for decades to come.

The need to engage younger people in this process has perhaps never been greater, and the challenges they face are complex, interconnected and seemingly intractable.

Have you read?

There's a global youth unemployment crisis. here's what we can do about it, why local communities are essential to curbing youth unemployment, what you need to know about the world's youth, in 7 charts, this is what millennials look for in a job, a home of your own.

More than two-thirds of young European adults live at home with their parents . While that might sound great for those parents dreading the moment their kids leave home, it's also an indication some young adults across the developed world simply can’t afford a place of their own.

While their parents’ generation enjoyed high wage inflation and benefitted from rising property values , the young face relatively low levels of income and social mobility, particularly in the US and the UK, but elsewhere in the developed world, too.

Incomes for 25- to 34-year-olds have only increased by 19%, which might explain why home ownership among the same group fell from 55% in 1997 to 35% in 2017.

A similar pattern exists in the United States, where housing costs have quadrupled since 1950 and homelessness rates have hit highs not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Between 1949 and 2018, mortgage debt as a percentage of GDP grew from 15% to 80% in the US.

The Global Shapers Community is a network of young people under the age of 30 who are working together to drive dialogue, action and change to address local, regional and global challenges.

The community spans more than 8,000 young people in 165 countries and territories.

Teams of Shapers form hubs in cities where they self-organize to create projects that address the needs of their community. The focus of the projects are wide-ranging, from responding to disasters and combating poverty, to fighting climate change and building inclusive communities.

Examples of projects include Water for Life, a effort by the Cartagena Hub that provides families with water filters that remove biological toxins from the water supply and combat preventable diseases in the region, and Creativity Lab from the Yerevan Hub, which features activities for children ages 7 to 9 to boost creative thinking.

Each Shaper also commits personally and professionally to take action to preserve our planet.

Join or support a hub near you .

Working-age life expectancy

In addition to struggling to afford a home of their own, studies show young people today suffer from more mental health challenges . And in some developed countries, life expectancy rates have slowed or even reversed.

In the UK, life expectancy for under-50s has fallen behind some other European countries. This is fuelled, in part, by a wave of drug-related deaths, most acutely in Scotland .

In the United States, between 2010 and 2017, mortality rates for working-age people, between 25 to 64, increased from 328.5 deaths per 100,000 people to 348.2 deaths per 100,000. The main causes were drug and alcohol abuse and suicide .

Time to listen

By most measures, youth unemployment is likely to be higher than that of the overall working population. Around 621 million young people between the ages of 15 to 24 are not in education, employment or training .

Across the 36 OECD countries, three stand out for very high youth unemployment: Italy, Spain and Greece. There, youth unemployment rates are 32%, 34% and 40%, respectively. South Africa, which is not a full OECD member, has a youth unemployment rate of 53%.

Although some countries, such as Japan, face the challenge of an ageing population, the world is dominated by young people. One-quarter of all people alive today are younger than 14 and the global median age is just 30 .

For one young leader attending the Forum’s Annual Meeting, now is the time to elevate the position of young people. Grace Gatera, a mental health worker in Rwanda, says, “Young people are largely ignored when decisions affecting them are being made.”

Doing so is a tragedy, she says: “It’s time to pass the mic.”

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Essays About Youth: Top 5 Essay Examples Plus 10 Prompts

Discover our guide with creative writing prompts and examples for essays about youth to help you get started on your next great essay!

Youth is that cusp between childhood and adulthood — a period filled with zest, adventure, and impulsiveness. Our future depends on the youth of today. As such, we are well-advised to equip ourselves with sufficient skills and knowledge to resolve future problems effectively. We must also train them to develop a moral compass, incredible determination, and deep compassion for others to serve well as future leaders.

5 Essay Examples

1. youth in revolt: five powerful movements fueled by young activist by erin blakemore, 2. what you can learn from a young ceo by elaine pofeldt, 3. advice to the youth by mark twain , 4. us youth are in a mental health crisis—we must invest in their care by mitchell j. prinstein, 5. young people are leaving their jobs in record numbers—and not going back by raisa bruner, 1. effects of social media on youth self-esteem, 2. youth’s learning crisis, 3. addressing youth obesity, 4. encouraging stem careers for youth, 5. engaging youth in community building, 6. why youth engage in cybercrime, 7. love for today’s youth, 8. national youth day, 9. substance abuse prevention for youth , 10. benefits of sex education to youth.

“Youth who participated in the civil rights movement embraced what one-time SNCC chairman Representative John Lewis called “good trouble”—fearless agitation designed to provoke, challenge, and move progress forward.”

Youth have always driven impactful social and political movements in whatever era and whichever part of the globe they are. This essay recounts some of history’s most powerful and meaningful protests mobilized by youth. Check out these essays about life lessons .

“Whether we needed to select a blogging platform or figure out how to keep costs down, we invariably found that younger CEOs were great sources of ideas.”

Gone are the days when one would purely seek older people for wisdom in business. With the competition in the digital age, youth are proving to bring in a wealth of ideas that can effectively support business strategies.

“Build your character thoughtfully and painstakingly upon these precepts, and by and by, when you have got it built, you will be surprised and gratified to see how nicely and sharply it resembles everybody else’s. ”

The American writer shows his humor and sarcasm by teaching youth the art of lying and handling firearms carelessly. Ultimately, he tells those who would succeed that they would be no different than the rest of society. 

“We have an opportunity to make a serious commitment to youth mental health, just as we did 70 years ago to help adults. This is a chance for parents, teachers, and youth to stop whispering about their mental health needs and begin shouting for our country to invest in its future and end our children’s suffering.”

As youth suicides have increased over the years, data shows that it is now the second leading cause of death among 10- to 24-year-olds. The situation demands urgent action and a rethink of the overall mental health system.

“For some, it’s burnout. For others, the timing was ripe to refocus on side projects as the stresses of the pandemic started to wane. And for many, especially in a service sector dominated by “zillennials”… poor treatment and low wages became unsustainable.”

The pandemic burnout has driven the Great Resignation among youth, leaving over 10 million jobs in the US unoccupied. This triggers a sea change in the societal landscape, where young workers pursue their self-worth and can afford to do so.

10 Thought-Provoking Prompts On Essays About Youth

While we all tend to compare our qualities and achievements to those of others, social media has made this habit worse. To youth, the biggest market of social media platforms, this has resulted in lower self-esteem, especially for girls . In your essay, gather present research that studies the links between social media use and low confidence levels. Then, recommend ways for young readers to spend more time in the real world and rebuild their self-esteem.

In recent years, it has been recognized that the world is facing a learning crisis that even the wealthier G20 countries are not exempt from . But as the COVID-19 pandemic has halted face-to-face school interactions for prolonged periods, what does the future of education and skills-building look like for our youth? Answer this with the support of research studies and data, and surveys from reputed organizations and agencies. Finally, enumerate the best ways to invest in our youth’s education.

Many cases of obesity among youth are due to the lack of exercise. For this topic prompt, lay down the negative effects of obesity, such as the increased likelihood of diabetes, hypertension, lack of self-esteem, and depression. Then, with research on wellness experts’ advice, encourage readers to change their lifestyle one step at a time to address or prevent obesity. For example, walking for 10 minutes to take a break from work could be a powerful start in changing a routine. 

No industry gains as much from youth’s ingenuity as the innovation industry. First, elaborate on the importance of developing youth’s scientific and technical skills. Then, look at how schools incorporate science, technology, engineering, and math into the curriculum, starting with your school. To conclude your essay, look at how intensive your government’s programs are in unlocking the inner scientists of today’s youth. 

Youth have the vigor and passion for changing the world. Because of this, they are one of the best groups to tap into for building a better community. To start this essay, look at the ratio of young volunteers to the total number of volunteers in your community. You can check this ratio in other communities and see how active your youth are in volunteer community work compared to others. Then, enumerate interesting practices cities can adopt to attract youth to participate in their programs. 

The United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency has reported a 107% annual increase in police reports of young students engaging in cyberattacks in 2020. Dig deeper into this report and find out the main motivations why young offenders would join the dark side in cyberspace. Is it for the millions of bucks or the sense of validation in the hacking community? Then identify some best practices law enforcement authorities and schools are implementing to thwart cybercrime among youth.

Young love has always been defined by its wild passions and adventures. Does this hold today in this digital age? How have relationships evolved in the age of social media? Mull over these questions and look at other modern trends in young love. For example, many claims that internet relationships, where couples meet and interact purely online, constitute true love. 

Celebrated every August 12, International Youth Day (IYD) aims to raise awareness of youth’s pressing challenges. Your essay can revolve around the focus of the last or upcoming celebration theme. Then, reflect on the issue’s relevance and what actions you think society can take to ease the problem. For example, the 2022 IYD is themed “Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages.” This expounds on fostering solidarity across generations to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prevention is always better than cure. In this essay, search for data on youths reportedly battling drug abuse. Highlight an upward trend, if any. Then, highlight the risk factors that lead youth to drug or alcohol abuse and the consequences on health and overall well-being. You may also pay attention to the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s 16 key principles for determining the most suitable prevention programs. 

A research study has found that aside from preventing early pregnancy and the contraction of sexually transmitted diseases, comprehensive sex education helps youth feel safe and achieve success in the long term. Examine these benefits and cite the negative effects of a lack of sex education during youth. Finally, it underscores schools’ critical roles in integrating sex education and protecting students. 

If you need further guidance, check out our essay writing tips . Finally, don’t forget to proofread your essay using the best grammar checkers .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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The concerns and challenges of being a U.S. teen: What the data show

American teens have a lot on their minds. Substantial shares point to anxiety and depression, bullying, and drug and alcohol use (and abuse) as major problems among people their age, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of youth ages 13 to 17.

How common are these and other experiences among U.S. teens? We reviewed the most recent available data from government and academic researchers to find out:

Anxiety and depression

Serious mental stress is a fact of life for many American teens. In the new survey, seven-in-ten teens say anxiety and depression are major problems among their peers – a concern that’s shared by mental health researchers and clinicians .

Data on the prevalence of anxiety disorders is hard to come by among teens specifically. But 7% of youths ages 3 to 17  had such a condition in 2016-17, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health. Serious depression, meanwhile, has been on the rise among teens for the past several years, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health , an ongoing project of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. In 2016, 12.8% of youths ages 12 to 17 had experienced a major depressive episode in the past year, up from 8% as recently as 2010. For 9% of youths in 2016, their depression caused severe impairment. Fewer than half of youths with major depression said they’d been treated for it in the past year.

Alcohol and drugs

Anxiety and depression aren’t the only concerns for U.S. teens. Smaller though still substantial shares of teens in the Pew Research Center survey say drug addiction (51%) and alcohol consumption (45%) are major problems among their peers.

Fewer teens these days are drinking alcohol, according to the University of Michigan’s long-running Monitoring the Future survey, which tracks attitudes, values and behaviors of American youths, including their use of various legal and illicit substances. Last year, 30.2% of 12th-graders and 18.6% of 10th-graders had consumed alcohol in the past 30 days. Two decades earlier, those figures were 52% and 38.8%, respectively. (In the Center’s new survey, 16% of teens said they felt “a lot” or “some” pressure to drink alcohol.)

But the Michigan survey also found that, despite some ups and downs, use of marijuana (or its derivative, hashish) among 12th-graders is nearly as high as it was two decades ago. Last year, 22.2% reported using marijuana in the past 30 days, versus 22.8% in 1998. Past-month marijuana use among 10th-graders has declined a bit over that same period, from 18.7% to 16.7%, but is up from 14% in 2016.

Marijuana was by far the most commonly used drug among teens last year, as it has been for decades.  While more than 10% of 12th-graders reported using some illicit drug other than marijuana in the late 1990s and early 2000s, that figure had fallen to 6% by last year.

The Michigan researchers noted that vaping, of both nicotine and marijuana, has jumped in popularity in the past few years. In 2018, 20.9% of 12th-graders and 16.1% of 10th-graders reported vaping nicotine in the past 30 days, about double the 2017 levels. By comparison, only 7.6% of 12th-graders and 4.2% of 10th-graders had smoked a cigarette in that time. And 7.5% of 12-graders and 7% of 10th-graders said they’d vaped marijuana within the past month, up from 4.9% and 4.3%, respectively, in 2017.

Bullying and cyberbullying

Issues of personal safety also are on U.S. teens’ minds. The Center’s survey found that 55% of teens said bullying was a major problem among their peers, while a third called gangs a major problem.

Bullying rates have held steady in recent years, according to a survey of youth risk behaviors by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About a fifth of high school students (19% in 2017) reported being bullied on school property in the past 12 months, and 14.9% said they’d experienced cyberbullying (via texts, social media or other digital means) in the previous year. In both cases, girls, younger students, and students who identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual were more likely to say they’d been bullied.

As for gangs, the share of students ages 12 to 18 who said gangs were present at their school fell from 20.1% in 2001 to 10.7% in 2015, according to a report on school safety from the federal departments of Education and Justice. Black and Hispanic students, as well as students in urban schools, were most likely to report the presence of gangs at school, but even for those groups the shares reporting this fell sharply between 2001 and 2015, the most recent year for which data are available.

Four-in-ten teens say poverty is a major problem among their peers, according to the Center’s new report. In 2017, about 2.2 million 15- to 17-year-olds (17.6%) were living in households with incomes below the poverty level – up from 16.3% in 2009, but down from 18.9% in 2014, based on our analysis of Census data. Black teens were more than twice as likely as white teens to live in households below the poverty level (30.4% versus 14%); however, the share of white teens in below-poverty-level households had risen from 2009 (when it was 12.1%), while the share of black teens in below-poverty-level households was almost unchanged.

Teen pregnancy

Far fewer U.S. teens are having to juggle adolescence and parenthood, as teen births continue their long-term decline . Among 15- to 19-year-olds, the overall birthrate has fallen by two-thirds since 1991 – from 61.8 live births per 1,000 women to 20.3 in 2016 , according to the CDC. All racial and ethnic groups have witnessed teen-birthrate declines of varying degrees: Among non-Hispanic blacks, for example, the rate fell from 118.2 live births per 1,000 in 1991 to 29.3 in 2016 .

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Drew DeSilver is a senior writer at Pew Research Center .

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

A series of FT View editorials and daily online debates will make the case for a new deal for the young. Beginning on Monday 26 April, they will address housing, pensions, jobs, education, the climate and tax over the course of the week.  Click to register for the events and see all the other articles

Growing inequality between generations has been exacerbated by the pandemic and has left many people in their teens, twenties and thirties feeling like they have got a raw deal.

The Financial Times wanted to bring those young people into a discussion about shifts in asset prices, pensions, education and the world of work so we launched a global survey. We asked people aged between 16 and 35 to tell us what life has been like for them in the pandemic, and which problems need fixing most urgently.

The survey was only open for one week but we had a record number of responses, with 1,700 people replying to the callout and spending an average of 30 minutes each on their responses.

While the majority of respondents were from the UK and US, others who shared their views were from Europe, Brazil, Egypt, and Asia-Pacific. Many of the respondents, though not all, were graduates who worked in sectors such as law, banking, media, education, science and technology. Many did not want to share their full names or personal details for fear of professional and personal repercussions.

People spoke of the difficulties — and benefits — of being young in today’s difficult economic times compared with their parents’ generation, and about issues relating to housing, education, jobs, pensions and the environment.

The responses formed the starting point for an in-depth analysis of the problems faced by young people today by Sarah O’Connor, our employment columnist. It is the first article in an FT series on what policies would make the economy work better for today’s youth.

Here we highlight some of the many hundreds of comments we received from readers:

Cramped housing

I absolutely cannot relate to mid career professionals being glad to be at home in their leafy three bedroom houses with gardens, when I have to have mid afternoon calls with the sound of my flatmates frying fish for lunch in the background. — A 20-year-old female reader living in London

The burden of student loans

Student loans feel like a unique problem for our generation. I can’t think of a similarity in the past when youth had such large financial burdens that can’t be discharged in most cases. Not that cancellation is necessarily the right choice. I knew what I signed up for, but what was the alternative, work in a coffee shop while the rest of my generation bettered themselves?

Mortgages and car payments just aren’t comparable to the $100k in loans I’ve been forced to deal with since I was 22. The rest seems similar. We have climate change and equality, my parents generations had communist totalitarian governments, nuclear war and . . . equality. — Matt, who works in Chicago, US

Mismatched ideas

The older generation has never understood that while our pay has increased it has been wiped out by extortionate rise in property prices. The older generation also thinks young people only enjoy spending money on experiences rather than saving money, which is not true. — A 30-year-old engineer living in the UK

Living with uncertainty

Older generations don’t feel the uncertainty we younger generation live with. Now it is more common for us to have more temporary jobs, for example, the gig economy. This uncertainty makes planning for future harder and makes taking risks impossible. — Ahmed, a lecturer living in Egypt

Scrap stamp duty on housing

The government needs to sort out house prices and stop inflating them. It should also scrap stamp duty and introduce annual property taxes instead. — A 25-year-old investment banker living in London

Emotionally better off than my parents

I know I’ll be better off than my parents. My mom came from an Italian immigrant family with seven siblings. I’m one of the first people to graduate from college with a four-year degree and one of the only people employed. Neither of my parents really ‘did’ therapy through their adult lives despite needing it, whereas I’ve had a therapist since my second year in college.

I think a common misperception about being better off is the focus on wealth — being better off also means being more emotionally and mentally healthy, which I know I am already better off than many of my family members. — Alicia, a financial analyst living in America

London feels increasingly full of anxious, burnt out 20- and 30-something-year-olds who spend half their income on a cramped flat with a damp problem and spend their weekends in the foetal position on their landlord’s Ikea sofa, endlessly scrolling through the latest app.

We have so much more than our parents did at our age, but also so much less. — A 25-year-old woman from the UK

Artificially high property prices

Current policies like Help to Buy are making things worse for young people in Britain. The prices of new builds are artificially inflated as builders know HTB can only be used on new builds! £450,000 for a one bed flat in London? Jog on. It’s insane. — Chris, in his late twenties living in London

Gen X doesn’t understand Gen Y

Generation X, doesn’t understand Generation Y, who doesn’t understand Generation Z — Andreas, a young doctor from Bulgaria

Regulate financial markets

I also have a feeling that regulating the financial markets would create more stability which would reduce the constant fear of a market meltdown — Kasper from Finland

Who is accountable?

Sustainability (renewable energy, mindful meat consumption, plastic usage awareness, social responsibility, ESG) are utmost key, and older generations seem to miss this. It feels they have put us in a stage where there is no going back, and there is no accountability whatsoever. — Renato, a risk manager from Brazil

Soaring rents

Many items that are considered a luxury to older generations, holidays, clothes, going out to eat, for example, are cheaper these days, but buying a house or renting is so much more expensive compared to when my parents were young. A lot of young people can afford the former not the latter, but for many older generations it seems the opposite was true, which creates contrasting views from each side about who has it worse. — Sophie, in her mid-twenties, from London

Young vs old

A number of older people I know are relatively sympathetic to a lot of the issues we face. There is a young versus old narrative pushed by certain sections of the media which, at least for many older people with families, has rung hollow with me. Generally they do recognise that we live in a more competitive world than they grew up in, for university places, jobs, housing etc. If anything I feel older generations probably understand younger people better than we understand them — Alex, a student solicitor in London

Cannot afford to buy a house

There is no acceptance that working from home is not feasible for younger people where you’re in significantly smaller accommodation. My company released an internal communication informing us how to be more efficient working in shared accommodation or working from your bedroom at the same time as starting consultation on closing all offices and homeworking permanently. — Lewis, who is working and studying in Bristol, UK

I have a mildly dystopian view

I feel older generations don’t understand the value of money, and it feels strange because my parents have lived a frugal life and I am doing well enough for myself, yet, given the economy, I feel compelled to save, while they don’t understand why I think thrice before every purchase.

On the issue of non-renewable resources, I feel that my parents have a particularly different mindset compared to mine; I have a mild compulsion to turn off any running tap or switch if it’s not being used. They have this comfort and faith that there will be enough for the coming generations, while I have a mildly dystopian view of the future Water/Resource Wars — Pia, a woman in her twenties in India

Steep housing costs

At my age on an apprentice’s salary my dad owned his own house and was buying and flipping more houses. I’ve got a masters degree, earning about 40 per cent more than the national average and I’m still struggling to find anywhere. They just don’t seem to understand, my dad refused to believe me until I showed him the tiny studio flats selling in my area for almost £300k — A data scientist in his late twenties, working in the UK

My generation is worn out

In many ways I think I am better off than my parents were. I’ve been able to travel and live in different countries. I had more choices than women before me. Where I live, I can love whomever I want to love. I do not have a physical job that wears down my body. But I guess each generation faces different challenges.

