Problems in Adolescents: What Are the Psychological, Social and Financial Consequences?

Adolescence is a time of change and a period of personal and social transition, which imposes a degree of risk taking with the goal of achieving developmental benefits associated with these changes. Transitions often present opportunities to modify behaviour as old conditions of social life are replaced by new ones. These are phases when new conditions, rules, and structures are not yet clear and the applicability of the old conditions, rules, and structures is diminished in light of biological, psychological, and social adaptation [1,2]. Behavioural problems are often defined as disorders that contradict specific age-specific, cultural, and social values and norms. Internalized and externalized disorders in early life constantly cause a number of related personal and social problems in later life if left untreated. Behavioural problems often lead to aggressive behaviour, anxiety, stress, addiction, strained relationships, decreased self-esteem, alienation, and social exclusion, with profound direct and indirect effects on the child’s cognitive, social, and learning development. This might have negative short-term and long-term effects on the individual’s personal, social, and professional life [3,4,5]. This Special Issue is focused on the theoretical, empirical, and practical research implications of various risk and protective factors from the perspective of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model or ecological systems theory [6]. The aim is to examine individual, personal, and social factors from the microsystem to the macrosystemic levels [6,7]. For this Special Issue “Problems in adolescents: What Are the Psychological, Social and Financial Consequences?”, 10 manuscripts were received, with 5 eventually selected for publication after a rigorous review process. Below is a brief presentation of each published article. The invited contributors were asked to provide novel perspectives on contemporary research approaches in the field of risky and problem behaviours in youth. The topics were focused on risk factors, as well as broader potential social agents and cultural influences (education, health and social welfare, community life and civil society), in the aetiology of problem behaviour in adolescence.

Borić, Ćorić, and Prskalo [8] in their paper “Experiences of Adolescent Participation in Educational Institutions in Croatia” described adolescent participation from two perspectives, namely prescribed and formalized, in the form of beneficiary councils in educational institutions and in the form of adolescents’ experiences in institutions. A qualitative approach using focus groups with adolescents and descriptions of beneficiary councils was implemented through online questionnaires. The results emphasise the importance of adolescents’ rights, as well as a lack of their fulfilment in educational institutions, especially in terms of their participation. Adolescents’ participation in educational institutions was perceived as limited, characterized by a restriction and a lack of choice, resulting in decreased motivation for participation. Beneficiary councils, despite being regulated in terms of legislation, are not considered a significant form of child participation in educational institutions.

Pavić [9] in his paper “The Impact of Civic and Religious Social Capital on the Antisocial Attitudes of the Youth: A Multi-Level Cross-National Study” investigated whether various dimensions of civic and religious social capital were connected to antisocial attitudes among youth. Based on social capital theory and previous research, the study assumed that memberships in voluntary associations (as a dimension of civic social capital) and attendance at religious services (as a dimension of religious social capital) would be negatively correlated with adolescent antisocial attitudes. The integrated dataset of the last European Values Study and the World Values Survey waves was used as the sources of the research data. The dataset comprised 11,411 adolescent respondents under the age of 25 from 79 countries. At the individual level, attendance at religious services was negatively correlated with antisocial attitudes, whereas membership of voluntary associations was positively correlated with antisocial attitudes. None of the hypothesized correlations were confirmed at national levels. A cross-level interaction between GDP and associational membership was found. The findings were explained through the special characteristics of religious social capital and its strength in building moral obligations, as well as through possible differences in incentives for joining voluntary associations in the countries with different levels of economic wealth.

Šincek [10] in her paper “The Revised Version of the Committing and Experiencing Cyber-Violence Scale and Its Relation to Psychosocial Functioning and Online Behavioral Problems” aimed to explore the psychometric properties of the revised Committing and Experiencing Cyber-Violence Scale: its latent structure, reliability, and descriptive statistics of underlying dimensions, as well as the relation of some known correlates of cyber-violence, such indicators of psychosocial functioning and online behavioural problems, with cyber-violence. Online questionnaires (cyber-violence, depression, anxiety and stress, problematic Internet use, and problematic gaming) were filled out by 1725 adolescents from a convenience sample. Using exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis, the questionnaire’s latent structure and contribution of relevant correlates for explaining cyber-violence variance were examined. The study reported a five-factor solution with satisfactory reliability that included shaming, information manipulation, hate speech, technology abuse, and information sharing. Gender (male), grades, maternal education, depression, anxiety, stress, problematic Internet use, and problematic gaming were positive predictors of experiencing cyber-violence, whereas gender (male), grades, hours spent online on weekdays, depression, anxiety, stress, problematic Internet use, and problematic gaming were positive predictors of committing cyber-violence. The main conclusion was that cyber-violence was connected to lower psychosocial functioning and more risky behaviour online.

Mazilescu et al. [11] in their paper “Student Perception of the Social Value of Responsible Management” investigated the social value attributed to responsible management by students of a technical university using a study set of seven values attributed to responsible management and their utility and social desirability on a personal, organisational, and societal level with 60 participants in Romania. They had to assess, on four scales of seven points each, the value of a person characterised by one of the seven values attributed to responsible management. The results demonstrated that efficiency is the value perceived by students as being the most desirable for responsible management, while utility was the most appreciated in terms of social utility, with an effect of the context in which these values are perceived. Efficiency, audacity, dedication, and integrity were perceived as more useful at an organisational level, while solidarity was perceived as more useful on a societal level. At the organisational level, women appreciated people who were efficient, had integrity, or were humble compared to men.

Stenberg and Fryk [12] in their paper “Making School Children’s Participation in Planning Processes a Routine Practice” investigated unexplored topics, particularly concerning what is needed for children’s participation to become a regular process. Based on case studies in Sweden, this article drew conclusions that it is quite possible to organize ordinary processes where children participate in community building in collaboration with planners as part of regular schoolwork. The key conclusions were that this process needs to occur in close collaboration with teachers and pupils in a system-challenging manner. The authors concluded that rather than looking for tools with the potential to work in the existing school and planners’ world, it was important to design research that aimed to create learning processes with the potential to change every day praxis, with an emphasis on children’s participation.

As scientific efforts and findings do not happen in spontaneous or individual activities, we would like to thank all the stakeholders who helped the successful completion of this project that is now offered to our respected readers. We extend our gratitude to Prof. Dr. Gregor Wolbring, Societies Editor-in-Chief, for the confidence placed on us by accepting our call for proposals for this Special Issue “Problems in Adolescents: What Are the Psychological, Social and Financial Consequences?”. We acknowledge all the authors who submitted manuscripts, as well the respected reviewers whose evaluation work was essential and critical to the quality of these publications, and the entire Editorial office with special thanks to Alice Li, whose professionalism and help enabled the materialization of our finalised issue.

In conclusion, it is important to emphasize that this Special Issue could be an especially useful platform for promoting the potential of social sciences in the process of understanding and research of problem behaviour in adolescents. These findings are important in the application of social and educational efforts that help preserve adolescent health, safety, and prosperity, especially with regards to the ongoing pandemic and stress-related factors contributing to adolescent risk behaviour and potential vulnerability.