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What’s the Problem? Youth and Vulnerability in a Global Perspective

More often than not, youth come to our attention as a result of their association with crisis...

Abby Hardgrove

More often than not, youth come to our attention as a result of their association with crisis—be it a crisis of unemployment, of involvement in violence , or susceptibility to early parenthood or sexually transmitted infections and disease. I would like to talk about this. I do not wish to challenge the idea that young people are vulnerable to risks and even producing risks to themselves and their local contexts. However, I would like to take a second look at the way that youth, risk, and vulnerability are often balled up together in a way that sees young people as the problem (or the solution)—rather than participants in societies and in a global community that are fraught with many problems.

First, who are the youth? The short answer is that it really depends. There are some important physical, cognitive, and psychosocial developments that demarcate the period of the life course that we call adolescence , which takes place roughly between the ages of 13 and 19. “Youth” is more of a social age than a developmental period. It is that transition period between the dependency of childhood and the responsibilities of adulthood. This social phase might be longer or shorter depending on the context. That said, definitions are often needed (for policy for example). The UN uses the ages between 15 and 24 as a range in which many young people are socially considered “youth.” These are guidelines. Young people may or may not fit into them based upon their gendered and socio-economic transitions in particular societies.

So what is it that makes young people vulnerable to harmful things like HIV/AIDS or participation in violence and conflict? One way to answer these questions is to think about what it means to be young—to experience rapid physical, sexual, social and emotional change. Adolescence is a time of identity formation. It is time when many people become sexually active, and take on more responsibilities. The flux and change in this period certainly increases young people’s susceptibility to all kinds of risks. If we stop there, we have a very age and stage based view of risk that connects vulnerability to a condition of being not fully mature. This is only part of the story, however. While young people are developing within their bodies and their psychosocial engagement with their world, they are also attending and exiting education, going to work, and beginning families of their own. A look at these transitions demonstrates that while bodies and minds may undergo similar developments that induce a “base-line” vulnerability for nearly all young people, there are a number of interconnected contextual influences that affect youth vulnerabilities. Among the most important are impoverishment, inequality, and social exclusion. Around the world young people are seeing their choices limited by things like economic insecurity, technological change, political uprisings, conflict and climate change.

Poverty remains one of the gravest threats to young people’s life chances in low and middle-income countries, and for a significant number of youth living in high-income countries. It manifests in a variety of ways. To name just one, food shortage has pervasive and long-lasting affects on well-being and life chances. Evidence from Young Lives a longitudinal, four-country study of childhood poverty demonstrates that food shortage at age 12 is associated with a range of impacts three years later. These include lower cognitive achievement and lower subjective well-being at age 15 ).

Young people also grow up in situations where vulnerabilities result from an unequal distribution of resources. For example, urban centers nearly always provide a greater quantity and diversity of goods, services, and opportunities than do rural areas. The extent of the disparity in developing countries can be quite significant. In Liberia, half of the high schools in the entire country are located within the greater capital city area of Monrovia . Even where education facilities do exist in rural areas, they are often located at a considerable distance from children’s homes. The perceived and actual risks of travel may delay enrolment and restrict school participation for girls in particular, which in turn causes intermittent attendance and early departure.

Finally, a good deal of vulnerability emerges from the way in which groups of people are treated by the rest of society. Socially excluded minorities are more likely to endure unequal access to resources and opportunities because of who they are, or are perceived to be. The interconnection of social exclusion, inequality, and poverty tend to reinforce one another. So for example, vulnerability is compounded if a young person is a girl, who is from a minority ethnic group, and living in a rural area. Vulnerabilities that result from entrenched social marginalization and poverty extend over the life course of young people, their families and communities, and are transmitted across generations.

The constraints, opportunities, and the means by which youth negotiate transitions into greater responsibility and adulthood have much to tell us about the conditions of the local and global communities in which they live. Youth are vulnerable not just because they are young or undergoing rapid developmental transitions. Perhaps more fundamentally, they are vulnerable because they are people who live in an unequal world where the social values and institutions that permit opportunities and possibilities of all kinds are not available to everyone.

What does this mean for policy? It means a lot of things, but what I would like to stress is that the vulnerabilities that young people experience are in many respects, part and parcel of the vulnerabilities that are produced and reproduced in their communities, their nations, and our world. It seems that responding to the risks that young people experience and present means responding to pervasive and interconnected forces that sustain poverty, reproduce inequality, and maintain social exclusion. Addressing risks and vulnerabilities associated with youth means addressing the more systemic disparities and disadvantages that diminish their life chances on local and global scales.

Abby Hardgrove is Visiting Research Associate, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford.

This blog post was drawn from the Human Development Report Office 2014 Occasional Paper entitled: Youth Vulnerabilities in Life Course Transitions .

The HDialogue blog is a platform for debate and discussion. Posts reflect the views of respective authors in their individual capacities and not the views of UNDP/HDRO.

Photo by Ashtyn Renee

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Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Concepts and Measurement (2001)

Chapter: 1. adolescent risk and vulnerability: overview, 1 adolescent risk and vulnerability: overview.

Elena O. Nightingale and Baruch Fischhoff

INTRODUCTION

Adolescents obviously do not always act in ways that serve their own best interests, even as defined by them. Sometimes their perception of their own risks, even of survival to adulthood, is larger than the reality; in other cases, they underestimate the risks of particular actions or behaviors. It is possible, indeed likely, that some adolescents engage in risky behaviors because of a perception of invulnerability—the current conventional wisdom of adults’ views of adolescent behavior. Others, however, take risks because they feel vulnerable to a point approaching hopelessness (Fischhoff et al., 2000). In either case, these perceptions can prompt adolescents to make poor decisions that can put them at risk and leave them vulnerable to physical or psychological harm that may have a negative impact on their long-term health and viability.

and meaningful job or career. Racial relations and poverty are special concerns. These are some components of the burden of vulnerability perceived by adolescents in the United States, which might contribute to their participation in risky behaviors such as unsafe sexual activity, alcohol or drug intoxication, risky driving, and more (Fischhoff et al., 1998; Lindberg et al., 2000).

Assessing the Burden of Adolescent Vulnerability

Adolescents today face complex and changing environments in which many things can go right and wrong. If we are to serve and protect them, we must have a full appreciation of these environments as well as society’s opportunities to shape them. Research that can conceptualize, measure, and evaluate the total burden of adolescent vulnerability is sorely needed. New research approaches must be designed to explore as comprehensively as possible the complexities of coexisting risk and protective factors in particular settings as well as variations in the ways adolescent perceive their own vulnerability. Without such knowledge, practitioners are in a poor position to design the best possible programs to facilitate healthy adolescent development and well-being, and policy makers lack the research-based information that can inform their decisions.

Previous approaches to risk taking in young people include a developmental psychosocial model (Levitt et al., 1991). This model encompasses three elements: knowledge about the risk, management skills to deal with it, and the personal meaning of the risk, all within a developmental perspective. The developmental changes in the personal meaning of risks are of particular relevance here.