My generation is perhaps more likely to be mentally worn out. Housing is less affordable and returns are relatively less certain and I don’t have a pension or a pensions saving account that is protected from double taxation. — Deborah from the Netherlands

Change the voting system

It is probably an unrealistic policy change, but I would like to see some kind of weighting system applied to future voting (be it elections or referendums). The older you are, the fewer years you have left to live and the less you will have to suffer from poor long-term choices.

Brexit is a good example of this. Foolish and impressionable members of the older generation selfishly voted to leave the EU — a decision which will cause long-term damage for my generation well after they are deceased. Older people’s votes should have counted for less in the referendum. — David, working in fintech in London

Introduce a ‘meat licence’

I would introduce a “meat license” which every adult in the UK would require before they purchase/consume meat. To get this license, once a year they would have to go to an abattoir and slaughter a cow or pig. Once they have done this, they are allowed to consume as much meat as they want during the year.

This would encourage others to switch to alternatives that are available or at least reduce meat waste which is a tragically growing issue in the rich world. — Dan, working in London, UK

Replace student fees

Instead of tuition fee loans and maintenance loans I would give all young people a lump sum at regular intervals for their first several years post 18. They could use this towards going to uni, getting training, buying a house, etc. It would help diversify the paths people take post 18 whilst redistributing wealth. — A man in his mid-twenties living in Sheffield, UK

*Comments have been edited for length, style and clarity

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• 07 October 2021

Young people’s mental health is finally getting the attention it needs

You have full access to this article via your institution.

A kite-flying festival in a refugee camp near Syria’s border with Turkey. The event was organized in July 2020 to support the health and well-being of children fleeing violence in Syria. Credit: Muhammed Said/Anadolu Agency/Getty

Worldwide, at least 13% of people between the ages of 10 and 19 live with a diagnosed mental-health disorder, according to the latest State of the World’s Children report , published this week by the United Nations children’s charity UNICEF. It’s the first time in the organization’s history that this flagship report has tackled the challenges in and opportunities for preventing and treating mental-health problems among young people. It reveals that adolescent mental health is highly complex, understudied — and underfunded. These findings are echoed in a parallel collection of review articles published this week in a number of Springer Nature journals.

Anxiety and depression constitute more than 40% of mental-health disorders among young people (those aged 10–19). UNICEF also reports that, worldwide, suicide is the fourth most-common cause of death (after road injuries, tuberculosis and interpersonal violence) among adolescents (aged 15–19). In eastern Europe and central Asia, suicide is the leading cause of death for young people in that age group — and it’s the second-highest cause in western Europe and North America.

Collection: Promoting youth mental health

Sadly, psychological distress among young people seems to be rising. One study found that rates of depression among a nationally representative sample of US adolescents (aged 12 to 17) increased from 8.5% of young adults to 13.2% between 2005 and 2017 1 . There’s also initial evidence that the coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating this trend in some countries. For example, in a nationwide study 2 from Iceland, adolescents (aged 13–18) reported significantly more symptoms of mental ill health during the pandemic than did their peers before it. And girls were more likely to experience these symptoms than were boys.

Although most mental-health disorders arise during adolescence, UNICEF says that only one-third of investment in mental-health research is targeted towards young people. Moreover, the research itself suffers from fragmentation — scientists involved tend to work inside some key disciplines, such as psychiatry, paediatrics, psychology and epidemiology, and the links between research and health-care services are often poor. This means that effective forms of prevention and treatment are limited, and lack a solid understanding of what works, in which context and why.

This week’s collection of review articles dives deep into the state of knowledge of interventions — those that work and those that don’t — for preventing and treating anxiety and depression in young people aged 14–24. In some of the projects, young people with lived experience of anxiety and depression were co-investigators, involved in both the design and implementation of the reviews, as well as in interpretation of the findings.

Quest for new therapies

Worldwide, the most common treatment for anxiety and depression is a class of drug called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which increase serotonin levels in the brain and are intended to enhance emotion and mood. But their modest efficacy and substantial side effects 3 have spurred the study of alternative physiological mechanisms that could be involved in youth depression and anxiety, so that new therapeutics can be developed.

Mental health: build predictive models to steer policy

For example, researchers have been investigating potential links between depression and inflammatory disorders — such as asthma, cardiovascular disease and inflammatory bowel disease. This is because, in many cases, adults with depression also experience such disorders. Moreover, there’s evidence that, in mice, changes to the gut microbiota during development reduce behaviours similar to those linked to anxiety and depression in people 4 . That suggests that targeting the gut microbiome during adolescence could be a promising avenue for reducing anxiety in young people. Kathrin Cohen Kadosh at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK, and colleagues reviewed existing reports of interventions in which diets were changed to target the gut microbiome. These were found to have had minimal effect on youth anxiety 5 . However, the authors urge caution before such a conclusion can be confirmed, citing methodological limitations (including small sample sizes) among the studies they reviewed. They say the next crop of studies will need to involve larger-scale clinical trials.

By contrast, researchers have found that improving young people’s cognitive and interpersonal skills can be more effective in preventing and treating anxiety and depression under certain circumstances — although the reason for this is not known. For instance, a concept known as ‘decentring’ or ‘psychological distancing’ (that is, encouraging a person to adopt an objective perspective on negative thoughts and feelings) can help both to prevent and to alleviate depression and anxiety, report Marc Bennett at the University of Cambridge, UK, and colleagues 6 , although the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are unclear.

In addition, Alexander Daros at the Campbell Family Mental Health Institute in Toronto, Canada, and colleagues report a meta-analysis of 90 randomized controlled trials. They found that helping young people to improve their emotion-regulation skills, which are needed to control emotional responses to difficult situations, enables them to cope better with anxiety and depression 7 . However, it is still unclear whether better regulation of emotions is the cause or the effect of these improvements.

Co-production is essential

It’s uncommon — but increasingly seen as essential — that researchers working on treatments and interventions are directly involving young people who’ve experienced mental ill health. These young people need to be involved in all aspects of the research process, from conceptualizing to and designing a study, to conducting it and interpreting the results. Such an approach will lead to more-useful science, and will lessen the risk of developing irrelevant or inappropriate interventions.

Science careers and mental health

Two such young people are co-authors in a review from Karolin Krause at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada, and colleagues. The review explored whether training in problem solving helps to alleviate depressive symptoms 8 . The two youth partners, in turn, convened a panel of 12 other youth advisers, and together they provided input on shaping how the review of the evidence was carried out and on interpreting and contextualizing the findings. The study concluded that, although problem-solving training could help with personal challenges when combined with other treatments, it doesn’t on its own measurably reduce depressive symptoms.

The overarching message that emerges from these reviews is that there is no ‘silver bullet’ for preventing and treating anxiety and depression in young people — rather, prevention and treatment will need to rely on a combination of interventions that take into account individual needs and circumstances. Higher-quality evidence is also needed, such as large-scale trials using established protocols.

Along with the UNICEF report, the studies underscore the transformational part that funders must urgently play, and why researchers, clinicians and communities must work together on more studies that genuinely involve young people as co-investigators. Together, we can all do better to create a brighter, healthier future for a generation of young people facing more challenges than ever before.

Nature 598 , 235-236 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02690-5

Twenge, J. M., Cooper, A. B., Joiner, T. E., Duffy, M. E. & Binau, S. G. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 128 , 185–199 (2019).

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Thorisdottir, I. E. et al. Lancet Psychiatr. 8 , 663–672 (2021).

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Murphy, S. E. et al. Lancet Psychiatr. 8 , 824–835 (2021).

Murray, E. et al. Brain Behav. Immun. 81 , 198–212 (2019).

Cohen Kadosh, K. et al. Transl. Psychiatr. 11 , 352 (2021).

Bennett, M. P. et al. Transl Psychiatr. 11 , 288 (2021).

Daros, A. R. et al. Nature Hum. Behav . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01191-9 (2021).

Krause, K. R. et al. BMC Psychiatr. 21 , 397 (2021).

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Essay on Modern Youth or The Problems of Young People

Essay problems of young people for matric, intermediate, 2nd year, fa, fsc, ba and bsc.

Here is an essay on Modern Youth for students of different classes. You can write the same essay under the title Essay on Problems of Young People, Modern Youth Essay, Essay on the youth today and problems of modern youth. In this essay, we will discuss the Youth age, their problems, causes and what they want.

The Modern Youth for Class 10, Class 12, graduation and other classes

The man has various phases of life, childhood youth and old age. The years of childhood and boyhood are a period free from earnestness and cares of life It is only in youth that one comes to taste some of the realities of life. To be young is indeed very thrilling. It is a period of lite when the physical mental and spiritual powers of a man near maturity. These powers bloom and flourish in a free and unrestrained atmosphere.

The young man is conscious of overgrowing energy and power. He is hopeful optimist and ambitious. He wants to tap all the sources of world and intends to become the king of all he surveys. The boundless aspirations and ideals are the very essence of youth A young man is passionate. He lives in the present and is unmindful of the future. He rushes in where angels fear to tread. He is thoughtless and foolish in many of his actions. He lacks experience and maturity. He sows wild oats and commits many blunders. We can say that youth is a period of irresponsibility.

The modern young man has become a rebel to society. He does not accept the normal moral values of society. He loves violence and wants to lead a life of freedom. Everywhere in the world, the young man is seen confronting the forces of law and order. He is the great enemy of accepted values of society. In the newspapers, we read, news about their clashes with police. They bring out processions and address public meetings. Their expression of revolt takes different shapes. They drive their vehicles fast. They keep long hair and smoke before their parents, teachers and elders. Everywhere in the world, they are fighting for a change.

The causes of their revolt are quite obvious.

First, they are against the unjust economic and social order Majority of the people are getting a little. They are against the deep hatred which lies among different countries. They want to have a better world. They want to promote international understanding among different nations of the world. They want peace, justice and order in the world. They are against modern materialistic trends of the world. They are against hypocrisy insincerity and falsehood in every field of life.

Secondly, they find that the conditions existing in the field of education are not favourable. There exists many disciplinary laws and rules which control their activities. They do not enjoy proper freedom in universities and colleges to promote their healthy activities. Moreover, after getting the education, they do not get jobs according to their ability and qualification. They demand an end to artificial barriers between the students and teachers. They are very sensitive to cheating and fraud that is practised in the examinations. The youth nowadays is also not satisfied with the courses and syllabus of teaching. These factors are responsible for their unrest and revolt.

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348 Youth Essay Topics & Examples

Looking for youth essay topics? The field is exciting and worth writing about!

🔝 Top 10 Research Topics on Youth Issues

🏆 best youth essay examples, 🔎 argumentative essay topics about youth, ✅ simple & easy youth essay titles, 🥇 youth culture research topics, 📑 good research topics about youth, 📌 most interesting youth topics to write about, ❓ research questions about youth.

In your paper, you might want to focus on important youth issues, such as study problems, physical development, and mental health. Other options include analysing some sociological aspects of youth, exploring youth crime, and focusing on youth culture. In this article, we’ve gathered best research topics on youth issues: argumentative essay topics about youth, youth culture research topics, etc. We’ve also added excellent youth essay examples to inspire you even more!

