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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Joemer Maravilla

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Guest Editor

Institute for Social Science Research, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia
Interests: reproductive health; mental health; systematic reviews; monitoring and evaluation

Dr. Natalie Thomas

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Guest Editor

Institute for Social Science Research, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia
Interests: qualitative research; gender; substance use; policy analysis; monitoring and evaluation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The steady increase in the world’s population of young people indicates the need for programs that would maximize their potentials as well as promoting health and wellbeing. Without proper support, we are setting our next generation towards poor health trajectories and social disadvantage. Despite several campaigns and strategies set at international, national, and local levels, interventions and programs need to evolve and utilize the current best available evidence as the adolescent population remains dynamic.

This Special Issue aims to understand the protective characteristics and risks of young people, especially from disadvantaged settings, through the health and social science perspective. It also explores stories and learnings from adolescent-responsive interventions, initiatives, and programs which aimed to strengthen and empower young people to make decisions about their health and wellbeing. This issue also encourages papers regarding the impact of COVID-19 on adolescents.

Dr. Joemer Maravilla
Dr. Natalie Thomas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

social determinants of adolescent health and wellbeing
adolescent indicators of better outcomes in later years
strengths-based approach in adolescent health

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 2847 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Role of Libraries in Human Flourishing: Adolescents’ Motivational Orientation for Occupation

by Yusuke Matsuyama and Takeo Fujiwara

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(21), 11209; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph182111209 - 25 Oct 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1783

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescence is crucial for human flourishing and strongly influences having meaning in life. We investigated the association between local public library density as a shared resource and motivational orientation toward their occupation in Japanese adolescents. Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted using data from a nationwide birth cohort survey in Japan (n = 12,184). At age 7, their caregivers answered questionnaires on children including the number of books read. Library density (low, moderate, or high) in each municipality was obtained from national statistics. At age 15, the adolescents indicated whether they had decided on an occupation and selected motivational orientations from among intrinsic (own ability and interest), extrinsic (high earnings, social class, or job stability), and altruistic (social contribution) orientations. Multilevel linear probability models were fitted, adjusting for confounders, including household socioeconomic status and city size. Results: Intrinsic, extrinsic, and altruistic motivations for desired occupation were reported by 40.7%, 31.9% and 41.8% of participants, respectively. Living in a municipality with a high library density at age 7 was associated with having intrinsic motivation at age 15 than low density by 3.1 percentage points (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.35, 5.85). The association was more prominent for those with lower income (P for interaction = 0.026). Neither extrinsic nor altruistic motivations were associated with library density (coefficient: −0.13; 95% CI: −2.81, 2.56; coefficient: 0.08; 95% CI: −2.72, 2.88 percentage points, respectively). Conclusions: Developing libraries in communities could encourage intrinsic motivation in adolescents, specifically for those in low-income households. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Young People’s Outcomes through the Lens of Health and Social Science)

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Other

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12 pages, 543 KiB

Open AccessProtocol

The ACTyourCHANGE in Teens Study Protocol: An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-Based Intervention for Adolescents with Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial

by Anna Guerrini Usubini, Roberto Cattivelli, Vanessa Bertuzzi, Giorgia Varallo, Alessandro Alberto Rossi, Clarissa Volpi, Michela Bottacchi, Sofia Tamini, Alessandra De Col, Giada Pietrabissa, Stefania Mannarini, Gianluca Castelnuovo, Enrico Molinari and Alessandro Sartorio

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(12), 6225; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18126225 - 09 Jun 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2920

Abstract

This Randomized Controlled Trial [(RCT) aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)-based intervention combined with treatment as usual (TAU) compared to TAU only in improving psychological conditions in a sample of adolescents with obesity (body mass index, BMI > 97th percentile for age and sex) within the context of a wider multidisciplinary rehabilitation program for weight loss. Fifty consecutive adolescents (12–17 years) of both genders with obesity will be recruited among the patients hospitalized in a clinical center for obesity rehabilitation and randomly allocated into two experimental conditions: ACT + TAU vs. TAU only. Both groups will attend a three-week in-hospital multidisciplinary rehabilitation program for weight loss. The ACT + TAU condition comprises a psychological intervention based on ACT combined with a standard psychological assessment and support to the hospitalization. The TAU comprises the standard psychological assessment and support to the hospitalization. At pre- to post-psychological intervention, participants will complete the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth, the Psychological Well-Being Scale, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and the Emotional Eating subscale of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire to assess psychological well-being as the primary outcome and experiential avoidance, psychological distress, emotional dysregulation, and emotional eating as secondary outcomes. Repeated-measures ANOVAs (2 × 2) will be conducted. The study will assess the effectiveness of a brief ACT-based intervention for adolescents with obesity in improving their psychological conditions by targeting specific core processes of the ACT framework (openness, awareness, and engagement). Future directions of the study will assess whether these psychological processes will contribute to addressing long-term weight loss. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Young People’s Outcomes through the Lens of Health and Social Science)

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