In a recent review of research on programmatic investments in young people of various ages, Danziger and Waldfogel (2000) demonstrated that early childhood investments pay off for children as they develop. What is also clear from this volume is the need to invest in children as they get older, particularly during adolescence, in which young people experience multiple transitions such as new school environments and changing peer and family dynamics. This volume also documents the lack of systematic research on investments in adolescents that could support policy and practice that better meet the needs of youngsters 10 to 18 years of age.

in general and of those youth with special problems, particularly chronic illness or extreme poverty. Both adolescents and adults need to know the actual burden of adolescents’ vulnerability and be aware of each other’s perceptions of such before policies and practices can be developed to reduce the burden. Knowing the size of the overall burden is essential in order to decide what personal and societal resources to devote to this problem relative to other priorities. Knowledge about the relative size of different problems and of opportunities for risk reduction is required so that investment in current interventions can be made for the “best buys” and so that better means can be devised to help adolescents. In sum, research that can provide knowledge about the relative burden of adolescent vulnerability could help to protect adolescents, assist practitioners in designing youth development programs, and support policy makers in setting priorities for allocating resources.

Once new approaches have been developed to capture the burden of adolescent vulnerability, additional knowledge can be gained by systematic study or experimentation. An important and accessible place to begin would be to mine existing data sets from the vulnerability perspective; this could lead to closing the gap between perceived and measured risks in the short term while new data are being collected. During the past decade, a growing number of cross-sectional and longitudinal data sets have addressed adolescent risk and sources of vulnerability that lend themselves to the proposed activity. For example, a new source of data that has the potential to significantly advance our knowledge base of behavioral development among adolescents is the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Blum et al., 2000; Svetaz et al., 2000). From the collection of longitudinal data, it will be possible to examine how the timing and tempo of puberty influence social and cognitive development among teenagers. This data set permits analysts to examine how family-, school-, and individual-level risk and protective factors are associated with adolescent health and morbidity (e.g., emotional health, violence, substance use, and sexuality). Other longitudinal data sets that could be mined include the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the Children and Young Adults of the National Survey of Children and Youth, and the Program of Research on the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency: Denver Youth. Sources of cross-sectional research data that could be useful include the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, Monitoring the Future, and the Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs.

Creating a New Research Base

In response to the need for new research, the Board on Children, Youth, and Families formed an ad hoc planning committee to develop papers in conjunction with a workshop that would stimulate new thinking about adolescent risk and vulnerability. The papers and workshop sought to take a different approach to the high-risk behaviors of adolescents by defining and devising measurements for the burden of adolescent vulnerabilities, the interactions between risks and protective factors, total costs and benefits of interventions, evaluation of interventions, and how best to learn about different perceptions of risk by adolescents and adults. Authors also suggested when and how these new approaches could be applied to existing data sets and to designing new longitudinal and cross-sectional studies.

This volume describes the workshop, entitled Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Setting Priorities, which drew together experts with diverse scholarly and professional perspectives, ranging from health to economics, decision science, and psychology, in order to apply these multiple perspectives to improving the well-being and future prospects of adolescents in the United States. Each of the four papers presents a distinct approach to adolescent risk and vulnerability. They were prepared for, presented, and discussed at the workshop held at the National Academies on March 13, 2001.

In both the workshop and this volume, we hope to place adolescent vulnerability into perspective, taking advantage of the growing societal concern for adolescents, and the need to set priorities for investment of limited resources (Burt, 1998; Burt and Levy, 1987). With the best understanding that research allows, we can begin to assess how to intervene in the most effective and efficacious manner. The potential impact of research that can guide investments in adolescent development in both individuals and our society cannot be underestimated. Benefits may accrue even for those adolescents who do not experience a development program directly because peers who do participate become more focused and motivated in school, more engaged in their communities, and less involved in risk behaviors (Danziger and Waldfogel, 2000).

The workshop discussions served to bring the ideas in the papers together toward an integrated research approach for reducing adolescent vulnerability. The following provides brief summaries of the papers and the points made by discussants who reviewed each of them.

PAPER AND DISCUSSION SUMMARIES

Perceptions of Risk and Vulnerability, by Susan G. Millstein and Bonnie L. Halpern-Felsher, examines the beliefs underlying adolescents’ decisions, with particular attention to how to evaluate their competence. They find that, contrary to popular belief, the scientific literature does not support the notion that adolescents view themselves as uniquely invulnerable to harm; rather, their perceptions of invulnerability resemble those of the adults around them. This myth can distort programs and policies for adolescents by suggesting a level of incompetence that warrants more manipulative interventions and fewer opportunities for exploration and growth. Indeed, in some ways, adolescents show a deep sense of vulnerability, as when asked about their overall chance of premature death (Fischoff et al., 2000).

The authors demonstrate the importance of adolescents’ risk perceptions for developmental theory, programming, and setting standards of decision-making competence (e.g., for making health decisions). They also describe the methodological issues facing such studies. Many have used hypothetical situations, which allow standardization across subjects, but may seem unrealistic to many. Others have asked for judgments of ambiguous events (Fischhoff, 1996; Halpern-Felsher et al., 2001), or used verbal quantifiers as response modes (e.g., the use of “very likely,” “likely”; for further discussion, see Biehl and Halpern-Felsher, 2001), making it difficult to evaluate the accuracy of the beliefs that are expressed. The paper makes the case for using more realistic situations in order to provide ecological validity. Doing so will make it easier to characterize the relationships between adolescent behaviors and the perceived risks and benefits of their actions. Those studies will have to consider the context within which adolescents evaluate their options. For example, if an adolescent does not believe that he or she will live beyond the age of 30, the risk of AIDS may have little influence on sexual behavior.

In their discussion of Millstein and Halpern-Felsher’s paper, both Richard Lerner and Ann Masten noted its potential for guiding program and policy innovations that will promote positive youth development. They pointed to the paper’s new and useful insights regarding how perceptions influence adolescents’ decision making about risky behaviors. They suggested research into adolescents’ perceptions relevant to improved decision making; developing an ecological perspective for understanding vulnerabil-

ity; understanding (and combating) myths about adolescent vulnerability; and a continuing focus on positive youth development (Masten, 2001).

Vulnerability, Risk, and Protection, by Robert William Blum, Clea McNeely, and James Nonnemaker, presents a model for understanding the vulnerability of adolescents to undesirable outcomes, from the individual to the macro level. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), the authors applied the model to evaluating the effects of protective factors on risky behaviors, such as violence, cocaine use, and sexual intercourse. Meaningful interventions require understanding of the interactions and complexities of these processes. For example, school classroom management climate was proven to be a protective factor against weapon-related violence, but not against cocaine use. Effective policies and interventions must take into account the connections between vulnerability and protective processes.

Although the framework in the Blum et al. paper offers the possibility of identifying and reducing negative educational, social, and health outcomes that may mitigate several negative outcomes at once, and has potential for being quite productive, discussant Lloyd Kolbe was concerned that the complexity of the model might make it difficult to translate theory into practice. To take advantage of the strengths of the framework, he suggested using it to identify protective factors, relationships, and processes that seem particularly effective and enabling appropriate social institutions (e.g., public and private agencies, youth-serving organizations) to use underutilized protective factors in future interventions to help young people. Because the model demonstrates interaction of risk and protective factors in several areas, it could promote collaboration among educational, social service, and health agencies to reduce adolescent vulnerability and risk.

determining whether these variables can be modified. Kolbe noted both the difficulty and the importance of such synthetic research.