• How does one’s youth affect their future?
• Youth: rights and limitations
• The youth physical development model
• Legal drinking age in different countries
• Student rights in higher education
• Youth mortality: causes and effects
• Adolescent obesity: how to prevent?
• Young marriages in developing countries
• Youth and political participation worldwide
• Minimum age for employment in the US: should it be changed?
• Youth Crime as a Major Issue in the World The relationships that exist in the families of the youths could facilitate the indulgence in criminal activities for example when the parents are involved in crime, when there is poor parental guidance and supervision, in […]
• Empowering Youth Engagement in Society If young people in a given society are not actively involved in important activities in the society they can be destructive and thus negative change in the society. This can be achieved by engaging and […]
• Youth Issues and Adult Society In most countries, the age of the youth is drawn at the time when an individual is treated equally under the law, normally referred to as the age of majority.
• Youth Unemployment as a Social Issue Different factors have led to the high levels of youth unemployment, with the most widely studied of them being the skills that are available to the unemployed youths.
• Modern Technologies and Their Impact on Youth This study presents an analysis of the impacts of the modern technology on the communication skills, personalities and social behaviors of the youth in the technological context that characterizes the network society.
• Solutions to Effects of Excessive Internet Use on Youth The education system and parents have a major role in the effort to reduce excessive use of the internet among the youth.
• “Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen Literature Analysis The events of the past still haunt some of the countries, the relics of the war are still being found in the places of former battlefields, the veterans are being honored and the films about […]
• The Main Causes of Youth Violence Access to Guns and the Influence of the Media Shooting is one of the most common forms of youth violence, and guns are the primary weapons of perpetrators.
• The Effect of Social Media on Today’s Youth This theory is useful in the explanation of the impact of media during crisis, and will also be useful in the analysis of the impact of social media on the youth of the UAE.
• Youth Unemployment and Policy Solutions The inability to address the problem of unemployment in the given age group may result in the growth of criminal activity, child poverty, and people’s negative perceptions of life.
• Youth Crime According to Conflict Theory The second one is that the youth might engage in criminal activities and violence due to misappropriation of resources, lack of jobs, and inadequate strategies to meet their social needs.
• Youth-Led NGOs in Brunei Darussalam Within the past three decades, the youth in Brunei Darussalam has been on the frontline to identify the trends recorded in different parts of the world in an attempt to implement similar practices in the […]
• Youth Crime in Functionalism and Conflict Theories The analysis will focus on determining factors contributing to youth engagement in criminal acts, examining the types of delinquencies they are likely to commit, and establishing the socio-psychological facets associated with the teenagers in the […]
• Youth as the Period in a Person’s Life Youth is both a beautiful and challenging period in a person’s life. Now, living it, I am trying simultaneously to find my purpose and not lose my inner self.
• Youth and Children Ministry What is required is a framework which aids thinking about the task of youth ministry that ensures that Biblical beliefs, values and practices are constantly upheld in our ministry to young people regardless of context.
• The Influence of Peer Groups on Youth Crime The impact of youth crime on the community is profound, and so is the influence of criminal behavior on the lives of adolescents.
• Youth Misbehavior: School and Community Risk Factors The following paper analyzes school- and community-related factors that contribute and sustain adverse behavioral patterns assesses the influence of diversity and multicultural issues that may impact the success of interventions, and explores several possible ways […]
• The Technology Influence on Youth This paper examines some of the main effects of new technologies on adolescents and young people, including deterioration of the physical and mental condition, increased risk of becoming a victim of a fraudster, and the […]
• Contemporary Issues Facing the Youth The paper addresses the issues affecting the youth of today with specific reference to unemployment and health. Solutions: Provision of financial relief to unemployed in the form of Unemployment Insurance System/ Entrepreneurial programs in […]
• Media Portrayal of Youth in Australia The portrayal of youth’s participation in society is a critical factor given the significant role of media in shaping the social concept of youth and the capabilities of young people.
• Youth Culture and Globalization The focus is also on the relations that exist between the youth and the society, as well as the factors that shape youths identity in terms of culture.
• Western Pop Culture and Street Fashion of Japanese Youth The research of the topic needs to be preceded by the explanation of the key subjects and notions used in the current paper.
• Rural–Urban Migration and Youth in Bhutan This trend is a major public concern to the state and the government has experienced a number of obstacles in tackling the challenge of rural-urban migration.
• The National Youth Service Corps Schemes in Nigeria Agumagu, Adesope and Njoku note that the core objective of the scheme is to instill in the Nigerian youth “the spirit of selfless service to the community, and emphasize the spirit of oneness and brotherhood […]
• The Youth Criminal Justice Act in Teresa Robinson’s Case 1 of the YCJA is relevant to the article since the offender’s name is still unreported despite the evidence of his involvement in the homicide.
• Social Movements and Youth Activism Research done by Earl unveils that, it is vital to guarantee that young people are actively involved in social movements, and activities in order to encourage active citizenship and build programs that effectively represent their […]
• Youth Cultures and Moral Panic The movement emerged in the United States and spread to different corners of the world. These practices led to the establishment of a new culture in different parts of the world.
• Western Films Influence on Youth However, there is a concern that its contents may have negative implications on teenagers in the developing countries because of the fundamental differences between the environment presented in the films and what they have in […]
• Amitai Etzioni: Youth Issues in “Working at McDonald’s” The article, ‘Working at McDonald’s’ by Amitai Etzioni explores the effect of the McDonald’s on students with reference to their studies. The author is against McDonald’s part-time jobs because they do not help the students […]
• Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Anthem for Doomed Youth” The title is, in itself, ironic, for anthems have always meant to sing praises about grand things like love and patriotism, and so at first glance the poem seems to praise the damnation of the […]
• The Changing Relationship Between the Generations’ Youth Studies Australia In regard to the current economy reforms of Australia, the author argues that it does not favour the young generation the way it favoured the older generation.
• Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence? The violence and aggression that stains the youth of today, as a result of these video games, is unquestionably a cancer that ought to be uprooted or at least contained by parents, school leaders, governments […]
• Unhealthy Lifestyle Among the Singapore Youth The purpose of this report was to identify the reason for the continued unhealthy lifestyle among the Singapore youth despite the government’s efforts to promote healthier diets and lifestyles and find viable solutions to the […]
• Korean Pop Music and Youth Identity Korean pop music has become a powerful genre that connects many youths to their counterparts in different parts of the world.
• Police-Youth Relations/Community Policing and Young Offenders Aims of the Study The study is aimed at determining the fairness and acceptability of the youth justice system and its effects on the youth-police relations in Canada.
• Police-Youth Relations and Community Policing This is because of the long history of the strained relationship between the Canadian youth and the police which has created a very negative perception of the police to the youth.
• Preventing Risky Sexual Behavior Among Youth The nation also losses productive people due to time wasted time and death of young people The two best strategies to effect change at the community level is through media and policy.
• Youths’ Career Choices in Individualist and Collectivist Societies To study the influence of the different types of societies on young adults’ career aspirations, it is important to establish the distinct features of individualistic and collectivistic approaches to the issue.
• Youth Justice Conferencing as a Government Hybrid Technique The main rationale of introducing the youth justice conferencing is to provide for a safe and conducive environment in which both the offender and the victim are given equal opportunity to present facts about the […]
• Civil and Political Engagement in Youth The paper highlights the lack of research on the political context and alternate means of civic engagement used by the young generation.
• Kids and Youth Homelessness: Facts and Statistics in the United States There have been numerous government interventions in the form of policies since the times of the Great Depression, but the number of homeless children and teenagers has only increased.
• Personal Values Importance in Child and Youth Care These three values that are of importance to me fall under the category of values that I acquired as a result of my socialization.
• The Youth Unemployment Crisis in Spain In order to further identify the root cause of the problem of the high levels of unemployment in Spain, it is necessary to evaluate the evolution of the unemployment among the youth in the country, […]
• Tourism and Leisure for Youth Target Market This is imperative as the pages provide a forum for potential tourists to identify a company that deals with the tour and travel activities through pictorial displays. For the youths, tourism or travel activities involve […]
• Suicide Among Youth as a Worldwide Issue The world needs to pay more attention to this issue because of the many young lives that society loses and the socioeconomic and psychological effects suicide causes.
• Gun Violence and Its Effect on Youth As a matter of fact, the intersection of gun violence and domestic violence has the biggest impact on youth almost 60% of young people affected by gun violence every year are affected by homicides.
• Some Youth Sports Are Too Intense With a rapid increase of physical achievement requirements and the variety of sports activities, adolescents become involved in sports and disregard the adverse effects of intensity they encounter.
• Employability of Youths in the US When there is high supply of the youths, their demand by the employers will be less or the rules of the employment will fluctuate and mostly to the advantage of the employer.
• The Golden Age of Youth and Freedom However, it is interesting to compare it to the story which took place at the dawn of the cultural and sexual revolution in Chinese society.
• Exploring The Concept of Youth Cultures Accordingly, the focal concern of this paper has been to accurately comprehend the concept of youth culture and to find out the exact means of finding meaning to the youth identity on the background of […]
• Smoking and Youth Culture in Germany The report also assailed the Federal Government for siding the interest of the cigarette industry instead of the health of the citizens.
• Youth Crime in Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” Film The film uses a triptych storytelling format to highlight the contexts and events in the protagonist’s life, emphasizing potent socio-political and personal themes.
• Drug Abuse Among the Youth Essentially, this case study will allow the evaluation of the prevailing cases of drug abuse among the youth. In this regard, the pain and peer pleasure cannot be persevered to allow an explicit cure of […]
• Hip Hop Influence on Youth: Statistics and Effects Hip hop music is also said to perpetuate the rise in criminal activities among the youth. It is therefore recommendable for the youth to shun away from the vice brought about by hip hop music.
• Parent-Teacher-Youth Mediation Program Analysis Firstly, the parent-child communication quality will be evaluated within the framework of the characteristics of their relationships and the ability to manage the conflicting situation.
• “Friend of My Youth” by Alice Munro The narrator’s attempts to portray her mother as an active member of the community and tell the story through her eyes indicate a close connection between her and the storyteller.
• Youth Sports: Negative Effects This type of social exclusion can be ascribed not only to the negative impact of youth sports but also to the inefficiency of educators.
• Ajyal Film Festival and Youth Empowerment The DFI organizes the Ajyal Film Festival to present the film products of its most talented young actors and producers to the government and the business community, as well as the rest of the world.
• This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan The exploration of the difficulties that occur during the transition from adolescence to adulthood is the key message of the play.
• Sculpture of Victorious Youth The sculpture of the victorious youth is made of bronze and was discovered in the year 1964 in the Adriatic Sea.
• Youth and Maturity as Stages in Human Life They have the right to fight for there fundamental rights for they are mature and they can be in a position to take care of themselves.
• Youth Sports and Its Role in Character Formation Based on that, a survey helping to assess young people’s perceptions of the connection between aspects of character formation and youth sports will be created.
• Youth Demonstrating Truant Behavior Instead, the evaluative review aims to explore the literature, provide information about the studies and their findings, analyze the discovered literature, and provide a conclusion based on the results of the reviewed studies.
• Perception of Childhood and Youth Through History The advent of industrialization led to the employment of many young people. The aristocracy and the bourgeoisies took their children to schools as part of the transition into adulthood.
• Factors Affecting Youth’s Behaviors Towards Purchasing a Smartphone Objectives Understand the background of the smartphone industry Analyze the smartphone market trends and the role played by the youths in this marekts Understand reasons why youths buy smartphones through a survey on 100 people […]
• Violent Video Games and How They Affect Youth Violence However, despite the overwhelming outcry against the youth playing violent video games, there are a number of researchers and advocates who oppose the idea of directly linking the exposure of young adults to violent scenes […]
• Deviance: Social Problems of Youth Gangs Youth gangs are usually targets of terror groups that recruit and use them to perpetuate social injustice in the society. Gangs apply violence to ensure that all members in the gang adhere to their rules […]
• Social Networks and Youth Empowerment The increasing use of the sites has made them good places to train and advertise for various youth programs and activities; ministries of youth have realized the new way of approaching the young and they […]
• Mental Health Issues Among LGBTQ (Queer) Youth Studies point to multiple factors that play a role in the risk of suicide among LGBTQ youth, such as gender, socioeconomic status, bullying, and school experience. There is a need for further research and interventions […]
• Comprehensive Sex Education: Empowering Youth for Informed and Healthy Choices In addition to providing young people with the facts about sex and sexual health, it is also important for sex education to address issues related to consent, sexual harassment, and sexual assault.
• Non-Consensual Intimate Image Distribution in Youth That is the reason why the topic of an article called Young People Just Resolve It in Their Own Group is relevant and needs to be discussed. This paper aims to analyze the article and […]
• Religion and Culture: Immigrant and Minority Youth Religion is a fundamental way people experience and comprehend the world if culture describes how people perceive and comprehend the world.
• The Urgent Problem of Doping in Youth Sports: Solutions and Impact The solution to the problems is for the states to become more careful about the allocation of financial resources in the field of sports.
• Jamaica’s Unemployment and Positive Youth Development Although a recent positive trend in decreasing levels of joblessness is apparent as the country revitalizes its main source of income, the problem of the high level of unemployment among youth is persistent.
• Gender and Sexuality in Community Youth Work The primary duty of a youth worker enshrines competently rendering services to the public regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation.
• Socio-Psychological Trust Issues in Youth The truth is that behaviors associated with distrust, such as trust issues and paranoia, are high in the younger generation toward their peers and fundamental social institutions in the Western hemisphere, and these continue to […]
• Radicalization of British Youth Into Violent Extremism: The Role of Salafist Ideology Salafism believes that the most principal and genuine type of Islam might originate in the existence of the initial, honorable ages of Muslims known as the Salaf, who lived near the Prophet Muhammad in both […]
• Sex Variations in the Oral Microbiomes of Youths With Severe Periodontitis The periodontium provides nutrition to the hard tissues of the tooth and the alveolar process – the part of the jaw in which the tooth sockets are located, and it also tightly holds the tooth […]
• The Youth Justice Strategy Action Plan 2019–21 The Youth Justice Strategy Action Plan 2019 21 marks a crucial turning point in our effort to improve the juvenile justice system and lower the number of juvenile offenders and repeat offenders in Queensland.
• The University of Maryland’s Youth Sports Program To show the importance of youth sports programs, the report will focus on secondary research to depict the imbalance of academics and sports in the current curriculum used by many schools.
• Program to Tackle Drug Addiction Among Youth The core area of emphasis will be training the students on different ways to avoid the temptations of using drugs in order to lower the rate of addiction.
• Eating Disorder Among Youth and Its Aspects It is due to the fact that often the above sociological factors cause the development of psychological issues, especially among young people.
• Impaired Communication Amongst Youth The paper on ADHD is the research by Yuen-han and Chan who cite the most recent findings in the field and provide a set of recommendations for youth diagnosed with this condition.
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• The Social Environments and the Effectiveness of Youth HIV Prevention It is saddening that most of the youth view sex education negatively since their elders have socialized them to view it as a curse.
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• Family and Community Violence Exposure Among Youth In fact, the harmful effect of violence reflects on the surviving ability of the society.”Violence is among the leading causes of death for people aged 15-44 years worldwide, accounting for 14% of deaths among males […]
• Behavior Modification as an Intervention to Enhance School and Training Attendance at Manson Youth Institution The process attempts to create a dialogue between the two and this has resulted in increased satisfaction for the victim, the offender ostensibly feels accountable for his actions and there is also lesser recidivism.
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• Promoting the Importance of Healthy Living in Singapore Youth Community This information proves that it is necessary to identify how the Singapore youth community can benefit from the promotion of healthy living.
• Social Media Efficiency in Decreasing Youth Alcohol Consumption The purpose of this paper is to discuss the effects and efficiency of social media in raising awareness of alcohol as a health risk factor and decreasing alcohol consumption among youth.
• Youth-Led Activism and Political Engagement in New Zealand As the authors admit themselves, this choice of topic was due to the article being a part of a larger research project on the organization’s activism in New Zealand.
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• Youth Empowerment in the UAE The UAE seeks to increase civic responsibility and leadership skills of youth because young people are considered to be an essential resource for the development of the country.
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• Career Motivation of Youth Professional Activity: RAKBANK At the same time, the orientation of the personnel policy of RAKBANK is the qualification and role of personnel in the implementation of strategic tasks.
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• Critical Analysis of Purpose Driven Youth Ministry by Doug Fields It is also evident that the role of the parent in the life of a youth in the church is present in Chapter 4 of the book.
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• Media Violence Effect on Youth and Its Regulation It is also important to note that the more important the media puts on violence, the more people are tempted to engage in it for the sake of attention.
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• Youth Issue: Teen Pregnancy Only when the parents of these teenagers openly discuss sexuality and the harmful effects of teen pregnancy with their teenagers are they most likely to understand the risks involved with sex and pregnancy and thus […]
• Community Initiative – The Chinese American Youth Forum I have observed that the Asian Economies have been developing at a very high rate prompting migration of people to and from the world’s biggest economy for trade as well as the acquisition of skills […]
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• Two Leadership Experiences That Was Significant to Me as a Leader of a Youth Group
• Asian and Latino Youths Identity Problems
• American Youth: Consumerism and Consumption Issues
• Youth Unemployment in Africa: A Challenge for Public Policy Makers
• Homophile Youth Movement Flier
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• Living Environments: Classification for Youth
• Youth Professional and National Occupational Standards
• Asian Youth Gangs Analysis
• The Concept of ‘Youth’ in Relation to Current Policy
• Internet Drawbacks Upon Youth
• How Should Youth Combat Negative Moral Influences?
• Youth Crime. Prejudice: Is It Justified?
• How Social Factors Shape Youth Subcultures
• The First Aid Knowledge of Youth Soccer Coaches
• Parents’ Role in Youth Probation Outcomes
• High-Intensity Interval Training Program for Youth
• Youth Resilience Across Seven South African Sites
• Career Counseling Program for Disadvantaged Youth
• Child and Youth Care Professional Issues
• Songs of Delaware County Youth Orchestra Concert
• National Security Language Initiative for Youth Program
• Does Youth Sports Play a Part in Character Formation?
• Behavioral Youth Counselor’s Self-Assessment
• Reducing the Alcohol Abuse Among the Youth
• Helping Families in Need: Concepts of Child and Youth Care
• Child, Youth and Family Intervention
• Youth Subcultures Causing Moral Panic in Media
• Chapters 7-9 of “Youth Media” by Bill Osgerby
• National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards
• Outdoor Activity Sport Business for Women and Youth
• Canadian Youth Business Foundation Website Analysis
• Youth Sports Role in Character Formation
• Safe Driving Among American Youth as Health Issue
• “Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites” by Danah Boyd
• The Real Needs of Homeless Youth in the United States
• Youth Suicide Prevention: Health Promotion Plan
• Social Behaviour as a Science: Drug Abuse in Youth
• HIV Prevention in Youth: Public Health Campaign
• Behavior Change Intervention for Youth in Florida
• Implications of Youth Violence
• Youth Texting Research Dissemination Strategy
• Child and Youth Care Perspective on Disability
• Youth Gang Prevention Continuum in Society
• Culturally Grounded Drug Prevention: The Hoʻouna Pono Curriculum for Rural Hawaii
• A New Weapon Used Against Youth
• Premarital Sex Attitudes Among Youth and Adults
• Pop Cultural Influence on American Youth
• Morality, Faith, and Dignity in Modern Youth
• Youth’s Aggression and Social Media
• American Youth in Films Since 1980s
• Youth Drug Abuse Among, Education, and Policies
• Obesity Consequences for Youth and Adults
• Prevention of Alcohol Consumption Among Youth
• Relationship Between Caregivers and Behavior of Youth
• Youth Leadership Development
• Disposable Water Bottle Usage by Youth Population
• Kuwaiti Youth Activities and Sociopolitical Role
• Youth Activities in Kuwait
• Youth Culture After Technological Advancement
• Troubled Children and Youth
• The Internet Effect on the Youth Participation in Politics
• Culture in “Youth Media”by Bill Osgerby
• How Does Obesity Affect African American Youth?
• Internet Gambling and Its Impact on the Youth
• Social Media Hazards for Youth
• Owning a Gun by Youth in Dangerous Environments
• Muslim Youth Redefining Leadership by N. Hussain
• Chinese Youth Sexual Culture
• Youth Participation in Democracy: China
• Cyberbullying and Its Impacts on Youths Today
• Mobile Youth Outreach Service’ Therapy Plan
• “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood” by Leon Botstein – Youth Issues
• Computer Apps for Productive Endeavors of Youth
• Media and Youth Violence
• Hip Hop Music as Media Influence on the Youth
• Cultural Awareness Among the Arab Youth
• Doctors’, Government and Youth Views
• Understanding Youth: Consumption, Gender, and Education
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• Youth With Autism Disorder: Education and Employment
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• Archery and Fencing as Youth’s Sports Programs
• Putting Out the Fires: Will Higher Taxes Reduce the Onset of Youth Smoking?
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• Youth Culture Under the Globalization Time
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• Analysis of My Community and Youth Programs
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• Youth Unemployment in the UK
• Youth Culture Under Globalization
• How Social Network Empowers Youths in the Society
• The Sexual Practices in the Youths
• The Youth Issues of Burden Tackling
• How Extensive Is the Drug Problem Among American Youth Today?
• A Project on Establishment of Jousing Flats Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centers in Njoro Area to Reduce Prevalence of HIV/AIDS and Provide Nutritional Support Among the Youths Aged Between 16-35 Years
• School Is Bad for Children: Making Mistakes and Being Wrong
• How to Reduce the Purchase of Counterfeit “Knockoffs” by College Age Youth (18-24 Years Old)
• Professional Issues for Child and Youth Care Practitioners in School Based Settings
• What Is the Latest Fad Among the Youth of India?
• What Is the Biggest Problem Facing the Youth Today?
• What Do Older People Regret About Their Youth?
• What Are the Responsibilities of Youth?
• What Are General Seminar Topics That Attract Youth?
• How Can Conservatives Win Back America’s Youth From Progressives?
• What Is So Painful About the Indian Youth Today?
• What Are the Youth Problems?
• What Do You Think Is the Most Critical Issue Facing the Youth of Today?
• What Does the Pakistani Youth Think About the Indian Economy?
• What Are the Influences of Media Over the Youth?
• What Is the Role of the Youth in Eradication of Corruption?
• Why Is Youth Unemployment So High in Europe?
• What Are Some Issues Among Youth Today That We Can Discuss?
• Should Youth Get Involved in Politics?
• What Is the Impact of Cinema on Our Youth?
• How Does Poverty Lead to the HIV/Aids Infection Among the Youth?
• What Are the Impact of Technology on Youth?
• What Are Two Practical Solutions for Each of the Four Youth Risk Behavior?
• Does University Really Help Our Youth?
• How Does Miley Cyrus’ Actions and Attitudes Affect the Youth of Today?
• How Hiphop Has Changed the Youth in Society?
• How Much Impact Did Youth Culture Have on Society in the Years 1955-75?
• How Violent Video Games Really Affect the Youth?
• What Are the Social Causes of Youth Crime?
• What Impact Does Internet Have On Today’s Youth?
• What Is the Role of Youth in Politics?
• What Differences of the Youth Today Are From the Past?
• Why Don’t the Youth Nowadays Prefer Farming?
• What Are the Causes of the Massive Youth Unemployment in Spain?
• Children’s Rights Research Ideas
• Suicide Prevention Paper Topics
• Teenage Pregnancy Paper Topics
• Subculture Research Topics
• School Violence Ideas
• Puberty Titles
• Foster Care Titles
• Juvenile Delinquency Essay Titles
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Science News

Social media harms teens’ mental health, mounting evidence shows. what now.

Understanding what is going on in teens’ minds is necessary for targeted policy suggestions

Most teens use social media, often for hours on end. Some social scientists are confident that such use is harming their mental health. Now they want to pinpoint what explains the link.

Carol Yepes/Getty Images

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By Sujata Gupta

February 20, 2024 at 7:30 am

In January, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta, appeared at a congressional hearing to answer questions about how social media potentially harms children. Zuckerberg opened by saying: “The existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between using social media and young people having worse mental health.”

But many social scientists would disagree with that statement. In recent years, studies have started to show a causal link between teen social media use and reduced well-being or mood disorders, chiefly depression and anxiety.

Ironically, one of the most cited studies into this link focused on Facebook.

Researchers delved into whether the platform’s introduction across college campuses in the mid 2000s increased symptoms associated with depression and anxiety. The answer was a clear yes , says MIT economist Alexey Makarin, a coauthor of the study, which appeared in the November 2022 American Economic Review . “There is still a lot to be explored,” Makarin says, but “[to say] there is no causal evidence that social media causes mental health issues, to that I definitely object.”

The concern, and the studies, come from statistics showing that social media use in teens ages 13 to 17 is now almost ubiquitous. Two-thirds of teens report using TikTok, and some 60 percent of teens report using Instagram or Snapchat, a 2022 survey found. (Only 30 percent said they used Facebook.) Another survey showed that girls, on average, allot roughly 3.4 hours per day to TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, compared with roughly 2.1 hours among boys. At the same time, more teens are showing signs of depression than ever, especially girls ( SN: 6/30/23 ).

As more studies show a strong link between these phenomena, some researchers are starting to shift their attention to possible mechanisms. Why does social media use seem to trigger mental health problems? Why are those effects unevenly distributed among different groups, such as girls or young adults? And can the positives of social media be teased out from the negatives to provide more targeted guidance to teens, their caregivers and policymakers?

“You can’t design good public policy if you don’t know why things are happening,” says Scott Cunningham, an economist at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Increasing rigor

Concerns over the effects of social media use in children have been circulating for years, resulting in a massive body of scientific literature. But those mostly correlational studies could not show if teen social media use was harming mental health or if teens with mental health problems were using more social media.

Moreover, the findings from such studies were often inconclusive, or the effects on mental health so small as to be inconsequential. In one study that received considerable media attention, psychologists Amy Orben and Andrew Przybylski combined data from three surveys to see if they could find a link between technology use, including social media, and reduced well-being. The duo gauged the well-being of over 355,000 teenagers by focusing on questions around depression, suicidal thinking and self-esteem.

Digital technology use was associated with a slight decrease in adolescent well-being , Orben, now of the University of Cambridge, and Przybylski, of the University of Oxford, reported in 2019 in Nature Human Behaviour . But the duo downplayed that finding, noting that researchers have observed similar drops in adolescent well-being associated with drinking milk, going to the movies or eating potatoes.

Holes have begun to appear in that narrative thanks to newer, more rigorous studies.

In one longitudinal study, researchers — including Orben and Przybylski — used survey data on social media use and well-being from over 17,400 teens and young adults to look at how individuals’ responses to a question gauging life satisfaction changed between 2011 and 2018. And they dug into how the responses varied by gender, age and time spent on social media.

Social media use was associated with a drop in well-being among teens during certain developmental periods, chiefly puberty and young adulthood, the team reported in 2022 in Nature Communications . That translated to lower well-being scores around ages 11 to 13 for girls and ages 14 to 15 for boys. Both groups also reported a drop in well-being around age 19. Moreover, among the older teens, the team found evidence for the Goldilocks Hypothesis: the idea that both too much and too little time spent on social media can harm mental health.

“There’s hardly any effect if you look over everybody. But if you look at specific age groups, at particularly what [Orben] calls ‘windows of sensitivity’ … you see these clear effects,” says L.J. Shrum, a consumer psychologist at HEC Paris who was not involved with this research. His review of studies related to teen social media use and mental health is forthcoming in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research.

Cause and effect

That longitudinal study hints at causation, researchers say. But one of the clearest ways to pin down cause and effect is through natural or quasi-experiments. For these in-the-wild experiments, researchers must identify situations where the rollout of a societal “treatment” is staggered across space and time. They can then compare outcomes among members of the group who received the treatment to those still in the queue — the control group.

That was the approach Makarin and his team used in their study of Facebook. The researchers homed in on the staggered rollout of Facebook across 775 college campuses from 2004 to 2006. They combined that rollout data with student responses to the National College Health Assessment, a widely used survey of college students’ mental and physical health.

The team then sought to understand if those survey questions captured diagnosable mental health problems. Specifically, they had roughly 500 undergraduate students respond to questions both in the National College Health Assessment and in validated screening tools for depression and anxiety. They found that mental health scores on the assessment predicted scores on the screenings. That suggested that a drop in well-being on the college survey was a good proxy for a corresponding increase in diagnosable mental health disorders. 

Compared with campuses that had not yet gained access to Facebook, college campuses with Facebook experienced a 2 percentage point increase in the number of students who met the diagnostic criteria for anxiety or depression, the team found.

When it comes to showing a causal link between social media use in teens and worse mental health, “that study really is the crown jewel right now,” says Cunningham, who was not involved in that research.

A need for nuance

The social media landscape today is vastly different than the landscape of 20 years ago. Facebook is now optimized for maximum addiction, Shrum says, and other newer platforms, such as Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, have since copied and built on those features. Paired with the ubiquity of social media in general, the negative effects on mental health may well be larger now.

Moreover, social media research tends to focus on young adults — an easier cohort to study than minors. That needs to change, Cunningham says. “Most of us are worried about our high school kids and younger.” 

And so, researchers must pivot accordingly. Crucially, simple comparisons of social media users and nonusers no longer make sense. As Orben and Przybylski’s 2022 work suggested, a teen not on social media might well feel worse than one who briefly logs on. 

Researchers must also dig into why, and under what circumstances, social media use can harm mental health, Cunningham says. Explanations for this link abound. For instance, social media is thought to crowd out other activities or increase people’s likelihood of comparing themselves unfavorably with others. But big data studies, with their reliance on existing surveys and statistical analyses, cannot address those deeper questions. “These kinds of papers, there’s nothing you can really ask … to find these plausible mechanisms,” Cunningham says.

One ongoing effort to understand social media use from this more nuanced vantage point is the SMART Schools project out of the University of Birmingham in England. Pedagogical expert Victoria Goodyear and her team are comparing mental and physical health outcomes among children who attend schools that have restricted cell phone use to those attending schools without such a policy. The researchers described the protocol of that study of 30 schools and over 1,000 students in the July BMJ Open.

