Positive youth development in the global recession

December 1, 2014

Patricio Cumsille, Bernadine Brady, Mary Agnes Hamilton, Stephen Hamilton, Loreto Martínez, and Susana Núñez Rodríguez.

Stephen Hamilton (BCTR associate director for youth development) organized and chaired a symposium on Youth-Adult Relationships as Assets for Positive Youth Development: Similarities and Variations in Different Countries for the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Special Topic Meeting on Positive Youth Development in the Context of the Global Recession in Prague. Mary Agnes Hamilton delivered a paper by Stephen Hamilton, David L. DuBois, and Deborah E. Sellers, Functional Roles & Social Contexts of Important Adults Identified by Youth in the US. The other included papers were:

• How Do Mentors Support Young People? Qualitative Evidence from an Irish Study by Patrick Dolan and Bernadine Brady (presenter), National University of Ireland, Galway
• Quality of Youth-Adult Relationships and Sociopolitical Control: Mediating Role of Identity by M. Loreto Martínez (presenter), Patricio Cumsille, Ignacio Loyola Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, and Cristina Valenzuela Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago
• Differences in Youth Perceived Autonomy According to Socio-economic Characteristics in the Brazilian Context by Susana Núñez Rodríguez (presenter), and Silvia Koller, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Youth have been particularly hard hit by the global economic recession. Many young people are trapped in endless cycles of unemployment, underemployment and being forced back to education due to a lack of work. Skilled young graduates often decide to migrate to wealthier countries for a better future. However, the economic crisis may also have long-lasting and pervasive consequences on youth’s adaptation and development. It thwarts the aspirations and goals for the future of young people, and presents serious obstacles in their professional and personal adaptation. This conference examined

• the effects of the economic downturn for youth’s adaptation and development;
• what makes a difference for those who are able to more successfully navigate through this situation;
• how to support youth to become the engines of hope and change in their countries;
• and what scientists from different countries can learn from each other.