According to discussant Beatrix Hamburg, the model presented by Blum et al. has potential to deal with complex interactions among variables, macrolevel influences, and contextual specificity. What happens within a context (e.g., school), such as attendance or peer acceptance, contributes to the final outcome, even in a positive environment.

Among macrolevel variables, chronic disease is of special concern for the adolescent (Hamburg, 1982). A large and growing number of adolescents live with diseases such as cystic fibrosis, diabetes, asthma, and some cancers, all of which were once fatal at an early age. Now, due to medical advances, adolescents can live a long time with a disorder that can be treated but not cured. A disease and its treatment impose risks related to the developmental tasks of adolescence, such as establishing a positive body and self-image as well as peer acceptance, among other tasks. The specter of being permanently afflicted with damage and disability confers a substantial risk. As adolescents attempt to negotiate normative developmental tasks as well as demanding medical regimens, the risks imposed by chronic disease can lead to adverse outcomes in medical, emotional, social, and educational spheres. Parents often have little understanding or guidance in coping with these issues, and, at best, tend to become over-protective and anxious. Family conflict is common. For these reasons, adolescence is an especially vulnerable period for those with chronic illness. The Blum et al. model could help identify realistic approaches to reducing these risks and making best use of protective factors. The model also can be applied to data sources in addition to Add Health, among them Monitoring the Future and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

can be used to analyze associations between patterns of behavior and patterns of outcomes. The sectoral costs of these outcomes can then be quantified, along with opportunities to reduce those costs through interventions with different probabilities of success. Research applying these models more comprehensively should lead to better understanding of the public and private costs and benefits of different patterns of youth risk behaviors and of investments in youth.

These analyses make it less likely that population-based actions focusing only on a single issue (e.g., smoking) will affect the young people who need the most help, compared with more comprehensive and enduring interactions. In addition to identifying the best investments in adolescent development, such analyses also can show the overall payoff to policy changes focused on the well-being of young people.

The discussants for this paper, Susan Curnan and Peter Edelman, noted its usefulness as a framework that researchers could build, expand, and adapt in revitalizing thinking about costs and benefits related to adolescent vulnerability and resiliency. Rather than focusing on adolescents as the source of troubling behaviors that drain social and institutional resources, the Burt et al. model focuses on interventions that nurture youth as assets capable of producing economic and social benefits. Curnan described a recent concrete example of such a policy, the pending bill, Younger Americans Act (H.R. 17), which aims to create fully prepared youth rather than risk-free youth. If the act were implemented, the Burt et al. model could evaluate the payoffs from potential programs. Curnan also suggested expanding the approach to include biological and community/contextual influences when profiling risk and protective factors.

Edelman pointed out that the Burt et al. model provides the ability to analyze multiple effects and interactions and could help shift intervention programs and their funding from single- to multiple-variable programs. It is thought to have potential for measuring the payoff of supporting positive youth development and improving the way we deal with adolescent vulnerability.

Adolescent Vulnerability: Measurement and Priority Setting, by Baruch Fischhoff and Henry Willis, begins by discussing adolescents’ legitimate concerns about their future and well-being, reflecting their concerns about their own invulnerability. They then consider how dealing effectively with adolescent vulnerabilities requires knowing their total burden as well as the size of the component parts. The former should shape the overall investment in reducing adolescent vulnerability, the latter its allocation across

interventions. Priority setting for research and practice is discussed, including the important considerations of separating facts and values when making decisions about policies and actions. The paper presents approaches to determining priorities as well as ways to determine values relevant to the particular policy choices.

Although the paper argues for setting priorities systematically, it also recognizes the challenges to this approach, such as the difficulty of the choices being faced and the political barriers to translating priorities into change in resource allocation. The proposed procedure for priority setting allows for involvement of relevant individuals, including adolescents, and not merely summaries of their views. The authors emphasize that values shape the priorities we place on young people’s well-being and the procedures used to reach those priorities.

The main strength of the Fischhoff and Willis paper, according to discussants Matthew Stagner and Mark Cohen, is making transparent the assumptions, values, and uncertainties that are part of any process of risk assessment and prioritization. The paper draws attention to the multiple ways in which politics and value judgments are interwoven in the process of identifying, measuring, and creating intervention programs to address adolescent risk. In many cases, such as deciding what to measure in longitudinal studies, value judgments are the determining influence on how and where money will be spent. If choices are framed and evaluated in a scientific manner, the result should be priorities more in keeping with societal values. The Fischhoff and Willis paper offers a new way of examining how value judgments and scientific knowledge influence decision making about resources used to address adolescent vulnerability and risk. If a scientific knowledge base is available when opportunities such as public and political interest move in the direction of adolescent vulnerability, the possibility of having value judgments informed effectively by research is greater than if the research base is not present, according to Stagner. He also noted, in agreement with the other papers, the importance of developing indicators of positive development, pointing to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics’ America’s Children initiative. Stagner also noted agreement with the other papers regarding creating community-specific priorities, reflecting the specificity of risks and values. The Fischhoff and Willis paper offers a way in which national and local resources might be addressed effectively to reduce adolescent vulnerability.

Mark Cohen noted the social and institutional challenges facing attempts to develop community consensus regarding which adolescent risk

and evaluative factors to consider. Questions include who controls the agenda, how to select appropriate citizen participants, and how values will be combined in cases of conflict. In contrast, Cohen noted the economic approach of quantifying monetary value of those risks that can be compared across categories (Cohen, 1998). Doing so in an acceptable way could reduce the set of factors that need to be evaluated with alternative procedures capable of addressing nonmonetary concerns.

INTEGRATIVE SUMMARY

The prepared papers and ensuing discussion considered what is known, believed, and desired regarding adolescents’ welfare. These realities shaped proposals for better research, communication, and action. Although entitled “adolescent vulnerability,” the workshop necessarily considered the complementary and compensatory processes conferring resilience. The following themes emerged from the papers and discussions.

A Comprehensive Approach Is Needed

Looking at the full range of potential risk outcomes is essential to:

Assess the full burden of vulnerability borne by youth and society (in terms of both direct suffering and lost potential);

Ensure that disproportionate attention and resources are not devoted to a few of the many potentially relevant issues; and

Identify clusters of problems with common causes and solutions.

Looking at the full range of factors creating risk and resilience is essential to:

Assess the full impact of dislocations in young people’s lives (e.g., poverty, violence);

Assess the total contribution of interventions that might ameliorate root causes of multiple problems (e.g., creating more supportive schools, reducing social rejections, strengthening parenting skills); and

Avoid domination by a subset of proposals.

A suite of measures of adolescents’ welfare is needed to:

Consistently track their circumstances;

Systematically compare teens in different groups; and

Rationally direct future resources.