Goodyear and colleagues are also combining that natural experiment with qualitative research. They met with 36 five-person focus groups each consisting of all students, all parents or all educators at six of those schools. The team hopes to learn how students use their phones during the day, how usage practices make students feel, and what the various parties think of restrictions on cell phone use during the school day.

Talking to teens and those in their orbit is the best way to get at the mechanisms by which social media influences well-being — for better or worse, Goodyear says. Moving beyond big data to this more personal approach, however, takes considerable time and effort. “Social media has increased in pace and momentum very, very quickly,” she says. “And research takes a long time to catch up with that process.”

Until that catch-up occurs, though, researchers cannot dole out much advice. “What guidance could we provide to young people, parents and schools to help maintain the positives of social media use?” Goodyear asks. “There’s not concrete evidence yet.”

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Mental Health Problems among Young People—A Scoping Review of Help-Seeking

Katrin häggström westberg.

1 School of Health and Welfare, Halmstad University, SE-301 18 Halmstad, Sweden; [email protected] (M.N.); [email protected] (J.M.N.); [email protected] (P.S.)

2 Affecta Psychiatric Clinic, Sperlingsgatan 5, SE-302 48 Halmstad, Sweden

Maria Nyholm

Jens m. nygren, petra svedberg, associated data.

Documentation on the database searches, the stepped screening process and the thematic analysis are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Young people’s mental health is a public health priority, particularly as mental health problems in this group seem to be increasing. Even in countries with supposedly good access to healthcare, few young people seek support for mental health problems. The aim of this study was twofold, firstly to map the published literature on young people’s experiences of seeking help for mental health problems and secondly to validate whether the Lost in Space model was adaptable as a theoretical model of the help-seeking process described in the included articles in this scoping review. A scoping review was conducted in which we searched for literature on mental health help-seeking with a user perspective published between 2010 and 2020 in different databases. From the 2905 studies identified, we selected 12 articles for inclusion. The review showed how young people experience unfamiliarity and insecurity with regard to issues related to mental health and help-seeking. A strong wish for self-reliance and to safe-guard one’s own health were consistent among young people. Support structures were often regarded as inaccessible and unresponsive. There was a high level of conformity between the model on help-seeking and the analysed articles, reinforcing that help-seeking is a dynamic and psychosocial process.

1. Introduction

Young people’s mental health is a major public health issue. Mental health problems among young people contribute to impaired physical and mental health extending into adulthood [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Promoting young people’s mental health is an integral component in ensuring their development and improving health and social wellbeing across their lifespan [ 3 ]. In light of the high rate of mental health problems among this group, a corresponding high rate of help-seeking and use of support resources might be assumed; however, few young people actually seek and eventually access professional help. Delays in looking for help can be lengthy and are prevalent even in countries with good access to healthcare [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. The process of searching for support involves barriers that relate to both individual and social context factors [ 8 , 10 ]. This contributes to the complexity involved in offering interventions to support them and highlights the need to understand the help-seeking process, whether online or in person, for young people with mental health problems.

Help-seeking is usually described as a rational, agency-based process where the individual plans, decides and acts on symptoms [ 11 ]. However, research also describes that help-seeking is not solely an individual act; rather, it is influenced by social factors throughout the process. Societal, organizational support structures set the limits and stipulate the opportunities to seek help [ 12 ]. Help-seeking thus depends both on factors at the individual level and structural resources for young people. Many studies that examine help-seeking for mental health among young people using cross-sectional designs on either the general community, or school populations [ 8 , 13 ] are based on descriptive data that is often generated through surveys, and focus on attitudes, rather than on experiences [ 14 ]. The main focus of previous literature has been on individual factors, such as mental health literacy, and less information can be found on the structural factors involved [ 8 , 13 ]. This calls for a deeper and more nuanced understanding of young people’s mental health help-seeking regarding contextual factors, with particular focus on their experiences and perspectives. An improved understanding of help-seeking for mental health problems can be used to improve practice and service delivery, and ultimately benefit young people’s mental health.

In this study, qualitative research exploring the help-seeking process in Sweden from the perspectives of young people with mental health problems was used as the theoretical point of departure [ 15 ]. Within this previous research, we produced a theoretical model of help-seeking, the Lost in Space model [ 15 ]. It showed how help-seeking was a long, non-sequential and dynamic process. In this research, young people described a process of moving in and out of the three help-seeking phases, Drifting, Navigating and Docking. Drifting was characterized by insecurity and unfamiliarity, with a lack of knowledge of mental health and the support system; Navigating was characterized by structural obstacles, a fragmented support system and wishes for help; while Docking was characterized by experiences of finding help. For the purpose of confirmability and usefulness, it is essential to validate and understand if the model can be applied to other settings and contexts—for example, whether the model is consistent with the experiences of help-seeking by young people in other countries. Therefore, the aim of this study was twofold, firstly to map the published literature on young people’s experiences of seeking help for mental health problems and secondly to validate whether the previously published Lost in Space model was adaptable as a theoretical model of the help-seeking process described in the included articles in this scoping review.

A scoping review was deemed the most preferable approach to responding to this broad area of interest [ 16 ]. Scoping reviews maintain a broad window for inclusion of studies of a range of types and levels of quality [ 17 ]. Our scoping review protocol was developed using the scoping review methodological framework proposed by Arksey and and O’Malley, entailing five framework stages. The framework was further developed by Levac, with a qualitative elaboration of the material [ 17 , 18 ]. These stages provide a clear sequential order in which to identify and collect studies, chart the data and report results, and the scoping review protocol was used for guiding the research.

2.1. Stage 1: Identifying the Research Question

A multidisciplinary research team with experience of health science research, including public health, nursing, and youth research was assembled to discuss and clarify the scope of inquiry and identify research questions. The target population of interest was defined as young people (ages 11–25) with experience of mental health problems, and experience of help-seeking in that regard. Mental health problems were defined as commonly experienced problems of depression or anxiety, as well as behavioural and emotional problems. Considering the concept of help-seeking, the term is used to understand the delay of care and to explore possible pathways for mental health promotion. For this study, help-seeking was defined as seeking and/or accessing professional help for mental health problems. Conceptually, help-seeking was regarded as a process influenced by social, psychological and contextual factors [ 12 ]. The research questions for this study were (1) to map general characteristics of published literature focusing on the young people’s experiences of seeking help for mental health problems, and (2) to explore how the previously published theoretical model Lost in Space could be further refined and complemented via an abductive approach, drawing the final set of categories and themes informed by the papers reviewed in this study.

2.2. Stage 2: Identifying Relevant Studies

A search strategy was developed in collaboration with a librarian to develop search terms using subject heading terms adapted to each of the three included databases: Medline/PubMed, PsycINFO and CINAHL. The search terms for the target population were adolescents, young and emerging adults; for the health outcome, they were mental health, depression, anxiety, and for the concept of interest, the term was help-seeking. Other criteria were limiting searches to studies written in English, and studies being published between 2010 and 2020 due to rapidly evolving research and policy changes in this area as well as the increased rates of mental health problems among young people. The searches were conducted during summer 2020. See Table S1 (Supplementary Materials) for the full search strategy.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Studies were eligible for inclusion if they investigated help-seeking among young people with mental health problems aged between 11 and 25. Only studies that specifically investigated young people’s own perspectives of experiencing or having experienced mental health problems and help-seeking were included. Since the intention was to understand help-seeking among young people with common mental health problems, studies on particular target groups or populations were excluded, such as studies on specific treatment interventions. Likewise, studies focusing on help-seeking attitudes or potential help-seeking intentions of general populations without personal experience of mental health help-seeking were excluded. Studies had to specifically focus on adolescents or young people; thus, studies with a more population-based perspective, or encompassing wider age groups, were excluded. Theses were not included as it was assumed that any material within a thesis on help-seeking, that otherwise fitted the inclusion criteria, would appear as published articles. Comments, editorials, consensus statements and other opinion-based papers were excluded, along with studies solely exploring the perspectives of others, other than the help-seekers themselves (e.g., families, helpers, professionals, etc.).

2.3. Stage 3: Study Selection

All identified studies from the searches were imported to the management reference tool EndNote, version 20.1, and duplicates were removed. Screening was carried out with a sequential, stepped approach and an iterative process between the authors of the study [ 18 ]. In the first step of study selection, titles and periodically abstracts were screened by KHW, who discarded obviously irrelevant studies based on the exclusion criteria. In the second step of study selection, abstracts of the remaining studies were screened independently by three of the authors (KHW, PS and MN) to determine eligibility based on the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Disagreements between the authors were discussed with a fourth author (JN) until consensus was reached. The third step required KHW to examine the full-text of the remaining articles to determine eligibility, subsequently discussing the articles with all authors. A PRISMA diagram ( Figure 1 ) details the screening process with number of papers retrieved and selection of the included studies.

Article search and selection process—PRISMA diagram.

2.4. Stage 4: Charting the Data

Data charting was conducted in accordance with scoping review standards using a template that was developed for the extraction of information from each study regarding the following: authorship, year of publication, journal, source of origin, design, population and age group, aims of the study, methodology and important results [ 17 ]. A descriptive, numerical summarization was made, presenting the extent, nature and scope of included studies [ 18 ], see Table S2 (Supplementary Materials) for the full bibliographic information of the included studies.

2.5. Stage 5: Collating, Summarizing and Reporting Results

A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted to examine and aggregate the findings from the help-seeking process, as depicted in the included studies [ 18 ]. For the thematic analysis, an abductive approach was taken [ 19 ], based on the previous Lost in Space model [ 15 ]. According to such an approach, hypotheses can be explicated through deduction and verified through induction. Abduction thus means that new explanations are based on background theories and, whilst taking empirical material and restrictions into account, may lead to elaborated knowledge [ 19 ].

The analysis began with reading the findings in the included articles several times, then identifying and inductively coding text and quotes [ 20 ] in relation to young people’s experiences of seeking help for mental health problems. In this phase, data were inductively scrutinized to discover experiences, expressions and perspectives, keeping codes close to the data; for example, the text ‘Some young people reported that discussing uncomfortable emotions was unfamiliar’ was coded as the theme Unfamiliarity. The deductive process followed, in which the theoretical model Lost in Space was employed. It describes help-seeking among young people with mental health problems in a Swedish context [ 15 ]. A categorization matrix was developed based on the model, emanating from the original subcategories and categories, the themes within the subcategories and the properties of themes. The deductive process in the analysis involved going back to the data and placing the inductively derived codes into themes and subcategories of the theoretical model. All themes from the original model were found through coding the analysed articles. Codes from the new material that did not match the original theoretical model subcategories contributed with new aspects to existing themes of the model and, in some cases, generated new themes, thereby broadening the understanding of help-seeking. In one instance, the name of one subcategory was altered to reflect new material. KWH performed the data analysis and, to enhance the quality and validity of the analysis, the data analysis was discussed continuously with all authors.

3.1. Mapping the Characteristics of Published Literature

In total, 1540 articles were identified as potentially relevant records, after duplicates were removed through the database searches. After the first screening of title and abstract, 1207 articles were excluded on the basis of age, format type, content (i.e., not dealing with help-seeking), focusing on specific populations or not being based on a user perspective. In the second round of screening, another 243 articles were excluded due to the eligibility criteria. In the third round of screening, the remaining 90 articles were reviewed in full-text and of these 12 articles met the full set of eligibility criteria.

The characteristics of the included studies are described in Table S2 (Supplementary Materials) . Seven articles were published between 2010 and 2015, and five after 2016. The designs were mostly qualitative, with individual interviews ( n = 9) and focus groups ( n = 7). Seven articles employed a combination of methods (for example, mixed methods), and two articles included information from surveys. The focus of articles covered: social and organizational factors impacting help-seeking, functional concerns, attitudes towards computerized mental health support, attitudes to consulting primary care, perceptions and help-seeking behaviours in schools, exploration and identification of barriers and facilitators in general populations with and without previous experience of mental health support, barriers and facilitators in male groups, links between masculinity and help-seeking, comparisons of groups’ help-seeking strategies and descriptions of experiences, self-management and help-seeking. The recruitment of participants varied, utilising educational settings ( n = 4), youth mental health services ( n = 2), community websites ( n = 1), primary care ( n = 1), youth services ( n = 2), previous participation in longitudinal studies ( n = 2) and community samples ( n = 3). Four articles focused specifically on young males, and four on barriers to help-seeking. Three articles were set in the USA, one in Canada, three in Australia and five in Europe. The age range, 11–25, was seen in a variation of age clusters, with the smallest age range being two years (ages 20–22) and the largest 13 years (ages 12–25); the mean age range covered was six years.

3.2. Examination of the Help-Seeking Process from the Perspectives of Young People

The findings from this examination showed a high level of agreement with the theoretical model Lost in Space. Overall, the results showed that help-seeking was a dynamic and psychosocial process without sequentially fixed stages, where young people expressed an unfamiliarity with, insecurity about and lack of knowledge of mental health issues, a longing for self-reliance and, in some contexts, a presence of stigma. Young people did not consider the support structures to be responsive or accessible. Below, Figure 2 outlines the examination of the help-seeking process from the perspectives of young people. It includes confirmed content of the old model, new content derived from the analysed articles, and elaborations according to the abductive method. The ‘number of meaning units’ refers to coded material in the analysed articles. ‘Original’ refers to subcategories and themes from the Lost in Space model, where findings were corroborated by codes from the analysed articles (‘confirmed content’), other elements that emerged showed further dimensions of experiences that contributed to new perspectives of established subcategories in the model (‘new content’), and some themes that emerged in the analysis were not readily encompassed within the subcategories in the original model (‘new’) (see Figure 2 ).

Examination of the help-seeking process from young people’s perspectives.

3.2.1. Drifting

Drifting, the initial category of the Lost in Space model, encompassed a general feeling of unfamiliarity, lack of knowledge, trivialising oneself and problems due to insecurity often by normalizing and minimizing one’s experiences. Young people’s voices in the analysed articles corroborated Drifting well, through similar expressions and experiences.

Fumbling in Life

In the original model, Fumbling in life encompassed themes of unfamiliarity, insecurity and trivialisation. Likewise, young people in the analysed articles expressed unfamiliarity with both mental health problems and not recognizing oneself. Lack of knowledge was frequently described both with regard to communicating, distinguishing and assessing emotions but also regarding where and when to seek help, leading to a sense of insecurity. Because of this insecurity, young people practised trivialisation, trying to make their problems smaller or unimportant. They also had the impression and fear that their problems would not be sufficient to receive support. In some of the analysed articles, trivialisation was presented as a rational strategy, enabling young people to downplay their problems and rationalizing not actively dealing with them or approaching others for help, whereas, in the original model, trivialisation was carried out due to a sense of insecurity. In this section, no conceptual changes to the original model are suggested.

In the original model, Struggling was characterized by simultaneous descriptions of mental health problems and incessant attempts and strategies to feel better, ambivalence and a longing for self-reliance. These themes re-appeared in the included articles. Mental health problems were described by the participants as emotional problems, panic attacks, sadness, self-harm, anxiety and lack of motivation. Within Struggling in the original model, young people usually referred to mental health problems as being something “within” (internal) rather than originating “outside” (global). However, in several of the analysed articles, the mental health problems were attributed to something “outside”. Hence, young people also related mental health problems to relationships, stress and risk-taking behaviour.

Themes on endeavouring strategies trying to deal with mental health problems were common in the included studies, as was also the case in the Lost in Space model, pointing to the more-or-less continual and relentless attempts and strategies young people performed in order to deal with their problems. Although it was proposed by young people in individual studies that seeking help requires effort, lack of effort was not a dominant issue for young people in either the original model or in most analysed articles. In some articles, an in-depth exploration of the strategies employed was undertaken, according to having an ‘approach’ or ‘avoidant’ character, or gendered differences, adding to the variation in strategies, whereas in the model, an abundance of strategies was ascertained; however, the type of strategy was not explored. Denial was a common strategy in both the original model and in the included articles. In the Lost in Space model, this was described as “shutting off”, with the intent of ignoring feelings and problems. This strategy was directed towards oneself: wanting to manage things, being strong and coping. In some of the analysed articles, denial was presented as relating to a sense of embarrassment, or as being done in order to protect others. Several reasons were attributed to this phenomenon: that young people did not want to trouble others, did not want to burden or alarm others, and did not trust others. In the model, reasons for denial were differentiated by a sense of responsibility, enacted by, for example, not sharing information with family and friends. Withholding information thus seemed to relate to aspects additional to a sense of responsibility and self-reliance.

A frequent theme in both the original model and in the findings from the included articles was self-reliance. Statements of wanting to be strong, trying to cope on one’s own, not sharing information and an elevated sense of responsibility to manage one’s life and mental health problems were evident. Ambivalence as a theme recurred throughout the material, in both the included studies and the original model. Young people expressed simultaneous and contradictory feelings and thoughts towards both themselves and their problems, others and help-seeking per se. They were often hesitant to seek help, whilst at the same time expressing a need and a longing for help.

The analysis of the included articles suggested no major conceptual changes to the original model, although the themes Endavouring strategies and Mental health problems are both elaborated.

Reaching a Point of No Return

Within Reaching a point of no return in the original model, young people expressed deterioration and a reaching out for support, often with the help of others. In Lost in Space, others were called ’catalysts’, showcasing their importance in actually initiating a help-seeking process. Within the analysed articles, important others were consistently brought up by the young people, with examples of others coaching, supporting, guiding and, in some instances, taking control of the help-seeking process. A new perspective in the included articles was a negative perception of control, and how others exerted control over them, compelling them to seek help. While this aspect of negative control did not emerge in the original model, an elaboration of the model may expand on the various functions of the important others, e.g., by dividing them into controllers vs. supporters. The other theme in this subcategory, deterioration, was brought up in several articles, as in the Lost in Space model. This indicated a worsening of symptoms and a decreased ability to function. Young people described not leaving the house, escalated behavioural problems, self-harm and suicide attempts, or ‘having a melt-down’ as triggers for seeking help. Young people also described how their problems were ‘revealed’ and others became aware of their problems, which in turn led to seeking help.

The included articles emphasise that seeking help is often a long process that takes place during a prolonged time-span. Therefore, in this section, a change of title of the subcategory Reaching a point of no return, to Transitioning towards decision, is suggested.

3.2.2. Navigating

The category Navigating depicted attempts of trying to find support, personal reflections, hopes and longings and wrestling with structural barriers. Expressions from young people in the analysed articles conformed well with the subcategories Trying to dock and Wrestling with structure.

Trying to Dock

This subcategory in the Lost in Space model entailed descriptions of personal reflections, hopes, longings and disappointment when trying to seek support. All themes from the original model were exemplified in the included articles. Hopes for help, as well as being safe, noticed and understood, were common in the included articles, as were accounts of the opposite, feeling unsupported. Miscommunication while not being understood or listened to also appeared in both materials as did accounts of being treated like a child and not taken seriously, thus containing references to issues of power. Several analysed articles contained descriptions by young people on how support was perceived as impersonal and instrumental rather than person-centred. This added aspects of negative references to professionalism and reliance on medication. Young people expressed the importance of reframing negative and medical terminology in positive and informal terms. Both materials contained descriptions of young people feeling unsupported, which led to continued and continual efforts of seeking support. A new theme, trust, was identified in the thematic analysis from descriptions of lack of confidence in treatment, and how familiarity facilitated help-seeking. A lack of trust was depicted as arising from limited prior contact, from anxiety about seeking help, from concerns about professional competence and from negative perceptions of professionals. Within the theme of trust in the articles, concerns about confidentiality and parental involvement surfaced, whereas, in the original model, these concerns were interpreted as structural obstacles.

Common themes in the articles were stigma and shame, whereas in the original model, this was not pervasive. The included articles relayed young people’s strong sense of shame about seeking help. They perceived it as a display of weakness. Fear of social consequences, ridicule and a longing to fit in led young people to describe a feeling of shame or embarrassment, and to having thoughts of what others would think and say. They also made efforts to conceal both mental health problems and help-seeking. Articles focusing exclusively on males stressed the gendered aspect of this, claiming that this group was affected by masculine ideals of strength and autonomy, which hindered displays of weakness and prevented help-seeking. In the original model, some findings relating to this theme were described; however, the term stigma was never used. Instead, this was described in the subcategory Wrestling with structure, in relation to seeking support in school, with references of embarrassment and an undesirable show of weakness in front of peers.

In this section, the analysed articles provide more aspects on the Feeling unsupported and Miscommunication themes. The large presence of codes in the new material relating to Stigma and Trust suggests the incorporation of Stigma and Trust as unique themes into the model.

