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A successful component of programs designed to deliver youth leadership develop programs are youth educators who understand the importance of utilizing research-based information and seeking professional development opportunities. The purpose of this study was to determine youth educator’s perceived confidence in leading youth leadership development programs. Study objectives included describing types of youth leadership development training received by youth educators, describing the number of hours of youth leadership development training received by youth educators, describing the perceived importance of youth leadership development training received by youth educators, describing youth leadership development training delivery mode preferences of youth educators, determining if the addition of hours of training received and the perception of the importance of youth leadership training improved the prediction of perceived confidence beyond that provided by differences in selected demographic variables (gender, age, years of service, education level, office location). The target population for this study was southern region 4-H youth development educators. Results of this study indicate that perceived importance of youth leadership development training is predictive of youth educator’s confidence level in teaching youth leadership development.

Youth leadership development programs are a cornerstone of many youth serving organizations. The importance of youth leadership development to the core goals of programs is illustrated by its explicit inclusion in program logic models as well as its implicit presence when older youth serve in teaching and mentoring roles for younger youth. The success or failure of a youth leadership development program may be linked to many factors, one of which is the educator who leads the program. Youth educators influence program success in many ways. The focus of this study is to explore educators’ prior experiences as well as their perceived confidence in delivering youth leadership development programming. Given the strong connections between a person’s beliefs and behaviors, it is important to understand youth educators’ beliefs within the context of their prior experiences (Ajzen, Joyce, Sheikh, & Cote, 2011). This study seeks to expand the literature about youth educators’ youth leadership development training beliefs. It has practical implications for developing professional development trainings for youth educators as well as theoretical implications for advancing a deeper understanding of educators’ core beliefs about training specifically related to youth leadership development.

The reasons for and experiences during migration, as well as additional stressors in the new host country, may give rise to mental health problems and additional need for public services. The purpose of the study was to investigate factors related to service utilization among newly arrived refugee youth.

Cross-sectional data were gathered in Sweden where 37 youth aged between 19 and 23 reported on factors related to service utilization, encompassing health-care and support services in school. These factors included predisposition (demographic), need (migration status and mental wellbeing) and enablement (living situation). Service utilization was estimated using multiple logistic regression analysis.

About a fourth of the sample used psychosocial services. Use of general support was more common. Neither predisposing, need nor enabling factors were associated with the use of psychosocial or general health-related services.

Self-reported factors related to use of health-related services have previously not been investigated for refugee youth, which is important in assuring access to appropriate services for this exposed youth population.

This paper considers the potential of social media for developing public services. The paper approaches social media as a context that can provide information that might otherwise be unattainable. The focus of analysis is on a special hard-to-reach group of marginalized youths who appear to have isolated themselves from society.

The authors answer the question: How can the experiences of socially withdrawn youth as shared on social media be used to enrich the knowledge base relating to the initiation phase of co-creation of public services? The data retrieved from the Finnish discussion forum are analyzed using the combination of unsupervised machine learning and discourse analysis.

The paper contributes by outlining a method that can be applied to identify expertise-by-experience from digital stories shared by marginalized youths. To overcome the challenges of making socially withdrawn youths real contributors to the co-creation of public services, this paper suggests several theoretical and managerial implications.

Co-creation assumes an interactive and dynamic relationship where value is created at the nexus of interaction. However, the evidence base for successful co-creation, particularly with digital technology, is limited. This paper fills the gap by providing findings from a case study that investigated how social media discussions can be a stimulus to enrich the knowledge base of the co-creation of public services.

The study presents the push–pull motives and behavioural intentions of youth tourists and how these provide the foundation for the planning and development of Ghana’s tourism future. Since youth tourism (YT) is regarded as a niche market globally, the purpose of this paper is to identify the prospects of this form of tourism in a developing nation.

The study has utilised a convenience sampling approach in gathering data from 557 youth tourists, adapting existing instruments for measuring push–pull motives, satisfaction and behavioural intentions. The reliability and validity of the instruments were established through confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s α analyses. Structural equation modelling is used to establish relationships.

The results revealed the positive effects of push and pull factors on tourists’ satisfaction as well as the significant influence of tourists’ satisfaction on youth behavioural intentions. However, push factors positively influenced pull factors of youth tourists.

The conclusion and recommendations of this study might not be congruent with the factors that motivate adults or student tourism, satisfaction and behavioural intentions.

The findings of the research validate the viability of YT activities and the behavioural intentions for future tourism market in Ghana. Ghana’s tourism sector should design interesting and competitive offers that attract youth tourists and address tourism growth.

To date, investigation into motives, satisfaction and behavioural intentions of youth tourists as the basis for future tourism development remains a virgin field in Ghana. This study has timely attempted to address this gap.