Adolescents Differ in Their Needs, Wants, and Circumstances

Recognizing the differences among young people is essential to affording them the respect they deserve. Sweeping generalizations about adolescents encourage the adoption of undifferentiated interventions, with the direct costs of wasting societal resources and undermining teenagers’ confidence in adults (who are ignoring significant aspects of their lives) and the opportunity costs of failing to develop better understanding and interventions.

Some adolescents face particular challenges worthy of special societal attention. These include adolescents suffering from chronic diseases, belonging to disadvantaged and disenfranchised groups (e.g., migrants, Native Americans), or dealing with psychological conditions having broad effects (e.g., depression, eating disorders).

Even within difficult situations, adolescents often find strengths in themselves and sympathetic others. Even adolescents from favored groups often experience extreme stresses (e.g., peer rejection, family disintegration). As a result, helping them may be a matter of tipping the balance in their lives, rather than creating wholesale changes in their circumstances.

Careful Research Matters

Without solid research, priorities will be set on the basis of anecdote, supposition, and prejudice. One task of research is to evaluate beliefs that are widely maintained but empirically unsupported. It cannot, however, dissuade supporters of programs that are ends in themselves (e.g., because they provide resources or a livelihood to those who administer them; because their existence expresses a social value, whatever its effects on young people).

Disentangling the interplay of risk and resilience factors requires longitudinal studies with well-selected measures and diverse samples. Properly managed and coordinated, they can provide a uniquely valuable public resource.

Effective research requires measures well matched to theoretical concepts. That applies when measuring adolescents’ behavior, environmental

circumstances, or beliefs, as well as beliefs about adolescents. For example, little can be concluded from many studies of risk perceptions because their questions are insufficiently precise for responses to be compared with statistical estimates of risk.

Research Must Be Communicated Effectively

Social policy and attitudes toward adolescents reflect people’s beliefs about them. Often these beliefs are unfounded (e.g., adolescents have a greater sense of personal invulnerability than do adults). Such beliefs can be confronted in ways that improve public understanding of young people’s vulnerability and resilience, as well as the processes shaping them.

The workings of the research community can create an unbalanced picture of adolescents, even when its results are communicated accurately. Teenagers often are studied because they face or pose problems in society. As a result, they can be unduly seen as threatened or threatening. Moreover, that research often is focused on a single problem behavior or risk factor, encouraging sweeping generalizations and simplistic solutions. Countering a fragmented view of adolescents requires either aggregating limited studies or focusing on comprehensive ones.

Many different groups and individuals are concerned with adolescents’ welfare. They include parents, teachers, legislators, funders, and the young people themselves. Taking best advantage of available research requires summarizing its results, implications, and robustness in terms relevant to specific audiences. Due diligence in communication means empirically evaluating its impacts in order to ensure that it is understood as intended.

Deliberative Social Mechanisms Are Needed to Set Priorities

Sound analytical procedures are increasingly available to characterize many aspects of adolescent vulnerability. Applying these procedures more widely would provide disciplined estimates of statistics that people otherwise try to assess intuitively.

Even the most accomplished economic or risk analysis provides an imperfect estimate of a portion of the issues potentially relevant to decisions about adolescents. Moreover, the specification of such analyses inevitably requires the exercise of judgment, regarding both how to treat uncertain data and how to focus on target issues and populations. As a result, formal analyses can inform, but not determine, social choices.

Interpreting analytical results, and integrating them with other concerns, requires deliberative processes. These can create communities of concern and shared understandings (including focused disagreements) among those concerned about adolescents.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

As a society and as individuals, we face challenges and opportunities in providing a better future for our adolescents. The papers and discussions of this workshop have, we hope, advanced our point of departure for the work that lies ahead in setting and acting on priorities.

Biehl, M., & Halpern-Felsher, B. L. (2001). Adolescents’ and adults’ understanding of probability expressions. Journal of Adolescent Health 28 (1), 30-35.

Blum, R. W., Beuhring, T., Shew, M. L., Bearinger, L. H., Sieving, R. E., & Resnick, M. D. (2000). The effects of race/ethnicity, income, and family structure on adolescent risk behaviors. American Journal of Public Health 90 (12), 1879-1885.

Burt, M. R. (1998, September 16). Reasons to invest in adolescents . Paper prepared for the Health Futures of Youth II: Pathways to Adolescent Health, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

Burt, M. R., & Levy, F. (1987). Estimates of public costs for teenage childbearing: A review of recent studies and estimates of 1985 public costs. In S. L. Hofferth and C. D. Hayes (Eds.), Risking the future: Adolescent sexuality, pregnancy, and childbearing, Vol. II, Working papers and statistical appendices (pp. 264-293). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Cohen, M. A. (1998). The monetary value of saving a high-risk youth. Journal of Quantitative Criminology , 14 (1), 5-7.

Danziger, S., & Waldfogel, J. (Eds.). (2000). Securing the future: Investing in children from birth to college . New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Fischhoff, B. (1996). The real world: What good is it? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , 65 , 232-248.

Fischhoff, B., Downs, J., & De Bruin, W. B. (1998). Adolescent vulnerability: A framework for behavioral interventions. Applied & Preventive Psychology , 7 , 77-94.

Fischhoff, B., Parker, A. M., De Bruin, W. B., Downs, J., Palmgren, C., Daws, R., & Manski, C. (2000). Teen expectations for significant life events. Public Opinion Quarterly , 64 , 189-205

Halpern-Felsher, B. L., Millstein, S. G., Ellen, J. M., Adler, N. E., Tschann, J. M., & Biehl, M. (2001). The role of behavioral experience in judging risks. Health Psychology , 20 , 120-126.

Hamburg, B. A. (1982). Living with chronic illness. In T. J. Coates, A. C. Petersen, C. Perry (Eds.), Promoting adolescent health: A dialogue on research and practice (pp. 431-443). New York: Academic Press.

Levitt, M. Z., Selman, R. L., & Richmond, J. B. (1991). The psychosocial foundations of early adolescents’ high-risk behavior: Implications for research and practice. Journal for Research on Adolescence , 1 (4), 349-378.

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Adolescents obviously do not always act in ways that serve their own best interests, even as defined by them. Sometimes their perception of their own risks, even of survival to adulthood, is larger than the reality; in other cases, they underestimate the risks of particular actions or behaviors. It is possible, indeed likely, that some adolescents engage in risky behaviors because of a perception of invulnerability—the current conventional wisdom of adults' views of adolescent behavior. Others, however, take risks because they feel vulnerable to a point approaching hopelessness. In either case, these perceptions can prompt adolescents to make poor decisions that can put them at risk and leave them vulnerable to physical or psychological harm that may have a negative impact on their long-term health and viability.

A small planning group was formed to develop a workshop on reconceptualizing adolescent risk and vulnerability. With funding from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Workshop on Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Setting Priorities took place on March 13, 2001, in Washington, DC. The workshop's goal was to put into perspective the total burden of vulnerability that adolescents face, taking advantage of the growing societal concern for adolescents, the need to set priorities for meeting adolescents' needs, and the opportunity to apply decision-making perspectives to this critical area. This report summarizes the workshop.