Wrestling with Structure

In both the original model and the analysed articles, there were multiple references to structural obstacles, such as access, waiting times, resources, continuity, inadequate chains of support, and lack of coordination between supporters. Young people voiced feelings of not being met by professionals in an appropriate and timely manner, and concerns about how they were passed on, being referred to other support structures, and how there was a perceived lack of resources, making access difficult. Help-seeking was described as inconsistent, with repeated attempts at initiating and discontinuing help. Young people in several articles, and the original model, expressed that primary care was not an option when seeking support. Primary care was regarded as handling physical health complaints and that its practitioners were not being skilled in mental health issues. Particularly for the ‘younger’ of the young people, expressions that primary care was not directed at their age group were voiced. The inadequate support services theme was thus corroborated by young people in other contexts.

Confidentiality and age issues were concerns for the young people, both within the original model and the thematic analysis, primarily relating to parental control and insight. Both materials contained descriptions of how young people assumed and were concerned that confidential information shared with professional supporters would be communicated to parents. In some articles, this was said to relate to the theme of trust; however, confidentiality was mainly related to being a minor lacking power. Young people also voiced that being a minor was as an obstacle for independently accessing help. Likewise, age was an issue for the ‘older’ young people, who reported feeling out-of-place at youth-specific services. In the original model, a sense of resignation, often related to difficulties accessing support and feeling unsupported, was evident. The included articles provided additional material relating to this, as a sense of powerlessness appeared in several subcategories, and in the process as a whole.

The analysis supported a clearer conceptual division between subcategories Wrestling with structure and Trying to dock in the model. The latter entailed primarily personal accounts and experiences, expressions of hopes, disappointments and recounts of feelings, and the former referred primarily to structural conditions. Recurring references in relation to powerlessness suggest this is elevated to a permeating theme, capturing young people’s experience of seeking help.

3.2.3. Docking

Docking in the original model contained references from young people to the subcategories Finding support and Changing as a person.

Finding Support

All original themes of the subcategory Finding support were found in the thematic analysis. In both the original model and the analysed articles, young people described experiences of being validated, accepted, recognized and listened to. The importance of the comfort of support and initial positive contact was stressed. Descriptions of good and bad supporters and preferences regarding, for example, gender and profession, were evident. Both materials contained descriptions of negative outcomes and unwanted consequences from having sought help; for example, in the original model, this was described as problems being exaggerated and social services becoming involved. In the analysed articles were descriptions of referrals to support services appearing as punitive rather than helpful. This subcategory also contained accounts in both the analysed articles and the original model of young people being disregarded and not being taken seriously.

In this section, no changes to the model are suggested.

Changing as a Person

In the original model, this subcategory described the consequences of successful help-seeking in the form of gaining knowledge and positive personal change. Young people in the original model stressed the positive aspects and changes after having experienced mental health problems. Some references were found in the articles with regard to this subcategory, with personal change depicted as finding a more positive outlook on life through one’s own determination and decisiveness.

In this section, the analysed articles provide more aspects on the theme Changing as a person, but no changes to the model are suggested.

Overall, the findings from the analysis aided in developing an elaborated model of help-seeking, Figure 3 . The overall notion of help-seeking as a fluid and dynamic process with the three categories Drifting, Navigating and Docking was reinforced.

Elaborated and further developed theoretical model of help-seeking among young people for mental health problems.

4. Discussion

This scoping review aimed to map published literature on young people’s experiences of seeking help for mental health problems, and to validate whether the previously published model Lost in Space was adaptable as a theoretical model of the help-seeking process. A high level of conformity was found between help-seeking as depicted by the original Lost in Space model and the analysed articles of this study. The analysis reinforced that help-seeking is to be regarded as a fluid and psychosocial process, often experienced by users as unfamiliar and obstacle-laden, tainted by feelings of powerlessness [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ].

4.1. Discussion and Implications in Relation to the Original Model Lost in Space

After reviewing up-to-date literature on user perspectives of help-seeking for mental health problems among young people, it is clear that the depiction of the initial stage of help-seeking, as being characterized by a sense of drifting, was, to a large extent, corroborated from young people’s experiences described in the reviewed articles. Regardless of context, young people expressed a general feeling of unfamiliarity and a lack of knowledge, often coupled with a sense of insecurity, and trivialisation of experiences [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. This was also supported by a large number of codes and expressions relating to the endeavouring strategies theme in an effort to be self-reliant [ 22 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. This points to the more-or-less continual and relentless nature of the efforts of young people to deal with their problems. A strong wish for self-reliance was consistently stressed in the reviewed articles, with a large variation and number of strategies used to implement self-reliance and deal with mental health problems. Incorporating an elaboration regarding the characteristics of strategies—whether positive/negative, destructive/constructive or approach/avoidant strategies—would provide an additional perspective on how mental health is dealt with by young people. The reviewed articles confirmed that reaching a decision to seek help often takes place with the aid of others [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 29 , 31 , 32 ] and distinction between ‘controllers’ and ‘supporters’ in this regard may further elaborate the model. Re-naming of the subcategory Reaching a point of no return into Transitioning towards decision would reflect the transitional nature of the mental health help-seeking process.

The category Navigating, capturing both personal experiences and structural barriers, was well confirmed by the review. Reflections of not being met by professionals in an appropriate and timely manner, and observations of a perceived lack of resources making access difficult, surfaced in both the original model and the included articles [ 23 , 26 , 29 ]. Accounts of not being taken seriously, being treated like a child, not listened to and disregarded, indicating power-issues relating to the experiences of young people, as well as descriptions of inconsistent use of support, repeatedly initiating and discontinuing help, appeared in the original model as well as the included articles [ 22 , 26 , 28 , 29 ]. Stigma and Trust surfaced as new themes, and Stigma in particular appeared with a large number of codes in the analysed articles. Young people described a feeling of shame, embarrassment, thoughts of what others would think and say and various efforts to conceal both mental health problems and their help-seeking [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 31 ]. Several articles dealt exclusively with young men and boys, proposing that the reasons for not seeking help were strongly conditioned by gender, with masculine ideals of strength and autonomy acting as obstacles for help-seeking [ 21 , 23 , 28 , 31 ]. Similar findings emerged in the Lost in Space model, where issues of self-reliance, wanting to be strong, and shunning displays of weakness, were shared between participants, and were not gender specific. Cultural variations may account for this difference between studies and findings. This said, most participants in studies on help-seeking are female and the findings may translate poorly to other populations and contexts. Help-seeking is exceptionally low among boys and young men, which in itself calls for a focus on specific populations with particularly low help-seeking [ 33 , 34 ].

The latter part of the original model, Docking, was not as well corroborated through the analysis. There were few descriptions of actually finding support and even fewer of personal reflections on the effects of finding help [ 21 , 22 , 31 ]. It may be that research on the help-seeking process does not focus on support and is discontinued as soon as support is established, and aspects of this may be found in other literature on service utilization or treatment satisfaction. However, by dividing the help-seeking journey into smaller isolated fractions, focus on the process as a whole could be missed, resulting in a stunted model and less understanding of the help-seeking process. Overall, the included articles reinforced the model of help-seeking as a dynamic and psychosocial process, consisting of different stages but without being sequentially fixed.

4.2. Discussion and Implications in Practice

This review on help-seeking for common mental health problems included young people from the age of 11 to 25, thus also including young adults. The studies described in the included articles were based on varied recruitment strategies from different contexts. No specific patterns according to age or context could be discerned. The concerns voiced in the studies included themes on structural barriers of the support system, an unfamiliarity and lack of knowledge of mental health and the support system, and simultaneously, a wish for self-reliance, suggesting possible strategies for meeting the help-seeking needs of young people. Although this study aimed to include articles focusing on groups that were wide enough to be defined as population-based, the focus of the included articles tended to be on particular populations, stressing the vulnerability and poor help-seeking of one particular group. Thus, the research had ethno-centric tendencies, whereas there were large overlaps and resemblances of experiences by young people in the help-seeking process regardless of contexts. The attribution of non-help-seeking to stigma and cultural norms amongst Black, Latino and Chinese American youth was observed by others, pointing to this being a more general, rather than group-specific phenomenon [ 32 ].

Structural factors, and how young people experience the support system, play an important role in the help-seeking process. Despite different contexts, young people expressed similar concerns relating to issues of availability and accessibility. There were views that waiting times were too long, resources were too few, and in some contexts, that costs and distances posed problems [ 21 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 28 , 29 ]. Other research has shown that there is a perceived inaccessibility of the support system across different groups of young people regarding resources, entry requirements and coordination between services [ 13 ]. Structural obstacles stretch over different geographical and socio-economic backgrounds at the macro level, with high-income countries still showing substantial delays and poor help-seeking rates for young people [ 14 , 35 ]. Thus, even in favourable circumstances, young people perceive structural barriers, pointing to how the support system does not accommodate the fluid and changeable nature of help-seeking. Young people regard mental health as a complex social and relational matter [ 36 ]. They often present with diagnostically confusing symptoms, and support systems that are traditionally organized according to medical specialities may not meet the needs of young people with common mental health problems [ 37 ]. Integrated youth centres, focusing on meeting young people’s needs in one place through multidisciplinary support with consideration of the context, show promising results [ 38 , 39 ]. In comparison to traditional support, which is by definition siloed and often entails entry requirements according to diagnostic thresholds, integrated youth-friendly services seem to increase help-seeking and access to support, even among groups that are usually hard to reach [ 33 , 39 ]. Studies in a Swedish context have pointed out that youth health clinics providing services to build upon with multi-professional teams and expertise on mental health are available throughout Sweden [ 40 ].

Young people reported a lack of knowledge on mental health and the support system, leading to a sense of insecurity and possibly a delay of help-seeking. Improved health literacy among young people may facilitate help-seeking through mechanisms of awareness of service availability and symptom recognition [ 13 ]. However, improved help-seeking and mental health among young people may require more than only improved knowledge. Previous reviews have, for example, shown past positive experiences and outcomes of help-seeking and positive contacts with support professionals to be facilitators for seeking help [ 4 , 8 ]. At the same time, a preference for self-reliance when facing mental health problems is consistently reported, with this being particularly prominent in studies with participants having previous experience of mental health problems and mental health support, contradicting the findings of past experiences facilitating help-seeking [ 8 , 23 ]. Young women in particular seem to have poor expectations regarding therapeutic outcomes, signalling a lack of trust in professional supporters, with treatment being perceived as impersonal and protocol-driven [ 23 ]. The results of this study identified the importance of supporters’ ability to meet young people responsively, using a person-centred approach. Young people felt more comfortable when the supporters did not use medical language and emphasized the importance of using positive and informal terms for improving communication between the young person and the supporter. Other studies have confirmed this finding, underlining the importance of having young staff who are skilled, respectful, welcoming, and allow for participation and shared decision-making [ 39 ].

With this review showing how young people experience mental health help-seeking as a psychosocial and fluid process, often with lack of knowledge and a sense of insecurity, prompt consideration of the organization of present support systems is needed. Young people need to be met in a person-centred and flexible manner. Perhaps, this is where the greatest effort is needed, addressing issues of power from the perspectives of young people, improving opportunities for personal self-reliance and personalized support.

5. Methodological Considerations

This review has some limitations. The choice of databases and keywords was developed in accordance with an experienced health literature librarian; however, making a choice always entails the risk that some information may have been missed. Other databases and different keywords may have produced different results. The criteria for including articles were that they should deal with the direct perspectives of young people who had experienced mental health problems and/or help-seeking. Whilst excluding those who had no experience of help-seeking (thus all articles dealing with intentions to seeking help only) might have been a clear-cut and easy choice, that would also have meant that we excluded those with experience of mental health problems who had not sought help for various reasons; thus, avoidance is also a perspective that is worth taking into consideration.

We aimed to include studies focusing on groups wide enough to be defined as population-based; nevertheless, these still often utilized an ethnocentric perspective, such as having a particular ethnic descent. This automatically raises the issue of generalizability and transferability. It was evident that studies consistently focused on particular populations, stressing the vulnerability and poor help-seeking of this particular group. However, similar claims kept reappearing, regardless of which particular group was being studied. A noteworthy phenomenon is that all included articles were published in Western countries. This also limits the transferability of the findings, as young people around the world may be situated in significantly different contexts.

In order to limit bias, the work was conducted by alternating methods of individual and joint reviews. However, subjectivity is a relevant issue that the authors of this review could not completely avoid.

6. Conclusions and Implication

The field of help-seeking among young people for mental health problems is receiving growing attention in research and academic literature. However, this review shows that there is substantial heterogeneity among studies with regard to methods, populations and how help-seeking is investigated. In qualitative literature exploring user perspectives, help-seeking is depicted as a fluid, dynamic and psychosocial process, validating the theoretical model of Lost in Space. Important findings include the presence of stigma, a lack of knowledge of mental health issues, a longing for self-reliance and a sense of powerlessness expressed by young people in various contexts and countries. Paying attention to these findings would imply acknowledging young people’s sense of feeling lost, making support services more flexible and person-centred.

Acknowledgments

Caroline Karlsson greatly contributed with the graphical model.

Supplementary Materials

The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/ijerph19031430/s1 , Table S1, full search strategy, Table S2, characteristics of included studies.

Author Contributions

All authors (K.H.W., M.N., J.M.N. and P.S.) made significant contributions to the original paper. K.H.W., M.N., J.M.N. and P.S. together identified the research question and designed the study. The data search was conducted by K.H.W., and stepped screening was performed by K.H.W., M.N., J.M.N. and P.S. In addition, K.H.W. drafted the manuscript and M.N., J.M.N. and P.S. provided critical revision of the paper in terms of important intellectual content. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

This study did not require ethical clearance.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Who are the youth of today generation unlimited, we have approached several young people to understand their vision and how they look at the society they live in and make it their own, from each one perspective.

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Being young is a synonym of change, progress and future. Being young is, ultimately, facing challenges and creating or recreating a space for future full development. It means turning problems into opportunities and solutions and being the driving force of society. 

Today, on the International Youth Day 2020 , we celebrate their visions and their choices, we celebrate “Youth Engagement for Global Action”, a slogan that seeks to highlight the ways young people engage at the local, national and global levels. 

Global challenges, like the coronavirus pandemic or climate change, as well as local issues, will have an effect on the future. It is time to see the extent to which this affects the youngest population and to advance solutions. People aged 14 to 29 years represent the largest generation in history.

We reached out to several Cuban youngsters to know about their visions, their roles in society as individuals and part of the population. From their individuality’s point of view, these young people look at the society in which they have to live and how to make it their own. They were posed with two questions, to which they had shared responses. What do you think is the role of young people these days? What are you doing from your position to help young people?

The group of people that goes from 14 to 29 years of age constitute the largest generation in history

Magdany Acosta Gallardo, 18 years old

Young people not only represent the future of our country, we are one of society’s main agents of change and progress. We have a great effect on economic development too. In this stage of our lives, we build many social relationships and develop a personality that defines us as a new generation. What we do when we become adults depends on how we think and act today. 

Yaicelín Palma Tejas, 27 years old

Young people only have one role and is the same they have always had. It does not change, because their role is actually changing everything, doing things better than before and injecting them with joy and energy.  

Being a journalist, I think my contribution as a champion of young people is to highlight our role as agents of change. As a young citizen, I join every call for autonomy and emancipation, which are challenges for everyone across the globe.

Carlos Alejandro Sánchez, 22 years old

I think young people play a crucial role today no matter the society they live in. We are the ones transforming, consciously or not, our reality, either at the university, at our workplace or in other spaces, and we do it by contributing with a new and updated vision to daily activities. It is our responsibility to make society evolve and stand up for our opinions in the best possible way.   

The opportunity of appearing in the media through radio or television every day, in addition to my presence in social networks, which are so popular nowadays, has undeniably helped me to convey messages and show my way of thinking to many more people than usual. Being able to have a positive influence on my generation and on others through my words and actions makes me very proud. For example, hosting a news programme or a show aimed at a young audience is a huge responsibility, but it has allowed me to prove that no matter how young you are, if you want something and are willing to fight for it, you can do it because everything in life is about perseverance and attitude.

Roxana Broche, 25 years old

Young people are the cornerstone of society and represent a generational renewal. This is something that has been said so many times, but the reality is that young people are the ones in charge of building a legacy.

As an actress, I think I can share my life and professional experiences to help and inspire young people, without saturating them with the message. The more one talks about life experiences, the more knowledge one can offer, and I think that is a key element, sharing knowledge so that other people can reuse it.

Anthony Bravo, 20 years old

I am lucky to be a young singer, but you also have a big responsibility when you have a voice; that is why my work at this time has been focused on conveying messages of wellbeing and trying to reproduce behaviours that contribute to personal growth which, in turn, drives a collective creation based on principles that put the fate of society before the fate of individuals. The best way to contribute with something positive to the community is to ensure our own wellbeing; humanity starts with the family.

Through my music, my lyrics, also as a design student and even as an active subject in our country, I’ve taken on as my duty to be a spokesman for ideas that I think are useful. I have put my time and ideas at the service of my generation.

Luis Daniel del Riego Carralero. 16 years old

At our age, our role in the world is to carry out some important functions for our society and eventually become responsible adults, committed to our time. For example, there are young people who are leading and paralyzing the world in a long fight against the lack of action of some to avoid global warming. We have proven that we can offer a better future and that we are willing to fight against all odds to achieve that.

Leslie Alonso Figueroa, 27 years old

Young people have the challenge, without forgetting the past, to fight for a fair world. Phobias and discrimination, male chauvinism, gender violence and racism are some of the challenges to overcome. Young people, from their area of actions, study or workplace must fight together in the ultimate pursuit of societies of rights, with everyone’s help and for everyone’s good.  

My job as a communicator and a professor is marked by the challenges of the world’s youth which are our challenges as well.  We are all living and coexisting in the same place where forces such as climate change or the new coronavirus make us rethink our strategies and roles to build the future we need.

Harold Naranjo, 20 years old

In my opinion, the role of young people nowadays is to be very productive and, even though there are some who may not find a specific purpose, I’m sure there are many who are able to fulfil their dreams, accompanied by music, dance, performing, communication and other artistic manifestations. All that is what I can see in a place like the Centre A+ Espacios Adolescentes, a programme that provides the opportunity to explore creative capacities and to which I feel lucky to belong!

In my case I had the chance to host radio shows as a way to reflect the different concerns of boys and girls who feel identified with the contents because we address topics of interest and skills that are useful to adolescents, young people and families in general to build together the society we want.  

Randol Betancourt Milian. 16 years old

Young people represent an important human resource within society since they act like agents of social change, economic development and progress.

Related topics

More to explore.

20,000 young people from Latin America and the Caribbean call on leaders to take action at the EU-CELAC Summit

Youth in Politics: Challenges, Importance, Role (Essay and Debate)

Political participation: overview and faced challenges

“Where few take part in decisions there is little democracy; the more participation there is in decisions, the more democracy there is” (Verba & Nie, 1972). The present statement proves that the political presence of different individuals has a huge impact on democracy and policy. Hence, the present article will attempt to tackle the political participation of youth in the field of politics.

• Table of contents
• Introduction

What is youth political participation?

Must the youth participate in politics.

• Obstacles to youth participation

Meaningful political participation

So, what is the role of youth in politics after all.

Political participation refers to “those voluntary activities by which members of a society share in the selection of rulers and, directly or indirectly, in the formation of public policy” (McClosky, 1968). In other words, it encompasses citizens’ activities that affect politics in general. These participatory activities include voting, demonstrating, contacting public officials, boycotting, attending party rallies, guerrilla gardening, posting blogs, volunteering, joining flash mobs, signing petitions, buying fair-trade products, and even suicide protests (Jan W. van, 2021). According to Weiss (2020), even though “existing definitions of political participation are adequate to capture youth participation; the current literature is inconsistent in the inclusion of new modes of participation that are increasingly common among young adults.” In the same vein, Dan Maxon believes that in the youth field, political participation is used loosely to indicate activities, phenomena, and practices. He also points out that some forms of participation have a limited impact on policy-making such as youth activism and youth social action; the alternative use of public spaces; and political memes and online political debates. The latter forms of participation can take place away from political institutions, which makes political participation a challenging term to define.  Apparently, almost every activity by some citizens somehow can be understood sometimes as a form of political participation (van Deth, 2001).

Youth constitute a large portion of the population in every community. Consequently, it is imperative to give them a voice and include them in political decision-making. Not only is inclusiveness “a fundamental political and democratic right” but it is also “crucial to building stable and peaceful societies and developing policies that respond to the specific needs of younger generations.”(Goudie et al, 2018).