This study aims to explore the differences in the travel behaviour of Indonesian youth of Generations Y and Z in the pre-, during and post-travel stages and their associated use of information and communication technology.

Data were gathered through a questionnaire that was distributed via the internet for six weeks; 569 people provided their full responses. Chi-square tests and linear regression were used for data analysis.

These generations use digital media and word of mouth differently when searching for travel information. The differences are also apparent in the pre-, during and post-travel stages. Generation Z tends to use digital media and share travel experiences through a certain social media platform more frequently than Generation Y.

This study covers the travel history prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic and equalises the situation in these two periods. The number of samples was relatively small to capture the current population of both generations.

This study promotes a new understanding of the travel behaviours of the two generations based on the stages of the travel examined. The findings suggest that the travel industry can distinguish between promotional media and types of services to serve each of the generational cohorts more effectively.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to reveal differences in travel behaviour between Generations Y and Z in Indonesia.

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyse the effect of a set of determinants on initial trust and behavioural intention to use financial robo-advisors (FRAs).

The theory of perceived risk and the behavioural finance paradigm were used to develop a conceptual model of retail investors’ initial trust in FRAs. Data collected from 554 young retail investors (YRIs) from Sweden and Malaysia were analysed using structural equation modelling.

The results of this study indicate that the amount of public information, social media information-seeking and a rational decision style are significantly related to initial trust in FRAs, which in turn is significantly and positively related to the behavioural intention to use this technology. However, none of the risks under study significantly affect the initial trust in FRAs.

Information is vital to inducing YRIs to rely on FRAs, so the more public and social media information is available, the higher their intention to use this technology. However, YRIs vary in decision style, and the results suggest implementing a more sophisticated system than the current “one-size-fits-all” approach to YRI behaviour.

The empirical-based model enhances the knowledge of the initial phase of trust-building, when YRIs lack sufficient experience of FRAs. By collecting data from two countries, the study’s novel conclusions may help in developing effective FRA services for the youth segment.

Much of the research on intimate partner violence focuses on adults, and little of it emanates from the Global-South. The study reported upon in this chapter is aimed at addressing these gaps. Adopting a Southern Feminist Framework, it discusses findings from interviews with Brasilian and Australian advocates working on prevention of youth IPV. Participants from both countries noted disturbing instances of digital coercive control among the youth with whom they work, as well as underlying factors such as gender-based discrimination that simultaneously contribute to the prevalence of such behaviors, as well as their normalization among young people. However, they also emphasized the positive role that technology can play in distributing educational programming that reaches young people where they are and circumvents conservative agendas that in some cases keep education about gender discrimination and healthy relationships out of schools.

This project provides instructors seeking to integrate Service Learning (SL) into collegiate level courses a model for future use and adoption. Approximately 60 students in a collegiate youth leadership course and two collegiate student organizations participated in a SL project at an environmental center in West Philadelphia. The majority of students who participated were enrolled in either the youth leadership development course or in a special topics course on SL. In both instances students were exposed to service learning from an historical and operational perspective and participated in guided reflection at the completion of the project. The SL project allowed the instructors to model a unique experiential learning strategy that could be adopted by future agricultural education instructors, 4-H youth development educators, collegiate or youth organizations.

Leadership education is a prominent component of youth programming. In their efforts to promote leadership development, most youth programs promote character development and teach interpersonal skills but fall short in teaching leadership because they fail to encourage the use of authority. In this paper, we present the stories of five late adolescent exemplars as a case study of youth leadership emergence through volunteerism. These youth demonstrated leadership by transitioning from participating in community service activities to becoming organizers of their own beneficent efforts. Through a qualitative analysis of interviews with these adolescent leaders, we present themes that were important to their emergence as leaders. We then discuss how these findings should be used to inform youth development programs that are designed to encourage youth leadership through volunteerism.

This conceptual/study protocol paper provides important context around the role of sport in Australia where sport provides aspects of community agency through participation, organisation and volunteerism. It provides a descriptive analysis of how sport assists young people in developing physical and mental ”fitness” through its community orientation. However, it also provides discussion around the potential of a “generation lost” to sport as a consequence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The conceptual nature of this paper means that the data collection underpinning this research has not yet been conducted. However, given that we have applied for human research ethics along with having accrued sporting clubs and organisations eager to be involved in the research, we are planning to roll out this research by mid 2020. The design will be based on mixed methods approach whereby large-scale surveys together with focus groups and interviews will be central to the research data collection process. This research is unique given the nature of the time in which it exists. The last global pandemic was around 100 years ago when sport did not play such a significant role in society. Understanding the implications of the pandemic on young people and to the sporting clubs and organisations will be key in re-establishing sport as a central component of community agency towards the physical and mental health of young people. The urgency of understanding this is key to assisting the loss of potential young people to sport and the benefits that go with it to the individual, the community, and society as a whole.