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Vulnerability: New Essays in Ethics and Feminist Philosophy

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Introduction: What Is Vulnerability, and Why Does It Matter for Moral Theory?

Published: December 2013
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The first section of this introduction identifies four questions that an ethics of vulnerability needs to address: What is vulnerability? Why does vulnerability give rise to moral obligations and duties of justice? Who bears primary responsibility for responding to vulnerability? And, how are our obligations to the vulnerable best fulfilled? It explains how these questions have been addressed in the recent literature on vulnerability in ethics, bioethics, and feminist philosophy, and articulates the central theoretical challenges for an ethics of vulnerability. In addressing the question ‘What is vulnerability?’, the introduction also proposes a distinctive taxonomy of different sources (inherent, situational and pathogenic) and states (dispositional and occurrent) of vulnerability. The second section of the introduction provides an overview of the structure of the volume and a précis of each essay.

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Youth Vulnerability and Exclusion (YOVEX) in West Africa: Synthesis Report

Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on King's Research Portal is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Post-Print version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections.

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Editorial article, editorial: youth vulnerabilities in european cities.

1 Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
2 Metropolitan Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary
3 TARKI Social Research Institute, Budapest, Hungary
4 Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

Editorial on the Research Topic Youth vulnerabilities in European cities

Introduction

This Research Topic delves into the multifaceted landscape of youth vulnerabilities within the intricate tapestry of European cities. Existing research shows that social and spatial inequalities and vulnerabilities are correlated with each other and reproduced over the generations ( Erikson and Goldthorpe, 2002 ; Tammaru et al., 2021 ; Coulter, 2023 ). Across the eight papers included in this Research Topic, the topic focus revolves around the nuanced interplay of Places, Policies, and Participation, aiming to develop a comprehensive agenda for enhancing the urban prospects of young generations and especially the prospects of more vulnerable youth. Additionally, it scrutinizes the within-generational inequities within the young generation, which are often exacerbated by differences in parental support ( Esping-Andersen and Wagner, 2012 ; Raitano, 2015 ; see also Bodvin et al., 2018 ; Bukodi et al., 2020 ). This three-pronged approach, aptly termed the 3P approach, serves as a framework for a comprehensive tackling of youth vulnerabilities. Firstly, the examination of diverse localities is important as different places offer distinct opportunity structures. Thus, the first set of papers addresses local circumstances influencing the lives of young people, shedding light on the geographical nuances that shape their experiences and life opportunities. Through this localized place-based lens, a deeper understanding emerges regarding the spatial dynamics of youth vulnerability and potential avenues for intervention.

Secondly, papers in this Research Topic extend to the realm of policy responses tailored to address the myriad challenges faced by youth. Delving into the intricacies of policy formulation and implementation, these papers navigate the landscape of governmental interventions and community initiatives designed to mitigate the vulnerabilities experienced by young people. By elaborating on reflexive policy frameworks, insights are gleaned into the efficacy of existing strategies and avenues for innovation to better support youth transitions into adulthood. Finally, the third set of papers focuses on youth participation in policy-making processes. Emphasizing the importance of youth voices in the decision-making process, these discussions underscore the transformative potential of inclusive governance structures developed together with young people. By fostering meaningful engagement, the aim is to facilitate broader access to urban opportunities and pave the way for the cultivation of more sustainable and equitable cities that cater to the diverse needs and aspirations of future generations.

Role of places

The nature and scale of youth vulnerabilities are not independent from the local circumstances young people live in. According to Medgyesi and Csathó , the local labor market and the quality of local public services have a direct impact on the financial satisfaction of young people. Housing, as a public service, has an exceptionally strong impact on young people's financial satisfaction in case housing is affordable. In contrast to that, Gerőházi et al. highlight that even if urban localities provide different economic circumstances for young people which has a direct impact on the relation of housing demand and supply, the room for maneuver localities have to manage the inequalities on the housing market is strongly restricted by regional/national legal and financial frameworks and tied by path-dependency of housing structures. Even if the national policy framework is determining, and localities may have a shortage of resources and tools to counteract economic cycles, still local policies matter, as the article by Barke et al. showcases. Corby, UK, is hard hit by the industrial transformation that has a strong impact on the labor market precarity of young people strengthened by housing and educational precarity. Based on the outcomes of interviews with young people summarized by the article, local actors may have a role in providing information and guidance in navigating through the ever-changing local environment and increasing individual social capital.

Role of policies

The second important ingredient for understanding youth vulnerabilities relates to policies. Paabort et al. provide a scoping review of the research on policies targeting youth Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET). They explored how well policies are responding to the challenges that youth NEETs face and whether policy and practice are reflexively informing each other to better respond to the heterogeneity of the youth NEETs' varied experiences. The authors emphasize that cross-sectoral approaches, reflexive policies, and tailor-made solutions that consider and support young people's coping strategies are particularly important to address the complex needs of more difficult target groups. Paabort et al. proceed by demonstrating how young people's educational and labor market opportunities vary not only across Europe but also across different locations inside a single country. Therefore, tailored measures for vulnerable young people have to be designed according to the specifics of local contexts. Kährik and Pastak provide an example of how policies affect young people's lives locally based on the case study in Tallinn, Estonia. Comparing young people's housing perspectives in 2010 and 2020, their analysis demonstrates that young people's housing conditions have become more precarious and insecure. Housing inequalities of youth are heavily shaped by the transmission of their parent's wealth. Like Paabort et al. , Kährik and Pastak also emphasize the need for more proactive and reflexive policies that would be better informed by young people's real-life experiences.

Role of participation

Youth participation in urban planning and policymaking is the third vital component in reducing youth vulnerabilities as it ensures that the voices and perspectives of younger generations are heard and considered in decisions that directly affect their lives. The central theme explored in the perspective paper authored by García-Antúnez et al. links youth inclusion with intergenerational justice. More specifically, it delves into methods that would enhance the participation and inclusion of young individuals in urban environmental planning. The authors delineate various promising avenues, such as pedestrianizing streets, promoting active transport, implementing traffic calming measures, and enhancing urban green spaces, among others. The next two papers address one of the most pressing challenges concerning youth vulnerabilities in urban settings: housing. Amidst escalating house prices and rents, young people either delay leaving their parental homes or find themselves in precarious housing situations as they encounter difficulties in securing affordable housing independently. Lorenz investigates co-creation and youth involvement in shaping housing strategies, using Barakaldo, Spain, as a case study. The research reveals that co-creation endeavors contribute to empowering vulnerable youth by equipping them with the necessary knowledge and skills to navigate the housing market effectively. Hoekstra and Gentili continue these discussions by advocating for policy formulation led by youth rather than for youth, drawing insights from Amsterdam, Netherlands, as an example. Their paper aims to elucidate the real-life experiences of young people and presents comprehensive recommendations for enhancing housing outcomes based on an extensive co-creation process, also capitalizing on new opportunities in digitally transforming societies such as virtual platforms for young house seekers. These recommendations span various aspects including the size, location, and institutional frameworks governing access to housing.