According to the OECD’s guide, many benefits can come from “putting youth at the heart of the government’s strategies and initiatives”:

• Taking advantage of the demographic transition : the youth represent a large portion of the population, which means that their participation can have a great impact on the balance of power. As a result, empowering the youth to take action socially, economically, and politically is of great importance.
• Encouraging innovation and economic development : youth is a great source of innovative and original ideas. Hence, engaging them and encouraging their active participation can boost the development of societies.
• Building active citizenship : only through taking on the duty to make important decisions will the youth understand how crucial their role is. When policymakers address their needs and demands, civic behaviour is strengthened and trust and transparency are promoted between the government and the citizens.
• Encouraging an online debate: living in a digital age, and understanding how technology works are useful to improve youth interaction and engagement.

Bárta (2021) points out that there are four main aims of youth political participation:

• Right-based aims: youth actually have access to mechanisms that enable them to participate effectively.
• Empowerment aims : youth speak their minds and express themselves freely regarding decision-making and political processes.
• Efficiency aims : allow the youth to develop informed processes and regulations.
• Developmental aims : enable the youth to acquire the necessary skills and competencies to become efficient actors.

It is safe to conclude that supporting the acquisition of commitment and participation from an early age through the reinforcement of civic education and citizenship as well as community involvement is very important.

Obstacles to youth in politics

According to The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network website, youth political engagement occurs at several levels and in various contexts, namely on structural, individual, and organizational levels:

On the structural level, the following elements are included: age requirements to vote or run for office, age restriction in campaigning in some countries, lack of political finance, Social and cultural traditions, and women’s discrimination based on their age and gender.

On the individual level, there exists Distrust in political institutions, a sack of confidence and trust in EMBs, lack of access to/knowledge about political processes, and social and economic exclusion/marginalization.

On the organizational level, there is limited data on youth political participation and a lack of an exclusive EMB youth policy and sustainable funding.

Also referred to as ‘effective practice or participation’, meaningful political participation is a concept with many definitions across the literature. However, the following aspects are common in most definitions according to Bárta et al (2021):

Information and communication : in order to achieve favourable results, young people should have access to the latest information at all times. This fosters their knowledge and hones their awareness about different matters. The implementation of youth-focused conferences, workshops and other capacity-building formats can also facilitate a great deal achieve meaningful political participation.

Authority and voice: giving young people the authority to express their ideas and thoughts publicly is not enough. Other stakeholders in political involvement procedures must also hear and respect their voices.

Power sharing : young people should also have the opportunity where they can actively participate in decision-making processes alongside stakeholders. This obviously should be executed in a transparent environment to attain efficiency.

Transparency and accountability: these elements are imperative to achieve meaningful participation. Young people should be fully briefed on the procedures and mechanisms that are taking place and affecting them. They should be aware of the roles they play, as well as the other players that are engaged and in what capacity.

Material and non-material support : no matter what their background, status, gender, or identity, young people should be able to participate freely and safely. They should also feel welcomed and appreciated during their political activities. Stakeholders should also recognise their efforts and engage them.

According to the Palestinian News and Info Agency ( Wafa ), conforming to democratic standards, young people are to fulfil their role in politics as follows:

• Strengthening the collective spirit between the youth to value the teamwork experience.
• Selecting experienced youth with qualified competencies, such as modern management methods.
• Enhancing a sense of belonging in young people to render them conscious of regulations and laws.
• Encouraging initiatives among young people by unleashing their energies to get creative and innovative results. Awarding them can be a great incentive too.
• Pushing young people to open up to other cultures through meetings with youth organizations in different countries, will promote relations of solidarity and cooperation between nations as an alternative to war and aggression tendencies.
• Enhancing the role of youth in public service through volunteering in different sectors to have a better understanding of their communities. 
• Discovering and adopting the different talents and potentials of young people by giving them opportunities to give, innovate and develop in various practical, scientific, artistic and other fields. Investing in their capacities would have many benefits in the future
• Promoting the values of tolerance, goodwill, and acceptance of the “other” from a position of difference and acknowledging their existence.
• Supporting the plurality of ideas and convictions in society as part of the values and principles of democracy creates a safety valve for the promotion of the general community and the official political environment.

To conclude, creating a legitimate, accountable, democratic system requires parity of the political presence of its members. The more all parties in society are involved in the political aspects, the more the country will strive. Young people, who make up an important party usually in countries, play a huge role in the future of politics. Not only do they come up with innovative solutions, but also one can notice a number of positive outcomes such as enhanced social skills, better conduct, higher academic performance, higher self-esteem, and higher self-efficacy. As a result, it is time for decision-makers to act in order to involve the youth in policy-making, enabling them to participate meaningfully.

Bárta, O. et al (2021). Meaningful Youth Political Participation In Europe: Concepts, Patterns And Policy Implications. Council of Europe and European Commission.

Faire Participer Les Jeunes Au Gouvernement Ouvert. Guide de communication. OCDE.

• Jan W. van Deth. (2021). What is political participation?
• Weiss, J. (2020). What Is Youth Political Participation? Literature Review on Youth Political Participation and Political Attitudes
• Young people’s role in the process of societal change. Link: https://info.wafa.ps/ar_page.aspx?id=3202
• Youth, Political Participation and Decision-Making. The United Nations.

Kawthar Marchli

Kawthar Marchli is a freelance translator translating from and into Arabic, English, and French. She got her Master thesis from King Fahd School of Translation in 2020. Since her graduation, she had the opportunity to translate a number of lengthy works (reports, guides, drafts, documents research, advertisements, surveys, manuals...) in the three languages, related to the political field administration, banking, etc. In her free time, she loves to read books, listen to podcasts, watch movies or take pictures.

Essay on The Role of Youth Today

Students are often asked to write an essay on The Role of Youth Today in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on The Role of Youth Today

The importance of youth.

Youth is the foundation of a society. They are the future leaders, innovators, and change-makers. Their role is crucial for societal development.

Education and Youth

Education empowers the youth. It gives them the knowledge and skills to contribute positively to society.

Youth and Technology

Youth today are tech-savvy. They use technology to learn, communicate, and solve problems, which is beneficial for the modern world.

Youth and Social Change

Youth are often at the forefront of social change. They challenge old norms and fight for equality and justice.

The role of youth today is significant. They have the potential to shape a better future.

250 Words Essay on The Role of Youth Today

The catalysts of change.

Youth today are not just the leaders of tomorrow, but also the partners of today. They represent a dynamic, energetic, and innovative segment of the population. Their role in society is not confined to self-development and securing a future, but extends to shaping the present.

The Power of Innovation

The digital native generation is at the forefront of technological innovation. They are not just consumers, but creators, harnessing the power of technology to develop new solutions to old problems. From climate change to social justice, the youth are using their digital prowess to drive change.

Agents of Social Transformation

Youth today play a pivotal role in social transformation. They challenge traditional norms, advocate for equality, and strive for a more inclusive society. Their voices are loud and clear in movements against racial discrimination, gender inequality, and environmental degradation.

Driving Political Change

The role of youth in politics is increasingly significant. They are not just voters, but active participants, influencing policy and demanding accountability. The youth’s engagement in politics is redefining democracy, making it more participatory and representative.

The Challenges Ahead

However, the youth face numerous challenges, including unemployment, mental health issues, and a lack of access to quality education and healthcare. Addressing these challenges is crucial for harnessing the full potential of the youth.

In conclusion, the role of youth today is multifaceted and crucial. They are the catalysts of change, the drivers of innovation, and the agents of social and political transformation. The future lies in their hands, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure they are equipped to shape it.

500 Words Essay on The Role of Youth Today

The significance of youth in the contemporary world.

In today’s rapidly evolving society, the role of youth is more critical than ever. They are the torchbearers of change and progress, acting as catalysts in the transformation of society. They are the ones who question, challenge, and break the rigid structures of the past to pave the way for a more progressive future.

The Youth as Agents of Change

The youth of today are not just the leaders of tomorrow – they are also the leaders of today. They are at the forefront of social, political, and environmental movements, driving change in their communities and countries. From climate change activists like Greta Thunberg to social justice advocates like Malala Yousafzai, young people are making their voices heard on the global stage.

Their activism is not limited to public protests and speeches. They are leveraging technology and social media to amplify their voices, mobilize support, and effect change on a scale that was previously unimaginable. They are harnessing the power of digital platforms to challenge the status quo and push for reforms in various spheres of life.

The Youth as Innovators

In addition to being change-makers, the youth are also innovators. They are the ones pushing the boundaries of technology, science, and art, creating new possibilities for the future. They are not afraid to take risks and experiment, and this spirit of innovation is what drives societal progress.

Young entrepreneurs are disrupting traditional industries with innovative business models and technologies. They are creating jobs, driving economic growth, and contributing to societal development. Their innovations are not just about profit – they are also about solving pressing social and environmental problems.

The Youth as Builders of Peace

The youth also play a crucial role in peacebuilding. They are the ones who can bridge cultural, ethnic, and religious divides, fostering mutual understanding and respect. They can challenge divisive narratives and promote a culture of peace and tolerance.

In conflict-ridden societies, the youth can play a crucial role in reconciliation and healing. They can promote dialogue and understanding, helping to mend the social fabric and pave the way for a peaceful future.

The Challenges Facing the Youth

Despite their potential, the youth face numerous challenges. They are often marginalized and excluded from decision-making processes, their voices unheard and their needs unmet. They also face numerous socio-economic challenges, including unemployment, lack of access to quality education and healthcare, and discrimination.

These challenges are not insurmountable. With the right support and opportunities, the youth can overcome these obstacles and fulfill their potential as agents of change, innovators, and builders of peace.

In conclusion, the role of youth today is multifaceted and crucial. They are the agents of change, the innovators, and the peacebuilders. Their energy, creativity, and resilience make them a powerful force for progress. It is therefore essential that we recognize their potential, address their challenges, and provide them with the opportunities they need to thrive. After all, the future of our society depends on them.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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211 Youth Essay Topics & Research Titles about Teenage Issues

Young people face unique social and emotional challenges, which can be interesting to explore in your essay. If you’re looking for engaging topics for your youth research, you’re at the right place! On this page, you’ll find youth development topics, awareness ideas, and titles about teenage issues.

🔝 Top 10 Awareness Topics for Youth

🏆 best essay topics on youth, 🎓 most interesting seminar topics for youth, 👍 good youth research topics & essay examples, 💡 simple youth-related topics, 🌶️ hot research topics on youth issues, 📌 easy youth essay topics, ❓ research questions about youth.

• Causes of Youth Unemployment
• The Influence of Social Media on Youth
• Impact of Reality Shows on Youth: Essay Sample
• Effects of Domestic Violence on Children and Youth
• Youth Crime Prevention and Needs Assessment
• Parents Are to Blame for Youth Violence
• How Gaming Consoles Influence the Youth
• Unequal Opportunity of Urban Youth
• Effect of Advertising on Youth
• The History of Youth Style and Resistance
• Sexual Activities and Responsibility Among Youth It is socially reckless for young people to have friends with benefits with whom they engage in different forms of sexual activities only for sexual satisfaction.
• Smartphone Addiction Among American Youth While the smartphone is a valuable tool that has benefited civilization, the ensuing mental addiction has a profound, lasting impact on individuals’ health.
• Youth’s Use of Social Media and Its Impact on Narcissism This paper has presented an overview of the problem of narcissism that prevails in contemporary youth due to their problematic use of social media platforms.
• Youth Life and Social Changes in Developed Countries This essay analyzes social changes affecting young people in developed countries in the social, political, economic and cultural spheres.
• The Forums for the Youths Case study one entitled ‘youth public intellectuals’ (YPI) is a youth organization that fights for the rights of the black and Latino youths.
• Employment and Working Conditions: Youth Exploitation Young workers are more vulnerable to exploitation as compared to old workers. This exploitation is base on payment and working conditions among other workplace issues.
• Western Movies and Their Effect on Arab Youth There is the fear that Western movies are affecting the Arab Youth. Parents believe that these movies are the source of the queer behaviors among the youths.
• Discussion of Why the Youth Join Gangs Youth violence is a big problem in many parts of the world, including America but when the youths form gangs, the challenge becomes even bigger and harder to solve.
• Child and Youth Work Trouble Youth The child and youth care (CYC) domain of social awareness is the significant sphere for today’s youth. In this respect, the paper is dedicated to the role of the CYC practitioner.
• Adult Sentencing for Youth: Canadian Perspective The proponents of so-called restorative justice reason that the criminal justice system should operate on the premise that a juvenile action does not equate to that of an adult.
• Social Problems and Policy: Youth Unemployment and Mental Health In the history of the US, the federal and state governments have been at the forefront to facilitate effective social programs.
• Promoting Youth Cultural Diversity Awareness Today’s youth must be aware of cultural diversity to avoid problems that may arise when interacting and working with people who are different from themselves.
• The Public Health Campaign on STDs Among the Youth This essay discusses unprotected sex among teenagers as a public health issue that promulgates the spread of STDs, and the public health campaigners on STDs.
• The Beatles’ “Let It Be” and Youth Music Culture The Beatles were one of the most powerful musical icons of the 1960s and, as a result, their songs could serve as a good reflection of the time when the band was active.
• Youth Struggling with Mental Illnesses Mental health problems are a group of illnesses that affect a person’s general well-being and negatively affect everyday life.
• Juvenile Delinquency: The Marginalized Youths For the delinquency programs and policies to work, the government must give priority to the marginalized youths. It should emphasize matters concerning the youth.
• The Relationship Between Youth, Lifestyle and Consumption The idea of youth in the modern world has not been explicitly attached to a certain age group, and became the focus of the global consumer culture as a whole.
• Child Development: Youth and Crisis According to the previous literature findings, the individual’s psychological maturation is interdependent with the development of identity and the parent-child relations.
• The Parent-Teacher-Youth Mediation Program The Parent-Teacher-Youth Mediation Program is designed to build relationships between family members from different generations.
• Youth Ministry: Goals, Methods, and Standards Youth ministry is the practice of working with younger people that promotes Christian faith and church attendance.
• Lack of Emergency Shelter and Its Effect on the Homeless Youth Emergency shelters are specifically designed to meet the unique needs that homeless youths face due to their tender age and lack of life skills.
• Youth Victimization: Prevalence and Implications In the ‘Youth Victimization: Prevalence and Implications” report was written by the experts of the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center
• Empowering Youth Engagement in Society The reference list of the books about positive changes that can be accrued from youth participation in the various community activities.
• Real Education for Healthy Youth Act Real Education for Healthy Youth Act of 2019 is a bill initially sponsored by Junior Senator Cory Booker that promotes comprehensive sex education in higher education institutions.
• Community Policing: The Alternative Solution to Youth Crime Community policing is a better alternative especially when it comes to the sensitive nature of juvenile crime.
• Youth as a Social Class and Phenomenon Review The given selection of the articles has been chosen on the basis of two criteria: they deal with the youth and they explain different aspects and issues connected with media education
• Youth Addiction Prevention and Rehabilitation This paper looks at the prevention for youths who are yet to begin using drugs and those who are addicted and establish an advocacy for rehabilitation for youths.
• Youth and Media in “The Merchants of Cool” Movie The Merchants of Cool film that today’s marketers have to be creative to influence the youth into buying their ideas and products.
• Media Consumption’s Role in Youth Recreation This essay analyzes the role of media consumption in youth recreation, focusing on Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and the Internet in general.
• Conversation between a Youth Worker and an Emo Teenager This paper aims to create a hypothetical conversation between a youth worker and an emo teenager about teenager’s decision to become emo and future goals in life.
• The Health Effects of E-Cigarettes, Vapes, and Juul on Today’s Youth The content of harmful substances in the composition of liquid for e-cigarettes and other smoking devices is a severe threat to the health of young people.
• Youth and Adulthood: A Comparative Analysis Murray and Brooks explore the themes of identity, the fleeting nature of life, and the concepts of rebelliousness and conformity, which they achieve by using epistrophes.
• Youth Violence and Gang Culture in Georgia The problems with youth violence and gang culture remain crucial for all countries. This paper concentrates on the causes of violence-related events in Georgia and analyzes them.
• Balenciaga’s New Style as an Indicator of Modern Youth This essay aims to analyse the current Balenciaga Triple S sneakers collection, a defining era of the second half of the last decade.
• Western Movies and Arab Youth The Western movies tend to reflect a lifestyle that is luxurious in nature and full of freedom, different from the contemporary lifestyle in the Arab world.
• Working Youth: Psychological Observations in Café This study reviews various meanings of working in the experience of young individuals based on field notes and a few-hours observation in one of the local coffee shops.
• Anxiety Among Substance-Abusing Youth
• Cinema, American Youth, and Rebellion Against Authority
• Animal Abuse and Youth Violence
• Factors That Restrict Success Within Youth Sport
• Can Fixed-Term Contracts Put Low-Skilled Youth on a Better Career Path?
• Family Networks and Youth Access to Jobs
• Discrimination Against LGBT Youth in US Schools
• Entrepreneurship: The Future for Our Youth and Our Economy
• Crime Youth and Childhood Understanding Theory and Research
• Alcohol Advertising Raises Consumption Rates in Youth
• Can Employment Subsidies and Greater Labor Market Flexibility Increase Job Opportunities for Youth?
• Drug Abuse and Its Effects on Youth and Teenagers
• Engaging Parents, Youth, and Schools in Developing Academic Success
• Are Today’s Youth Digital Natives
• Antidepressants and Youth: Healing or Harmful
• Factors That Fuel the Spread of HIV Infection Among the Youth
• Homeless Children and Youth: Causes and Consequences
• Education and the Youth Movement in Nazi Germany
• Casual Sexual Behavior Among Youth
• Adolescent Development and Development of Youth Programs
• Health and Wellbeing Australian Children and Youth Related
• Does Cyberbullying Impact Youth Suicidal Behaviors
• Are Our Youth Different? New Beliefs for Old Practices in Entrepreneurship
• How Advertising Influence Youth Attitude Toward Dressing
• Education and Youth Unemployment in South Africa
• Addressing Depression Among Native Youths The current paper aims to utilize a Medicine Wheel model and a social work paradigm to manage depression among Native American Indian youths.
• A Contemporary Issue Affecting Immigrant-Origin Youth Immigration is an arduous journey that affects not only adult immigrants but also their children, who have to face the challenges of continuing their development.
• At-Risk Factors for Youth in Alberta The paper states that one of the massive problems that might influence the youth of Alberta and their future is an environmental disaster.
• Building a Business to Address Youth Unemployment An opportunity to build a business based on the youth unemployment problem has both strengths and weaknesses, also opportunities for further development.
• Youth Programs: Youth Justice Program This paper examines Youth Justice Program and offers an alternate version of it, analyzing the ways in which the alternative meets specific needs.
• Why Promote Acceptance of Youth Styles Among Adults? Partnering with young adults and respecting their perceptions promotes essential opportunities such as leadership structure, skill-building, and cause-based actions.
• Aboriginal Youth’s Risks and Resilience More research focusing on strategies to reduce risks and develop resiliency for Aboriginal youth will help make their lives easier.
• Youths and the Welfare Provision Services In Alberta, Ontario, and Manitoba, youths involved in the welfare provision services have common interests and issues that affect them.
• Ethical Issues in Medical Care of Youth The question of what attitude of doctors on the part of ethical considerations should be appropriate for children will be relevant for a long time.
• Discussion of Youth Services Provide Care In Alberta, Ontario, and Manitoba, youth services provide care to youths between 18-29 years old and under the care of directors.
• Public Schools and Vaccination of Youth Vaccines could be described as safety measures to prevent illnesses by stimulating an immune system to produce a prepared defense against a particular sickness.
• E3YDH’s Creating Opportunities for Youth Program E3YDH’s Creating Opportunities for Youth Program offers a solution to the problem of young employment in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, with the help of a creative economy.
• Youth Self-Reported Health and Their Experience of Parental Incarceration The study utilizes data from the Minnesota Student Survey, which was conducted every three years and included questions on health behaviors, dietary habits, and sleep patterns.
• Youth Primary Prevention Education Program Youth Primary Prevention Education aims at preventing sexual violence with a focus on promoting positive individual, relationship and societal behavior.
• Treating Substance Use Among Youth Experiencing Homelessness in California Homelessness puts the youths in unstable housing situations and at a higher risk of substance use. Homelessness in California has been one of the top challenges.
• The Spiritual Bond Between Youth and Adults In the work “The Man to Send Rain Clouds,” Silko highlights the essential role of spiritual heritage. He depicts the spiritual bonds between different generations.
• The Role Cultural Continuity Plays in Youth Suicide Rates Among Indigenous People Even though Canada is considered one of the world’s developed countries, suicide cases are rising, especially among the indigenous groups.
• A Latino Youth Photovoice Project on Teen Pregnancy The improvements within the education should have been discussed in a more thorough manner; the means of increasing teen pregnancy awareness among Latin American students.
• Homeless Youth in Colorado: The Urge to Act Some youngsters are forced to leave their homes, and some have unstable emotional states or experience other different issues in their lives.
• Communication Plan Related to STDs Among the Youth The main aim of this paper was to highlight implementation and evaluation and plan of the communication campaign, review the timeline and milestones of the marketing campaign.
• Public Health Campaign on STD Among the Youth In this paper, the author analyzed irrelevant and biased messages in society and how they impact public health.
• At-Risk Youth and Sex Trafficking Issue This essay attempts to look at the issue of child sex trafficking and provide a better understanding of its harms.
• The Problem of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth Suicidality Recently, there was a sharp increase in cases of suicides committed by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth.
• Youth Violence in the Film “The Interrupters” The film, “The Interrupters” goes further to highlight how certain issues have affected how the youth in Chicago perceive their environment and the people around them.
• Antismoking Ads and Youth Smoking Prevalence The article “Evidence of a dose-response relationship between “truth” antismoking ads and youth smoking prevalence” elaborates on the influence of antismoking advertisements.
• A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Evaluation of a Universal Healthy Relationships Promotion Program for Youth This essay will discuss and analyze a research article describing a small group program focused on preventing bullying and decreasing substance abuse among adolescents.
• Ethical Grounds of Nursing in Youth Mental Health When Young adults with mental health problems are nearing their adult years, they may face the difficulty of transitioning between juvenile and adult medical systems.
• Reducing Cigarette Smoking American Youth The number of smokers among juvenility in America is alarming. Instead of going down, this amount just leveled up.
• Review of a Youth Risk Behaviour Survey Youth Risk Behaviour Survey is the primary national source of data concerning the youth and their health-related attitudes, so it should be reliable and not biased.
• Suicide Within the Youth: Causal Analysis The problem of suicide within youth is one of the most burning problems nowadays. Suicide is generally regarded as the third cause of death for young people between 10 and 24.
• Suicide Among Youth: Issue Review One of the latter is the problem of suicide of youth located at various facilities according to the Foster Care System which is being implemented in numerous countries around the world.
• Can Keeping Troubled Youth in Class Make a Difference? The methods that are geared towards keeping young people in school work best compared to suspension and expulsion.
• Two-Lives, One Partner: Indo-Canadian Youth Between Love and Arranged Marriages Netting expands knowledge about the marriage patterns and choices of Indo-Canadian youth: the ways they balance between the possibilities of “love marriage” and “arranged marriage”.
• Why American Boarding Schools Are Effective at Educating the Youth? Two broad categories of schools – day and boarding schools. Reasons as to why boarding schools perform a better job at educating our youth.
• Youth Obesity In Clark County in Vancouver Washington The major factors contributing to the rise in obesity cases are; inadequate dietary intake of fruits and vegetables, high intake of refined food, and inadequate physical exercise.
• Does Changing the Legal Drinking Age Influence Youth Behaviour
• Correlation Between Youth Sports Athletes and Leadership
• Academic Enrichment Programs Targeted for Inner City Youth
• Factors Impacting Youth Development in Haiti
• Does Child Labor Reduce Youth Crime
• Contemporary Music and the Effects It Has on Youth
• Causal Relationship Between Television and Effects on Today’s Youth
• Does the Internet Hurt Youth or Does Its Use Need to Be Monitored More?
• Cultural Identity Among Sudanese Youth
• Can Youth Make India a Superpower?
• Child Development and Success or Failure in the Youth Labor Market
• Factors Influencing Educational Choices of Romanian Rural Youth
• African-American Youth Public Speaking and Community Relations
• Cyber Bullying: The Latest Threat to Hawaii’s Youth
• Death Penalty for Youth Offenders
• American Youth Slangs and Their Equivalents in Kazakh and Russian
• Civil Disobedience Youth Nation Line
• Family Leisure, Self-Management, and Satisfaction in Spanish Youth
• Dangerous Driving and the Effects on Youth
• Drug Abuse Among Youth as a Serious Problem Within the United
• Cash Transfers Improve the Mental Health and Well-Being of Youth
• Educating Our Youth Toward Responsible Citizenry
• Dead-End Jobs and Youth Unemployment
• Anger Management Group: Youth Behavior Modification Program
• Cognitive Skills and the Youth Labor Market
• Youth Violence: The Columbine High School Case For educators, the easy description of violence is any infliction or threat to cause emotional or physical harm to another person’s feelings, body, or belongings.
• Proper Education Through Music for Youth for HIV, AID Prevention The attachment of youths to music and their high level of vulnerability form the basis for the implementation of a prevention strategy , use of music to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.
• Youthful View of the American Dream During Uncertain Economic Times The American Dream for youth is now all about helping the country reclaim it’s rightful place of leadership in the world.
• Protective Factors Against Youthful Depression Several iterations of multiple correlation, step-wise and hierarchical regression yielded inconclusive results about the antecedents of youthful depression.
• Youth Unemployment in the United Kingdom Over the years, there have been remarkable unemployment rates among the youths all across the globe as compared to the age brackets that are regarded as adults.
• Youth Policy: Brief Analysis Queensland Juvenile Justice Act (1992) has a controversial approach to age of offenders and the role of caution and sentencing practices for young criminals.
• Innovating Youth Employment Policies and Programs to Create Workforce The paper is aimed to show the analysis of factors that influence unemployment and underemployment of young Black males.
• Arab Societies. Youth Bulges and State Repression in Algeria The significant objective that necessitates repression is to maintain control of power. In the case of Algeria, President Bouteflika wanted to maintain control of power.
• “The Wife of His Youth” by Charles Chesnutt In “The Wife of his Youth,” Charles Chesnutt describes the story of Mr. Ryder, a prosperous African American with light skin which meets his wife, Liza Jane, after a long period of being apart.
• Youth Violence in the United States Youth violence is one of the major topics that have dominated political and social debates in the United States for a long time.
• Working With Children and Youth This paper highlights issue of working with children and youth by focusing on websites for children which give emotional support, and discussing youth gangs.
• Marketer’s Interaction With Youth and Children Branding is a process of connecting and building a bond between products and its clients. A Brand basically refers to a name or image by which a given product is identified.
• Education for Positive Youth Sports Experiences Sports enable children and young people to develop physically, mentally, and psychologically. These are the three major educational outcomes of physical education.
• “Assessing the Effects of Voluntary Youth Service” by McAdam and Brandt The article “Assessing the Effects of Voluntary Youth Service: The Case of Teach for America” dwells upon the civic commitment of people who had TFA experience.
• Challenges with Homeless and Runaway Youth in Hawaii The number of homeless youth is high in the state. They have unique needs and are exposed to risks that differ from those faced by adults living on the streets.
• Challenges With Homeless and Runaway Youth in Waianae The problem in question is concerned with one of the acutest burdens of young people living in the Waianae area of Hawaii: homelessness.
• Nursing Role in Tackling Youth Obesity Due to the gravity of the childhood obesity, there is a need for health professionals to design efficient and effective interventions to alleviate the problem.
• Youths Revitalizing Main Street: Article Analysis The article “Youths Revitalizing Main Street: A Case Study” explores how a community-based organization uses various social work approaches to rebuild Aliquippa.
• Youth Unemployment Rates in Canadian Society The problem under investigation is the fact that the unemployment rate among people in the 18-25 age group is higher than any other age group in Canadian society.
• The Issue of Obesity in Youth in the U.S. Childhood obesity is a serious public health problem in the US that is associated with significant health complications, including elevated cardiovascular risk, pediatric hypertension.
• Miami-Dade Youth Risk Behavior Survey This paper will identify and assess some of the health-risk behaviors of the Miami-Dade population under 18 years of age.
• Visually Impaired Youth College-to-Work Transition The article by McDonnall and Crudden examines issues that affect the youths with visual impairments, especially when transitioning from college to high school to employment.
• Social Work: the Latin American Youth Center This paper will focus on one particular organization, which is the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC), which operates as a non-profit organization.
• Child Disease in “First Look: U.S. Youth and Seizures” Article “First Look: U.S. Youth and Seizures” is informative and easy to understand, which makes it very valuable because it draws attention to the importance of child disease.
• Health Sleep for Low-Income Youth Model The nursing care specialty related to Healthy Sleep for Low-Income Youth Model is community health nursing. The model implementation is planned in Colorado County, Texas.
• The Problem of Youth (Students) Drinking Many students are grappling with the problem of binge drinking and the outcomes are already having a negative impact on student-community relations.
• Teaching Civic Values and Competence to Youth The incorporation of civic values in the Social Studies curriculum is critical in the promotion of civic competence among young people.
• HIV/AIDS Awareness in Mississippi Youth Population This paper proposes a program that can provide youths with the appropriate awareness as a means to address the risk factors to HIV and AIDS.
• Illicit Drug Use Among American Youths The main research objective is to evaluate the differences and pervasiveness of unlawful drug use and compulsion amongst the American youths across demographic differences.
• The Youthful Population of Saudi Arabia The youthful population in Saudi Arabia is still being faced with a growing rate of unemployment. This is a paradox bearing in mind that this country is one of the leading producers of crude oil.
• Latino Youth Teen Pregnancy This article offers the best concepts towards dealing with teen pregnancy. The findings are also applicable in different societies. The authors have used the best approach to get their results.
• Cyber Bullying and Its Effect on Our Youth
• Enhancing Youth Employability and Entrepreneurship Within the Local Labour Market
• Family Acceptance During Adolescence of LGBT Youth
• Can Google Data Help Predict French Youth Unemployment
• Can Arts-Based Interventions Enhance Labor Market Outcomes Among Youth?
• Fighting Youth Unemployment: The Effects of Active Labor Market Policies
• Choosing Career Opportunity, Guideline for Christian Youth
• Does the Media Hurt Our Youth?
• Alcohol Abuse and Suicide Attempts Among Youth – Correlation or Causation
• African American and Hispanic Youth
• American Cancer Youth Initiative Society
• Adolescent Counseling and the Significant Aspects of Counseling Our Youth
• Does University Help Our Youth?
• Drug Trafficking and Urban African American Youth
• Displaced Youth the Effects of Stress on Young People in the 21st Century
• Career Counseling for Gifted and Talented Youth
• Cultural Diversity Within Native Youth Olympics
• Addiction Among Youth Today
• Critical Thinkings About the Expanding Youth Market in China and India
• Are Violent Video Games Bad for the Youth
• Does Delayed Retirement Affect Youth Employment? Evidence From Italian Local Labour Markets
• Does Hip Hop Culture Influence Youth Gangs?
• Community Development and Youth Work
• Does Intra-African Trade Reduce Youth Unemployment in Africa
• How Does Alcohol Drinking Affect Youth?
• Are There Long-Term Earnings Scars From Youth Unemployment in Germany?
• What Are the Causes of Drug Abuse Among Youth?
• Does Our Youth Lack a Sense of Belonging?
• Can Active Labor Market Policies Combat Youth Unemployment?
• How Does Youth Violence Affect Society?
• Does Television Viewing Influence Behaviors Among the Youth?
• Are Video Games Hurting the Youth?
• Does Elderly Employment Have an Impact on Youth Employment?
• What Is the Role of Youth in Contributing to a Better India?
• How Can We Prevent Drug Abuse Among Youth?
• Is the Youth Truly the Hope of Motherland?
• Why Are Youths Important for Our Country?
• How Do Video Games Affect Today’s Youth?
• Does Media Violence Have an Effect on the Youth of America?
• Can Public Works Programs Reduce Youth Crime?
• How Does Television Violence Impact Youth?
• What Is the Biggest Problem Facing Youth Today?
• Do Video Games Have a Positive or Negative Effect on Youth?
• How Can Youth Change the World?
• What Is the Main Cause of Depression Among the Youth?
• Does Early Intervention Help the Unemployed Youth?
• How Are Youth Offenders Dealt With in the UK?
• Are Television Shows Influencing the Youth?
• Does Technology Influence Youth in a Positive or in a Negative Way?

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StudyCorgi. (2021, September 9). 211 Youth Essay Topics & Research Titles about Teenage Issues. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/youth-essay-topics/

"211 Youth Essay Topics & Research Titles about Teenage Issues." StudyCorgi , 9 Sept. 2021, studycorgi.com/ideas/youth-essay-topics/.

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StudyCorgi . "211 Youth Essay Topics & Research Titles about Teenage Issues." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/youth-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "211 Youth Essay Topics & Research Titles about Teenage Issues." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/youth-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Youth were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 20, 2024 .

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10 Social Issues and Problems That Trouble Today's Teens

Technology and social media can amplify the struggles teens face, but they aren't the only issues they encounter.

Social Media

Peer pressure, on-screen violence, sexual activity, alcohol use, academic problems, how to talk to your teen.

Just like adults, teens nowadays often face social problems. They may also be more susceptible to challenges because their brains are still developing and their bodies are changing quickly. Combine that with advances in technology, and today's teens are facing new and different social issues than their parents may have.

Not only has electronic media amplified some teenage troubles, but digital communication and social media have also changed the way teens interact with their peers and romantic interests. The end result is a group of young people who struggle with essential interpersonal communication skills like picking up on social cues.

Some of this dysfunction can be linked to technology—especially since the average teen spends more than eight hours each day using electronic devices.  That said, not all teen social issues are linked to the digital world. Teens also are at a higher risk for overdose, might not practice safe sex, and are facing increasing academic pressures.

Here's a closer look at the top 10 social issues teens nowadays struggle with.

Brianna Gilmartin 

Instagram, Twitter, and SnapChat  can be great ways for teens to connect, but social media can be problematic for several reasons. It can expose your teen to cyberbullying, slut-shaming, and so much more.  

Social media can hurt friendships, and it's changing the way teens date. Research shows it can impact their mental health.  And no matter what precautions you take, teens are likely to be exposed to unsavory people, unhealthy images, and sexual content online.

Help your teen learn to navigate social media in a healthy way by following these tips:

• Talk about ways to stay safe online.
• Ask what your teen is doing on social media.
• Educate yourself about the latest apps, websites, and social media pages teens are using.
• Consider  limiting your teen's screen time .

While peer pressure has affected teens for generations, social media brings it to a whole new level. Sexting, for example, is a major cause for concern. Many teens don't understand the lifelong consequences that sharing explicit photos can have. 

But sending inappropriate photos isn't the only thing kids are coerced into doing. Teens face pressure to have sex, use drugs or alcohol, and even bully others.  

To keep your kids from falling victim to peer pressure, consider these tips:

• Give them skills to make healthy choices and resist peer pressure.
• Talk to teens about what to do if they make a mistake.
• Let them know it's safe to come to you when they have problems or make poor choices.
• Demonstrate that you can listen without judging or overreacting.
• Help them find healthy ways to make amends and move on if they peer pressure others.

Teenagers are going to witness some violent media at one time or another. And it's not just TV, music, and movies that depict violence. Many of today's video games portray gory scenes and disturbing acts of aggression. Over the past couple of decades, studies have linked these violent images to a lack of empathy and aggressive behavior .

Other studies have shown the top factor in determining the way kids relate to media is how their parents think and act.  That means the more violence parents watch, the more likely their kids will think it's OK.  

To help limit exposure to on-screen violence, pay attention to your teen's media use and consider implementing these guidelines:

• Restrict or limit your teen from watching R-rated movies or playing M-rated video games. Consuming that material excessively (and unsupervised) is not healthy. 
• Talk about the dangers of being exposed to violent images and monitor your teen's mental state.
• Discuss sexual situations and racial stereotypes that your teen might see.
• Help them identify what's good and what's bad about the media.
• Boost their media literacy by helping them think objectively about what they're seeing on television, TikTok, in the movie theater, or in a video game.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), an estimated 5 million adolescents in the U.S. have had at least one major depressive episode . That means 20% of American teenagers may experience depression before reaching adulthood. Data from NIMH also shows that depression is much more prevalent in female teens (29.2%) than male teens (11.5%) and among teens who reported two or more races (27.2%).

Spending too much time on electronic devices may be preventing young people from in-person activities with their peers, such as sports or other physical activities, that can help ward off depression.  They're also experiencing new conditions like "fear of missing out" or FOMO, which further leads to feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Keep in mind that depressive disorders are treatable, but it's important to seek professional help. Here's how to navigate this situation:

• Schedule an appointment to a health care provider or contact a mental health professional if your teen seems withdrawn, experiences a change in sleep patterns, or starts to perform poorly in school.
• Consider online therapy as an option if your teen is reluctant to meet with a therapist in person.
• Be willing to discuss what they're thinking or feeling, including their thoughts of suicide. Having these conversations can reduce their fears and let them know someone is willing to listen, but it also needs to be handled thoughtfully.
• Call the  National Suicide Prevention Lifeline  at  988  or  911 if they are in immediate danger.

Nearly one in four teens between the ages of 12 and 18 report being bullied each year.  Research suggests that social media has made bullying much more public and more pervasive. In fact, cyberbullying has replaced in-person bullying as the most common type of harassment that teens experience.

To help guard against these kinds of teenage troubles, regularly talk to your teen about bullying and consider utilizing these tips to help:

• Discuss what they can do when they witness bullying.
• Talk about options if they become a target themselves.
• Recognize that being proactive is key to helping your child deal with a bully.
• Talk to your child about when and how to get help from a trusted adult.
• Acknowledge that talking about how someone has humiliated them is never an easy topic.
• Remind them that asking for help isn't a sign of weakness; it's a show of courage.

According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) survey, 30% of high school students reported having had sex and 21% said they were currently sexually active . That represents a decline over the past decade (47% had had sex in 2011; 34% were currently sexually active).

This decline in sexual activity doesn't necessarily mean teens nowadays are using contraceptives, though. Just over half of sexually active teens reported using a condom in their last sexual encounter, according to YRBSS data, while about one-third used hormonal birth control and 10% used both.

This may explain why more than half of the 26 million new sexually transmitted infections in the U.S. are among young people between the ages of 15 and 24. Here are some things you can do to ensure that your teen understands the risks of teen sex and how to be safe:

• Talk to your teen about sex and allow them to ask questions.
• Let them know they can come to you about anything and that no questions are off-limits.
• Do your best to not shame them or make them feel embarrassed by their inquiries.
• Instill the importance of safe sex practices—even if you don't think your child is engaging in sexual activity.
• Discuss contraception options and make sure they have access to contraception if they're sexually active.
• Give them resources to learn about safe sex.

The percentage of teens nowadays using illicit substances is roughly 10.9% of eighth graders, 19.8% of 10th graders, and 31.2% of 12th graders, according to most recent data from the Monitoring the Future Survey published by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. While this decline has been noted since the survey began in 1975, there has been a dramatic rise in overdoses among teens.

Illicit fentanyl, a powerful synthetic drug, is largely responsible for these overdoses. Drug dealers are adding it to counterfeit pills made to resemble prescription medications, which means that although teen drug use is declining, it's becoming more risky for those who do partake.

It's important to have regular conversations with your teen about the dangers of drugs. Here are some key topics you need to discuss:

• Mention the dangers of over-the-counter drugs and prescription medications. Many teens don't recognize the risks associated with taking a friend's prescription or popping a few pills.
• Tell your teen that drug use during adolescence increases their risk for developing a substance use disorder later in life.
• Address how easily addictions can happen.
• Discuss how drug and alcohol use can affect their brain development.
• Talk about the risks associated with overdosing.
• Explain the danger of illicit fentanyl contaminating counterfeit drugs.
• Recognize talks about drug use are not one-and-done conversations, but something you should be discussing on a consistent basis.

Alcohol use and binge drinking continue to decline among teenagers. Still, 15.1% of eighth graders, 30.6% of 10th graders, and 45.7% of seniors say they used alcohol in the past year. The forms of alcohol teens are using have also changed. More kids are choosing flavored alcohol (also called "alcopops") and alcohol with caffeine in it. About 36% of seniors reported drinking flavored alcohol.

It's important to talk to your teen about the risks of underage drinking. Here are some tips on how to navigate those conversations.

• Educate them about the dangers of alcohol use, including the fact that alcohol can take a serious toll on their developing brain.  
• Express your disapproval of underage drinking. Saying you don't approve can make a big difference in whether your teen decides to drink.
• Discuss the dangers of drinking and driving.
• Let them know that if they do decide to drink, they should call you or another trusted adult for a ride rather than risk getting behind the wheel.
• Assure your teen that it's safe to reach out to you if they make a mistake and need help.

About 22% of 12- to 19-year-olds in the U.S. are obese, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. Hispanic and Black children are more likely to be overweight or obese than White or Asian children.

Children and teens who are overweight or obese are often targeted by bullies and are at a much greater risk of lifelong health problems such as diabetes , arthritis, cancer, and heart disease.  They may also struggle with body image issues or develop eating disorders as a way of changing their appearance.