Author contributions

MB: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. ÉG: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. MM: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. TT: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 870898: UPLIFT) and the Estonian Research Council (PRG1996: “Living segregated lives: Exploring changes in spatial inequalities in digitally transforming societies”).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Tammaru, T., Knapp, D., Silm, S., Van Ham, M., and Witlox, F. (2021). Spatial underpinnings of social inequalities: a vicious circles of segregation approach. Soc. Incl. 9, 65–76. doi: 10.17645/si.v9i2.4345

Keywords: young people, social inequalities, intergenerational transfer, youth vulnerability, spatial inequalities, European cities

Citation: Beilmann M, Gerőházi É, Medgyesi M and Tammaru T (2024) Editorial: Youth vulnerabilities in European cities. Front. Sustain. Cities 6:1412627. doi: 10.3389/frsc.2024.1412627

Received: 05 April 2024; Accepted: 17 April 2024; Published: 29 April 2024.

Edited and reviewed by: James Evans , The University of Manchester, United Kingdom

Copyright © 2024 Beilmann, Gerőházi, Medgyesi and Tammaru. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Mai Beilmann, mai.beilmann@ut.ee

This article is part of the Research Topic

Youth Vulnerabilities in European Cities

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National Research Council (US) and Institute of Medicine (US) Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Fischhoff B, Nightingale EO, Iannotta JG, editors. Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Concepts and Measurement. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2001.

Cover of Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability

Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Concepts and Measurement.

Hardcopy Version at National Academies Press

1 Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Overview

Elena O. Nightingale and Baruch Fischhoff

INTRODUCTION

Adolescents obviously do not always act in ways that serve their own best interests, even as defined by them. Sometimes their perception of their own risks, even of survival to adulthood, is larger than the reality; in other cases, they underestimate the risks of particular actions or behaviors. It is possible, indeed likely, that some adolescents engage in risky behaviors because of a perception of invulnerability—the current conventional wisdom of adults' views of adolescent behavior. Others, however, take risks because they feel vulnerable to a point approaching hopelessness (Fischhoff et al., 2000). In either case, these perceptions can prompt adolescents to make poor decisions that can put them at risk and leave them vulnerable to physical or psychological harm that may have a negative impact on their long-term health and viability.

Despite the widespread view that adolescents feel personally invulnerable, both scientific evidence and direct discussions with them show that most have serious concerns, many of them based on real-life factors that present obstacles difficult for any individual—adult or minor—to overcome. Chronic diseases such as diabetes, cystic fibrosis, or asthma can pose daunting challenges and even panic. Young people feel threatened by violence, not knowing which minor incident or sideways glance will get out of control, or when they might be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even if the economy is sound, many adolescents worry about having a decent and meaningful job or career. Racial relations and poverty are special concerns. These are some components of the burden of vulnerability perceived by adolescents in the United States, which might contribute to their participation in risky behaviors such as unsafe sexual activity, alcohol or drug intoxication, risky driving, and more (Fischhoff et al., 1998; Lindberg et al., 2000).

Assessing the Burden of Adolescent Vulnerability

Adolescents today face complex and changing environments in which many things can go right and wrong. If we are to serve and protect them, we must have a full appreciation of these environments as well as society's opportunities to shape them. Research that can conceptualize, measure, and evaluate the total burden of adolescent vulnerability is sorely needed. New research approaches must be designed to explore as comprehensively as possible the complexities of coexisting risk and protective factors in particular settings as well as variations in the ways adolescent perceive their own vulnerability. Without such knowledge, practitioners are in a poor position to design the best possible programs to facilitate healthy adolescent development and well-being, and policy makers lack the research-based information that can inform their decisions.

Of central importance to filling this research gap is to reconceptualize approaches that could deal effectively with the complexity of adolescent vulnerabilities by capturing both the total burden of vulnerability of youth in general and of those youth with special problems, particularly chronic illness or extreme poverty. Both adolescents and adults need to know the actual burden of adolescents' vulnerability and be aware of each other's perceptions of such before policies and practices can be developed to reduce the burden. Knowing the size of the overall burden is essential in order to decide what personal and societal resources to devote to this problem relative to other priorities. Knowledge about the relative size of different problems and of opportunities for risk reduction is required so that investment in current interventions can be made for the “best buys” and so that better means can be devised to help adolescents. In sum, research that can provide knowledge about the relative burden of adolescent vulnerability could help to protect adolescents, assist practitioners in designing youth development programs, and support policy makers in setting priorities for allocating resources.

Creating a New Research Base

PAPER AND DISCUSSION SUMMARIES

Perceptions of Risk and Vulnerability, by Susan G. Millstein and Bonnie L. Halpern-Felsher, examines the beliefs underlying adolescents' decisions, with particular attention to how to evaluate their competence. They find that, contrary to popular belief, the scientific literature does not support the notion that adolescents view themselves as uniquely invulnerable to harm; rather, their perceptions of invulnerability resemble those of the adults around them. This myth can distort programs and policies for adolescents by suggesting a level of incompetence that warrants more manipulative interventions and fewer opportunities for exploration and growth. Indeed, in some ways, adolescents show a deep sense of vulnerability, as when asked about their overall chance of premature death (Fischoff et al., 2000).

The authors demonstrate the importance of adolescents' risk perceptions for developmental theory, programming, and setting standards of decision-making competence (e.g., for making health decisions). They also describe the methodological issues facing such studies. Many have used hypothetical situations, which allow standardization across subjects, but may seem unrealistic to many. Others have asked for judgments of ambiguous events (Fischhoff, 1996; Halpern-Felsher et al., 2001), or used verbal quantifiers as response modes (e.g., the use of “very likely,” “likely”; for further discussion, see Biehl and Halpern-Felsher, 2001), making it difficult to evaluate the accuracy of the beliefs that are expressed. The paper makes the case for using more realistic situations in order to provide ecological validity. Doing so will make it easier to characterize the relationships between adolescent behaviors and the perceived risks and benefits of their actions. Those studies will have to consider the context within which adolescents evaluate their options. For example, if an adolescent does not believe that he or she will live beyond the age of 30, the risk of AIDS may have little influence on sexual behavior.

In their discussion of Millstein and Halpern-Felsher's paper, both Richard Lerner and Ann Masten noted its potential for guiding program and policy innovations that will promote positive youth development. They pointed to the paper's new and useful insights regarding how perceptions influence adolescents' decision making about risky behaviors. They suggested research into adolescents' perceptions relevant to improved decision making; developing an ecological perspective for understanding vulnerability; understanding (and combating) myths about adolescent vulnerability; and a continuing focus on positive youth development (Masten, 2001).

Kolbe identified future research opportunities, including articulating and measuring protective factors and monitoring them over time; and conducting longitudinal-cohort community-based studies, such as Healthy Passages, 1 of how variables evolve over time as well as intervention research determining whether these variables can be modified. Kolbe noted both the difficulty and the importance of such synthetic research.