But surveys show parents may not recognize when their kids are overweight.  They tend to underestimate their child's size and the risks associated with being overweight. Here are some ways you can help:

• Ask their health care provider privately about their weight in comparison to their height and age—though many health care providers will alert you to an issue without asking.
• Find ways to support and empower your teen , especially if their doctor recommends a different eating plan or exercise.
• Ensure your teen has the necessary tools to make changes, but recognize that they must want to change. You can't force the issue, nor should you try to control them,
• Avoid shaming or embarrassing your teen about their weight, but instead communicate acceptance for who they are as a person. They need to know their worth is not tied to their weight.

About 5% of high school students drop out of high school each year in the United States, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.  A high school dropout is likely to earn significantly less over their lifetime when compared to a high school graduate, which can have a significant impact on a young person's future.

But it's no longer just "troubled teens" who are dropping out of school. Some teens feel so much pressure to get into a good college that they're burning themselves out before they graduate from high school.

Here are some ways you can help your teen avoid academic problems:

• Stay involved in your teen's education.
• Provide support and guidance when needed.
• Be ready to assist your teen if they encounter problems.
• Try to remove some of the pressure they may be facing by not placing so much emphasis on grades, achievements, and college acceptances.

Bringing up any difficult subjects with your teen can feel uncomfortable. And your teen isn't likely to respond well to a lengthy lecture or too many direct questions. But having a conversation with your teen about social issues and other teenage troubles isn't something you should shy away from.

Even when it seems like they're not listening, you're the most influential person in your teen's life. It's important to lay a strong foundation before the window of opportunity closes. A good way to strike up a conversation about drugs, sex, vaping, or other uncomfortable situations is to ask a question like, "Do you think this is a big issue at your school?"

Listen to what your teen has to say. Try not to be judgmental, but make your expectations and opinions clear. It's important that your teen understands that you don't condone certain behaviors and that they know the consequences of breaking the rules. That said, you also need to communicate that if they do make a poor choice, it's not the end of the world and that you're there to help.

Technology-Based Communication and the Development of Interpersonal Competencies Within Adolescent Romantic Relationships: A Preliminary Investigation .  J Res Adolesc . 2017.

Growing Up Wired: Social Networking Sites and Adolescent Psychosocial Development .  Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev . 2014.

Associations Between Social Media and Cyberbullying: A Review of the Literature .  Mhealth . 2016.

Smartphones, Social Media Use and Youth Mental Health .  CMAJ . 2020.

Sexting, Mental Health, and Victimization Among Adolescents: A Literature Review .  Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2019.

Emotional Desensitization to Violence Contributes to Adolescents' Violent Behavior .  J Abnorm Child Psychol . 2016.

Screen Violence and Youth Behavior .  Pediatrics . 2017.

Tips on How to Deal With Media Violence . Common Sense Media.

Major Depression . National Institute on Mental Health.

Physical Exercise in Major Depression: Reducing the Mortality Gap While Improving Clinical Outcomes .  Front Psychiatry . 2018.

The Myths & Facts of Youth Suicide . Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health (DPBH) Office of Suicide Prevention .

Bullying Statistics: Rates of Incidence . National Bullying Prevention Center .

Cyberbullying Prevalence Among US Middle and High School-Aged Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Quality Assessment .  J Adolesc Health . 2016.

Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report 2011–2021 . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Adolescents and Young Adults . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Monitoring the Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2023: Secondary School Students . National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Reported Drug Use Among Adolescents Continued to Hold Below Pre-Pandemic Levels in 2023 . National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The Effect of Alcohol Use on Human Adolescent Brain Structures and Systems .  Handb Clin Neurol . 2014.

Prevalence of Childhood Obesity in the United States . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

Morbidity and Mortality associated With Obesity .  Ann Transl Med . 2017.

BMI Health Report Cards: Parents' perceptions and reactions .  Health Promot Pract . 2018.

Status Dropout Rates . National Center for Education Statistics. 

Burned Out to Drop Out: Exploring the Relationship Between School Burnout and School Dropout .  Eur J Psychol Educ . 2012.

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Essay on Youth for Students and Children

500+ words essay on youth.

Youth is a worthwhile phase of one’s life. The age where the age group is no longer of a child but yet to turn out to be a grown-up is the youth age. It is an age recognized by traits of heroism, toughness, muscle, stimulation, curiosity, judgmental attitude and even much more. At this stage, even though driven by fantasy or freedom and the power to choose his or her response, all must be cautiously exercised. It is a golden phase to accomplish the dual goals of intelligence and character.

A Period of Stress & Strain, Storm & Strife

Youth, in the present era, is a powerful asset of the nation possessing the abundant energy and the zeal considered necessary for the overall advancement of the same. Youth is a critical age of development, a period of uncertainty when everything is in ferment.

As a Youth is neither a child nor an adult, the personality possesses a mixture of both stages. He can be selfish at some times or turn out to be selfless the very next day. He may also turn out to be rebellious one day.

Youth develops a revolting personality and thus we can see conflicts in opinions between the family. It is also a major cause of worsening of family relations. Youth, being argumentative in nature, develop an attitude of apt rationale and judgment.

Thus, it denies accepting as true in anything without an appropriate cause following the same. It is not that there is no lack of moral awakening or his total refusal to adhere to ethical and moral standards. It is merely that he wants his every question to be answered and having his quest fulfilled, he accepts the same.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

How to channelize Youth Power in the right direction?

Youth is full of strength and intellectual capability, which if properly utilized could assist in turning the invisible into visible, the hardships to triumph and the hard work to success thus leading to the overall growth of an individual and the nation at large.

Following measures must be adapted to turn the youth into prolific individuals:

• Understanding child psychology by the parents at this stage.
• Proper guidance by the teachers
• Practical representation of best ideals and values to foster moral education in the schools. Sex education is a must for better emotional development.
• Minimizing the habit of excessive control and strict discipline so as to promote the expression of emotions, thus leading to suitable mental development.
• The organization of extra-curricular activities to channelize the imagination in youth towards creative activities.
• Preparing the youth for the cause of society by entrusting the responsibility so as to develop a feeling of responsibility in them.
• A right and rationale attitude towards democracy should be developed in the surroundings. This would lead to develop the philosophy of life.

  Conclusion

Youth is the golden period to cherish a big dream full of passion and energy. Although, the period is also full of adventures yet they have to be looked for with the eyes open. It is the time when we can provide shape to our ideas for the economic development of society. By encouraging to take an active part in the dramas, projects, sports and others are pretty good ways to control excessive fantasy. Also, it is the time to move towards the destination which can be made possible through vocational awareness and critical study of individual differences.

Mixed with responsibility and fun, new environs, excitement, thrill, applauses, and regrets, it has a huge significance in one’s life. It is time to achieve wisdom in addition to knowledge.

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When mothers and children talk about problems, environment matters

Talking to their parents about daily stressors can help adolescents deal with their problems. This is particularly important during the transition to middle school, when youth often are faced with new peer and academic challenges. But does it matter where these conversations take place? That’s the topic of a new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign .

“We were interested in the environmental settings for mother-youth conversations. Where do they typically happen, and what are the preferred locations? We wanted to get the perspectives of both the youth and their mothers,” said co-author Kelly Tu , associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS), part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at Illinois.

The study included a racially diverse community sample of 100 fifth-grade students and their mothers. The pairs were first asked to discuss recent peer and academic problems the child had experienced, then they were interviewed separately about their preferred environments for talking about these issues. The researchers focused on mother-child dyads because mothers often are the primary caregiver who spends more time with youth and tend to be more involved with day-to-day activities.

Youth and mothers identified seven preferred locations for their conversations, including the house in general, youth’s bedroom, kitchen, living room, parent’s bedroom, car, and outdoor leisure spaces.

“The youth most frequently mentioned the house in general, followed by their bedroom, the kitchen, and the living room. They felt the home was a safe space and being in a comfortable environment encouraged conversation,” Tu said. “Their bedroom was the preferred location if they needed privacy, whereas if they wanted input from more family members, they preferred the kitchen or living room.”

For mothers, the top three locations included the kitchen, youth’s bedroom, and the car.

“Mothers often preferred to talk in the car because they could engage in side-to-side conversations with their child, which they felt made the conversation easier and less intimidating compared to directly looking at one another. In the interviews, they would say, ‘Where we talk about this the most is in the car, when I'm doing pickup or taking them somewhere because it gives us time and space away from others.’ However, the car was not a preferred setting for the kids — perhaps they felt like they didn’t have as much control in the conversation because it was a parent-dominated space , ”  Tu noted.

Boys in particular mentioned outdoor leisure spaces, such as playing ball in the backyard or walking the dog. Family size also mattered in the responses. Only children were more likely to prefer the living room, perhaps because they were less likely to need the privacy of their bedroom. On the other hand, children with multiple siblings may not have their own room, so the parents’ bedroom may be better for private conversations.

“We also found that families preferred to talk together in spaces that were already part of their established family routines because they provided opportunities for kids to initiate conversation,” said lead author Dina Izenstark , an associate professor at San José State University who conducted the research as a doctoral student in HDFS. Mealtime routines can provide opportunities for each family member to talk about their day, while bedtime routines provide a more intimate setting for one-on-one conversations that need more discretion.

“Moms were talking about how they had been doing these things for a long time; for example, asking children about their day when tucking their kid in at bedtime or while eating dinner together. These kids are still young, and it may change during their teenage years, but they have the foundation for these conversations to continue to take place,” Izenstark stated.

The research sample consisted of predominantly higher-income families, and results may not be directly generalizable to other groups, the researchers noted. For example, if a parent is working a third shift, the home is small, or there are multiple siblings, the time and space for privacy to talk about daily stressors may look different.

“We have to tailor our advice and rethink what it looks like for families in various circumstances. Every family is going to have their own pattern of moving through the day and their own rituals and routines, but we know that environmental setting matters and it is important for families to select a place to talk that is preferred by both the child and the parent as a way to more meaningfully connect with one another,” Izenstark said.

The paper, “An exploration of the environmental setting mothers and early adolescent youth prefer to have conversations about daily stressors,” is published in the Journal of Early Adolescence [ DOI: 10.1177/02724316241240111 ]. Authors include Dina Izenstark, Kelly Tu, Janet Bang, and Natalee Maynard. This work was supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture; Hatch Project (ILLU-793–344).

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NIH Announces Winners of 2023-2024 High School Mental Health Essay Contest

May 31, 2024 • Institute Update

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is pleased to announce the winners of the  2024 Speaking Up About Mental Health    essay contest. Out of more than 370 submissions across 33 states, NIH awarded 24 youth (ages 16-18) finalists with gold, silver, bronze, and honorable mention prizes.

Supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the  Eunice Kennedy Shriver  National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the essay contest invited youth to address mental health and reduce mental health stigma that young people may face when seeking mental health treatment.

The winning essays addressed complicated topics such as stigma, trauma, resilience, equity, anxiety, and more. Teens also wrote about specific ideas for improving well-being, such as broader access to leisure sports, reducing time spent on social media, and normalizing mental health treatment and care.

NIH awarded a total of $15,000 in cash prizes to gold, silver, bronze, and honorable mention recipients. Read the winning essays at  nimhd.nih.gov/EssayContest   .

Gold winners

• Max, California - Tenacity Through Tumultuousness
• Michaela, Maryland - Exposing the Impact of Social Media on Teenage Mental Health: A Journey of Self-Discovery
• Raphael, Hawaii  - Let's CHAT: Mental Health Impact on Teens Living with Speech Challenges

Silver winners

• Aditi, California – Embracing Authenticity
• Anna, New York - Change Our Approach: How Sports Can Play a Role in Mental Health
• Ciniyah, Illinois - The Roots Affect the Fruit: A Personal Journey of Trauma to Triumph
• Kathleen, Maryland - Behind A Perfect Life
• Paige, Texas - Learn to Live and Accept Your Journey
• Rylie, Maryland - Drowning in Plain Sight

Bronze winners

• Argiro, Pennsylvania - Out in the Open: A Conversation about Mental Health
• Dresden, Maryland - Normalize the Care to Destigmatize the Conditions
• Gabriel, New Jersey - Keeping My Head Up: My Experience with Dad's Brain Cancer
• Hailey, Arkansas - Access for Adolescent Athletes
• Jordan, New Jersey - A Weighted Wait
• Kathryne, North Carolina - Embracing Openness: Unveiling Silent Struggles Surrounding Mental Health
• Maya, Maryland - Speaking up for Change
• Rachel, California - Embracing the Journey Towards Mental Health Acceptance
• Savannah, New Jersey - Taking a Step Today, for a Better Tomorrow

Honorable mentions

• Agaana, Maryland – Accountability for Authority: The Responsibilities of Schools
• Gisele, Pennsylvania - Breaking the Silence
• Jillian, Illinois - Navigating Mental Illness in Teens
• Kyle, North Carolina - How the Neglect of Mental Health Within Black Communities Causes Underlying Issues
• Mason, Maryland - Social Media as a Possible Method to Reduce Mental Health Stigma
• Minsung, Georgia - Hope to Bridge the Gap

If you are in crisis and need immediate help, call or text the  988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline     at  988  (para ayuda en español, llame al 988) to connect with a trained crisis counselor. The Lifeline provides 24-hour, confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. The deaf and hard of hearing can contact the Lifeline using their preferred relay service or by dialing 711 and then 988.

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Guest Essay

Melinda French Gates: The Enemies of Progress Play Offense. I Want to Help Even the Match.

By Melinda French Gates

Ms. French Gates is a philanthropist and the founder of the charitable organization Pivotal.

Many years ago, I received this piece of advice: “Set your own agenda, or someone else will set it for you.” I’ve carried those words with me ever since.

That’s why, next week, I will leave the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , of which I was a co-founder almost 25 years ago, to open a new chapter in my philanthropy. To begin, I am announcing $1 billion in new spending over the next two years for people and organizations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States.

In nearly 20 years as an advocate for women and girls, I have learned that there will always be people who say it’s not the right time to talk about gender equality. Not if you want to be relevant. Not if you want to be effective with world leaders (most of them men). The second the global agenda gets crowded, women and girls fall off.

It’s frustrating and shortsighted. Decades of research on economics , well-being and governance make it clear that investing in women and girls benefits everyone. We know that economies with women’s full participation have more room to grow. That women’s political participation is associated with decreased corruption. That peace agreements are more durable when women are involved in writing them. That reducing the time women spend in poor health could add as much as $1 trillion to the global economy by 2040.

And yet, around the world, women are seeing a tremendous upsurge in political violence and other threats to their safety, in conflict zones where rape is used as a tool of war, in Afghanistan where the Taliban takeover has erased 20 years of progress for women and girls, in many low-income countries where the number of acutely malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women is soaring.

In the United States, maternal mortality rates continue to be unconscionable , with Black and Native American mothers at highest risk. Women in 14 states have lost the right to terminate a pregnancy under almost any circumstances. We remain the only advanced economy without any form of national paid family leave. And the number of teenage girls experiencing suicidal thoughts and persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness is at a decade high.

Despite the pressing need, only about 2 percent of charitable giving in the United States goes to organizations focused on women and girls, and only about half a percentage point goes to organizations focused on women of color specifically.

When we allow this cause to go so chronically underfunded, we all pay the cost. As shocking as it is to contemplate, my 1-year-old granddaughter may grow up with fewer rights than I had.

Over the past few weeks, as part of the $1 billion in new funding I’m committing to these efforts, I have begun directing new grants through my organization, Pivotal, to groups working in the United States to protect the rights of women and advance their power and influence. These include the National Women’s Law Center, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

While I have long focused on improving contraceptive access overseas, in the post-Dobbs era, I now feel compelled to support reproductive rights here at home. For too long, a lack of money has forced organizations fighting for women's rights into a defensive posture while the enemies of progress play offense. I want to help even the match.

I’m also experimenting with novel tactics to bring a wider range of perspectives into philanthropy. Recently, I offered 12 people whose work I admire their own $20 million grant-making fund to distribute as he or she sees fit. That group — which includes the former prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, the athlete and maternal-health advocate Allyson Felix, and an Afghan champion of girls’ education, Shabana Basij-Rasikh — represents a wide range of expertise and experience. I’m eager to see the landscape of funding opportunities through their eyes, and the results their approaches unlock.

In the fall, I will introduce a $250 million initiative focused on improving the mental and physical health of women and girls globally. By issuing an open call to grass-roots organizations beyond the reach of major funders, I hope to lift up groups with personal connections to the issues they work on. People on the front lines should get the attention and investment they deserve, including from me.

As a young woman, I could never have imagined that one day I would be part of an effort like this. Because I have been given this extraordinary opportunity, I am determined to do everything I can to seize it and to set an agenda that helps other women and girls set theirs, too.

Melinda French Gates is a philanthropist and the founder of Pivotal, a charitable, investment and advocacy organization.

Source photographs by Bryan Bedder, filipfoto, and Westend61, via Getty Images.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Youth Week WA 2024

Youth Week WA 2024 ran from 5 – 12 April.

The Department of Communities is responsible for the oversight overall coordination and promotion of Youth Week WA across more than 100 events. To recognise and celebrate young people aged 10-25 years we:

• partner with Propel Youth Arts WA to hold the annual KickstART Festival
• ensure that young people are central to the week’s planning and development of events through a Young People’s Planning Committee
• deliver an annual grants program for Youth Week WA projects and activities
• appoint Youth Week WA Ambassadors (Youth Ambassadors) to represent young people across the State.

Youth Week WA events and activities are free, inclusive, accessible and safe for all young people.

What is Youth Week WA

The State Government recognises the enormous contribution that young people make to social, cultural and economic life in Western Australia. Youth Week WA is an opportunity to recognise these valued contributions and provide opportunities for young people to connect across the State.

Youth Week WA aims to:

• provide young people with opportunities to express ideas, raise important issues, make decisions and showcase their talents and contributions
• give the wider community an opportunity to listen to young people and celebrate their positive contributions; and
• raise awareness about issues of concern to young people.

The 2024 theme was Head, Body, Heart . The theme guided the intention of Youth Week WA 2024 events and activities and is a reminder to check in with your head, body and heart, as well as extending that care to others.

Youth Week WA 2024 Ambassadors

The 2024 Youth Week WA Ambassadors represented young people in Western Australia by:

• Ensuring young voices were heard and embedded in all things Youth Week WA, from start to finish.
• Supporting Propel Youth Arts WA as part of the Young People’s Planning Committee, offering expert advice in the planning of KickstART Festival.
• In a first for Youth Week WA, leading the delivery of a project sponsored by the Department of Communities, called Catalyst, which became available at the conclusion of Youth Week. This online publication shares the stories, work and perspectives of young creatives, leaders and organisations.
• Being spokespeople for Youth Week WA and promoting the event through social media, public engagement and in their communities.

Fatima Merchant

Fatima Merchant is 20 years old and undertaking a Bachelor of Arts while interning at UWA’s Public Policy Institute.

Fatima is a member of the Amnesty International Australia Youth Advisory Group, UN Youth Australia and is a Facilitator at the WA Debating League.

Fatima won the 2021 WA Lions Youth of the Year for public speaking; the 2021 Mercie Whellan Women+Wellbeing Youth Category and she also received the 2021 Commissioner for Children and Young People Participate Award.

Nathida Chalermsuk

Nathida Chalermsuk is 22 years old and studying a Bachelor of Psychology while working as a disability support worker.

Nathida was Vice President of Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales at Curtin University where she launched a new initiative, Youth United, a program which facilitates cross-cultural understanding amongst young people in Australia. 

Samuel Thomas

Samuel Thomas is 20 years old and established Sam’s Spares a not for profit that saves unwanted e-waste from landfill.

Sam repairs and refurbishes computers, laptops, mobile phones, gaming systems and other electronics and gifts them to community members in need.

Sam also works as a support worker and he strives to overthrow the stigmas and limitations put upon his Neurodivergent community.

He was the winner of the 2023 Young Volunteer of the Year award. 

Izabella Brandis

Izabella is 19 years old and lives in Kulin. She is the Community Development Officer at the Shire of Kulin, the Vice President of the Kulin Netball Club, a Coordinator of the Kulin Bush Races Committee, and a member of the Cultivating Kulin Committee. 

Izabella was successful in securing a Youth Week WA 2023 grant that enabled her to hold workshops for young people in the community where they were invited to come along and create artwork expressing ‘What makes Kulin special to you?’

Announcements

Grants announced to celebrate our young people

2024 Youth Week Ambassadors announced

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Government of Western Australia acknowledges the traditional custodians throughout Western Australia and their continuing connection to the land, waters and community. We pay our respects to all members of the Aboriginal communities and their cultures; and to Elders both past and present.