Modeling the Payoffs of Interventions to Reduce Adolescent Vulnerability, by Martha R. Burt, Janine M. Zweig, and John Roman, emphasizes that adolescents establish behavior patterns and activities such as smoking and sexual activity that affect their lifetime well-being. However, these long-term consequences can be ignored, leading to insufficient investment in adolescents, whose short-term morbidity and mortality are relatively low. Traditional methods for estimating costs of health risks and outcomes do not provide good assessments of all the costs and benefits—social, economic, and human. The paper presents models for estimating the full suite of economic payoffs for different types of policy actions. The models consider programs that involve interactions between youth and teachers, program staff, families, and others. They show how existing and new databases can be used to analyze associations between patterns of behavior and patterns of outcomes. The sectoral costs of these outcomes can then be quantified, along with opportunities to reduce those costs through interventions with different probabilities of success. Research applying these models more comprehensively should lead to better understanding of the public and private costs and benefits of different patterns of youth risk behaviors and of investments in youth.

Adolescent Vulnerability: Measurement and Priority Setting, by Baruch Fischhoff and Henry Willis, begins by discussing adolescents' legitimate concerns about their future and well-being, reflecting their concerns about their own invulnerability. They then consider how dealing effectively with adolescent vulnerabilities requires knowing their total burden as well as the size of the component parts. The former should shape the overall investment in reducing adolescent vulnerability, the latter its allocation across interventions. Priority setting for research and practice is discussed, including the important considerations of separating facts and values when making decisions about policies and actions. The paper presents approaches to determining priorities as well as ways to determine values relevant to the particular policy choices.

Although the paper argues for setting priorities systematically, it also recognizes the challenges to this approach, such as the difficulty of the choices being faced and the political barriers to translating priorities into change in resource allocation. The proposed procedure for priority setting allows for involvement of relevant individuals, including adolescents, and not merely summaries of their views. The authors emphasize that values shape the priorities we place on young people's well-being and the procedures used to reach those priorities.

The main strength of the Fischhoff and Willis paper, according to discussants Matthew Stagner and Mark Cohen, is making transparent the assumptions, values, and uncertainties that are part of any process of risk assessment and prioritization. The paper draws attention to the multiple ways in which politics and value judgments are interwoven in the process of identifying, measuring, and creating intervention programs to address adolescent risk. In many cases, such as deciding what to measure in longitudinal studies, value judgments are the determining influence on how and where money will be spent. If choices are framed and evaluated in a scientific manner, the result should be priorities more in keeping with societal values. The Fischhoff and Willis paper offers a new way of examining how value judgments and scientific knowledge influence decision making about resources used to address adolescent vulnerability and risk. If a scientific knowledge base is available when opportunities such as public and political interest move in the direction of adolescent vulnerability, the possibility of having value judgments informed effectively by research is greater than if the research base is not present, according to Stagner. He also noted, in agreement with the other papers, the importance of developing indicators of positive development, pointing to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics' America's Children initiative. Stagner also noted agreement with the other papers regarding creating community-specific priorities, reflecting the specificity of risks and values. The Fischhoff and Willis paper offers a way in which national and local resources might be addressed effectively to reduce adolescent vulnerability.

Mark Cohen noted the social and institutional challenges facing attempts to develop community consensus regarding which adolescent risk and evaluative factors to consider. Questions include who controls the agenda, how to select appropriate citizen participants, and how values will be combined in cases of conflict. In contrast, Cohen noted the economic approach of quantifying monetary value of those risks that can be compared across categories (Cohen, 1998). Doing so in an acceptable way could reduce the set of factors that need to be evaluated with alternative procedures capable of addressing nonmonetary concerns.

INTEGRATIVE SUMMARY

The prepared papers and ensuing discussion considered what is known, believed, and desired regarding adolescents' welfare. These realities shaped proposals for better research, communication, and action. Although entitled “adolescent vulnerability,” the workshop necessarily considered the complementary and compensatory processes conferring resilience. The following themes emerged from the papers and discussions.

A Comprehensive Approach Is Needed

Looking at the full range of potential risk outcomes is essential to:

Assess the full burden of vulnerability borne by youth and society (in terms of both direct suffering and lost potential);
Ensure that disproportionate attention and resources are not devoted to a few of the many potentially relevant issues; and
Identify clusters of problems with common causes and solutions.

Looking at the full range of factors creating risk and resilience is essential to:

Assess the full impact of dislocations in young people's lives (e.g., poverty, violence);
Assess the total contribution of interventions that might ameliorate root causes of multiple problems (e.g., creating more supportive schools, reducing social rejections, strengthening parenting skills); and
Avoid domination by a subset of proposals.

A suite of measures of adolescents' welfare is needed to:

Consistently track their circumstances;
Systematically compare teens in different groups; and
Rationally direct future resources.

Adolescents Differ in Their Needs, Wants, and Circumstances

Recognizing the differences among young people is essential to affording them the respect they deserve. Sweeping generalizations about adolescents encourage the adoption of undifferentiated interventions, with the direct costs of wasting societal resources and undermining teenagers' confidence in adults (who are ignoring significant aspects of their lives) and the opportunity costs of failing to develop better understanding and interventions.

Careful Research Matters

Effective research requires measures well matched to theoretical concepts. That applies when measuring adolescents' behavior, environmental circumstances, or beliefs, as well as beliefs about adolescents. For example, little can be concluded from many studies of risk perceptions because their questions are insufficiently precise for responses to be compared with statistical estimates of risk.

Research Must Be Communicated Effectively

Social policy and attitudes toward adolescents reflect people's beliefs about them. Often these beliefs are unfounded (e.g., adolescents have a greater sense of personal invulnerability than do adults). Such beliefs can be confronted in ways that improve public understanding of young people's vulnerability and resilience, as well as the processes shaping them.

Many different groups and individuals are concerned with adolescents' welfare. They include parents, teachers, legislators, funders, and the young people themselves. Taking best advantage of available research requires summarizing its results, implications, and robustness in terms relevant to specific audiences. Due diligence in communication means empirically evaluating its impacts in order to ensure that it is understood as intended.

Deliberative Social Mechanisms Are Needed to Set Priorities

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Biehl, M., & Halpern-Felsher, B. L. (2001). Adolescents' and adults' understanding of probability expressions . Journal of Adolescent Health 28(1), 30-35. [ PubMed : 11137903 ]
Blum, R. W., Beuhring, T., Shew, M. L., Bearinger, L. H., Sieving, R. E., & Resnick, M. D. (2000). The effects of race/ethnicity, income, and family structure on adolescent risk behaviors . American Journal of Public Health 90(12), 1879-1885. [ PMC free article : PMC1446419 ] [ PubMed : 11111260 ]
Burt, M. R. (1998, September 16). Reasons to invest in adolescents . Paper prepared for the Health Futures of Youth II: Pathways to Adolescent Health, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Burt, M. R., & Levy, F. (1987). Estimates of public costs for teenage childbearing: A review of recent studies and estimates of 1985 public costs . In S. L. Hofferth, editor; and C. D. Hayes, editor. (Eds.), Risking the future: Adolescent sexuality, pregnancy, and childbearing, Vol. II, Working papers and statistical appendices (pp. 264-293). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Cohen, M. A. (1998). The monetary value of saving a high-risk youth . Journal of Quantitative Criminology , 14(1), 5-7.
Danziger, S., editor; , & Waldfogel, J., editor. (Eds.). (2000). Securing the future: Investing in children from birth to college . New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Fischhoff, B. (1996). The real world: What good is it? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , 65 , 232-248.
Fischhoff, B., Downs, J., & De Bruin, W. B. (1998). Adolescent vulnerability: A framework for behavioral interventions . Applied & Preventive Psychology , 7 , 77-94.
Fischhoff, B., Parker, A. M., De Bruin, W. B., Downs, J., Palmgren, C., Daws, R., & Manski, C. (2000). Teen expectations for significant life events . Public Opinion Quarterly , 64 , 189-205. [ PubMed : 10984333 ]
Halpern-Felsher, B. L., Millstein, S. G., Ellen, J. M., Adler, N. E., Tschann, J. M., & Biehl, M. (2001). The role of behavioral experience in judging risks . Health Psychology , 20 , 120-126. [ PubMed : 11315729 ]
Hamburg, B. A. (1982). Living with chronic illness . In T. J. Coates, editor; , A. C. Petersen, editor; , C. Perry, editor. (Eds.), Promoting adolescent health: A dialogue on research and practice (pp. 431-443). New York: Academic Press.
Levitt, M. Z., Selman, R. L., & Richmond, J. B. (1991). The psychosocial foundations of early adolescents' high-risk behavior: Implications for research and practice . Journal for Research on Adolescence , 1(4), 349-378.
Lindberg, L. D., Boggess, S., Porter, L., & Williams, S. (2000). Teen risk taking: A statistical portrait . Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Masten, A. S. (2001). Ordinary magic—resilience processes in development . American Psychologist 56 , 227-238. [ PubMed : 11315249 ]
Svetaz, M. V., Ireland, M., & Blum, R. (2000). Adolescents with learning disabilities: Risk and protective factors associated with emotional well being: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health . Journal of Adolescent Health 27 , 340-348. [ PubMed : 11044706 ]

Healthy Passages: A Community-based Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is scheduled to begin in June 2001 in three communities; Birmingham, Los Angeles, and Houston. CDC funds were awarded to three universities to conduct the research: University of Alabama at Birmingham (Michael Windle, Ph.D., Principal Investigator); University of California at Los Angeles/RAND (Mark Schuster, M.D., Ph.D., Principal Investigator); and University of Texas-Houston (Guy Parcel, Principal Investigator). Further information on the study is available from Project Officer Jo Anne Grunbaum, Ed.D., at vog.cdc@9gpj .

Cite this Page National Research Council (US) and Institute of Medicine (US) Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Fischhoff B, Nightingale EO, Iannotta JG, editors. Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Concepts and Measurement. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2001. 1, Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Overview.
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MOSCOW WIDENS NEW POLICY LINE; Essay, Scored During Rule of Khrushchev, Praised for View of Hard Rural Life

MOSCOW, Dec. 26—A growing reversal of the policies of former Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev, especially in agriculture, was‐extended today to the field of literary criticism.

The literary‐union newspaper Literaturnaya Gazeta published a laudatory review of Yefim Dorosh's essay “Half Rain, Half Sunshine,” which gives what is widely regarded as a realistic depiction of the countryside of central European Russia.

The essay, published last summer in the liberal literary monthly Novy Mir, was violently attacked in the Soviet press just before Mr. Khrushchev's overthrow in October as misrepresenting life in rural areas.

One critique, by L. Lebedev, a collective farm chairman from the Galich area northeast of Moscow, appeared in Selskaya Zhizn (Rural Life), the farm newspaper of the Communist party's Central Committee over whose content Mr. Khrushchev had direct control.

Mr. Lebedev charged Mr. Dorosh with conveying a picture of “prerevolutionary dreariness, despondency, stagnation, and complete hopelessness drifting from every page.”

The farm chairman accused the author of concentrating attention “on an old monastery, an ancient lake, an abandoned grave of some count instead of writing, say, about the new widescreen moviehouse.”

Mr. Lebedev said Mr. Dorosh had misrepresented the cultural level of farm youth and the rural intelligentsia by depicting them as “primitive, uneducated people without interest in literature or the arts.”

Mr. Dorosh had written that the residents of his fictitious country town of Raigorod “read little, went, to be sure, to the movies, but had not been in the regional museum, in the picture gallery, in the theater or at the philharmonic concert.”

Today's review in Literaturnaya Gazeta by Vladimir Voronov, a critic, contended that Mr. Dorosh had performed a useful service by drawing attention to problems that continued to bedevil Soviet agriculture and life in the countryside.

The essay, published while Mr. Khrushchev was still in power, questioned the effectiveness of some reforms inspired by the former Premier and criticized the continuing close supervision of farm production and the imposition of output plans from above.

In an evident allusion to Mr. Khrushchev's style of running Soviet agriculture, Mr. Voronov wrote:

“Dorosh regards the struggle for a growth of the rural economy not as a short‐lived, noisy campaign but as a long, complicated haul.”

Mr. Voronov assailed the farm chairman for having judged the essay simply on the basis that his own area was more prosperous than the one pictured in “Half Rain, Half Sunshine.”

The reviewer said it was not literary criticism to say:

“We live better” and to tell “about a milkmaid who had obtained 800 quarts of milk more from a cow than in the previous year.”

The controversial essay is part of a series of “rural diaries” that Mr. Dorosh, a resident of Moscow, has been writing since 1956 on the basis of periodic visits to an unidentified small town and the surrounding countryside in central Russia.

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Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal focused on research, policy and care for vulnerable children and young people.. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies addresses vulnerability in childhood from scholarly and experiential perspectives with the ultimate goal of improving the lives of children. The journal provides a much-needed interdisciplinary ...
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What’s the Problem? Youth and Vulnerability in a Global Perspective

Abby Hardgrove

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Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Concepts and Measurement (2001)

INTRODUCTION

Assessing the Burden of Adolescent Vulnerability

Creating a New Research Base

PAPER AND DISCUSSION SUMMARIES

INTEGRATIVE SUMMARY

A Comprehensive Approach Is Needed

Adolescents Differ in Their Needs, Wants, and Circumstances

Careful Research Matters

Research Must Be Communicated Effectively

Deliberative Social Mechanisms Are Needed to Set Priorities

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

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Introduction: What Is Vulnerability, and Why Does It Matter for Moral Theory?

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Youth Vulnerability and Exclusion (YOVEX) in West Africa: Synthesis Report

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Introduction

Role of places

Role of policies

Role of participation

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Conflict of interest

Publisher's note

This article is part of the Research Topic

Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Concepts and Measurement.

1 Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Overview

Assessing the Burden of Adolescent Vulnerability

Creating a New Research Base

A Comprehensive Approach Is Needed

Adolescents Differ in Their Needs, Wants, and Circumstances

Careful Research Matters

Research Must Be Communicated Effectively

Deliberative Social Mechanisms Are Needed to Set Priorities

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MOSCOW WIDENS NEW POLICY LINE; Essay, Scored During Rule of Khrushchev, Praised for View of Hard Rural Life

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