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The aim of the current paper is to examine if participants attitudes and perceptions regarding risk leads to subsequent risky behaviours as this is indicative of sexual health and teenage pregnancy. The second aim was to explore if sense of coherence (SOC) (a predictor of mental health) mediates the relationship between perceived risk and risky health behaviours (RHB), or even be used as an indicator for RHB.

Young people from a targeted youth mental health programme for “at risk” teenagers, were asked to complete a battery of measures: SOC, The Adolescent Risk Behaviour Survey (ARBS) and RHB post-programme.

RHB such as drinking alcohol, taking drugs and smoking, correlated positively with attitudes to risk and negatively with SOC. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that there was a significant relationship between ARBS and reported health behaviour, which was strengthened by SOC. SOC contributes to the relationship between attitudes and perception of risk and RHB, whereby individuals with stronger SOC were less likely to partake in RHB. Qualitative analysis revealed that the components of SOC (comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness) were perceptible six months minimum after the programme has been undertaken.

The present research was unable to obtain SOC baseline scores which could be used as evidence of the programme's impact. Furthermore, participants had completed the programme six months to six years previously, hence were relying on memory recall and self-report. Future research would incorporate three points of data collection on SOC in order to monitor change in relation to perceived risk and risk behaviours.

The paper provides a good framework in terms of adding value of the SOC concept for understanding the world of at risk young people and their psychological wellbeing, and a future tool for tracking whether changes occur. RHB in adolescence lead to health related problems as well as risk taking in adulthood, costing the NHS.

The intervention itself aims to target individuals at risk from being not in employment, education or training or teen parents which has wider social implications relating to educational engagement, health behaviours and the community.

The data analysis is applied to a specific group of at risk young people, on a novel intervention which uses an experiential learning model in order to encourage self awareness through the interaction with toddlers, as well as build self efficacy, improve mental health, self-esteem and decision making ability. The battery of measures used in combination within the research context is unique.

Within the framework of an ongoing cluster‐randomized effectiveness trial of a parental prevention program, the aim of the present study is to investigate attitudes towards under‐age drinking and use of program components, i.e. alcohol‐specific parenting behaviors, in parents who did and did not take part in the programme.

Non‐parametric tests were used to analyze cross‐sectional data from 1,239 14‐year‐olds and their parents, collected at a 12‐month follow‐up.

Strict attitudes and alcohol‐specific rule‐setting were more frequently reported among parents in the experimental group than among parents in the control group (89.2 v. 81.7 percent, p < 0.001, respectively 92.8 v. 88.5 percent, p < 0.01). Parental reports were supported by that significantly fewer youths in the experimental group reported being served alcohol at home (36.6 v. 44.7 percent, p < 0.01).

Most of the measures were not included at the baseline measurement. However, the validity of the results is increased by the finding that parent and youth reports converge.

The results substantiate a previous study finding on maintained attitudinal restrictivity and extend one's knowledge on parents' use of programme components (e.g. having and communicating alcohol‐specific rules). The present study tentatively suggests that two brief presentations to parents might result in changes in alcohol‐specific parenting.

Social marketing benchmark criteria were used to understand the extent to which single-substance alcohol education programmes targeting adolescents in middle and high school settings sought to change behaviour, utilised theory, included audience research and applied the market segmentation process. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A systematic literature review retrieved a total of 1,495 identified articles; 565 duplicates were removed. The remaining 930 articles were then screened. Articles detailing formative research or programmes targeting multiple substances, parents, families and/or communities, as well as elementary schools and universities were excluded. A total of 31 articles, encompassing 16 qualifying programmes, were selected for detailed evaluation.

The majority of alcohol education programmes were developed on the basis of theory and achieved short- and medium-term behavioural effects. Importantly, most programmes were universal and did not apply the full market segmentation process. Limited audience research in the form of student involvement in programme design was identified.

This systematic literature review focused on single-substance alcohol education programmes targeted at middle and high school student populations, retrieving studies back to the year 2000.

The results of this systematic literature review indicate that application of the social marketing benchmark criteria of market segmentation and audience research may represent an avenue for further extending alcohol education programme effectiveness in middle and high school settings.

This study aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of social exclusion research, examining its evolution and identifying emerging trends and influential contributions in the field.

Using bibliometric and thematic analysis of 3,041 Scopus database documents, the study uses tools like VOSviewer for network analysis and Biblioshiny for trend analysis, focusing on publication patterns, author contributions and thematic clusters.

The findings reveal significant growth in social exclusion research since 1979, highlighting key contributions from diverse academic fields. Notable trends include the rise of digital exclusion and environmental justice themes. The study identifies leading authors, institutions and countries contributing to this field, along with highly cited documents that have shaped the discourse on social exclusion.

The study acknowledges its reliance on Scopus data and suggests incorporating other databases for future research. It highlights the need to explore emerging topics and address literature gaps.

This paper presents a unique bibliometric perspective on social exclusion research, underscoring its interdisciplinary nature and evolving focus. The study’s comprehensive approach offers valuable insights into the field’s trajectory, contributing to a deeper understanding of social exclusion phenomena.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe adolescents’ health-related behaviours from a socio-ecological perspective. Socio-ecological factors have been widely shown to be related to health behaviours (smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity and diet) in adolescence and to affect health. The review integrates evidence with socio-ecological factors (social relationships, family, peers, schooling and environment).

The data were collected from electronic databases and by manual search consisting of articles (n=90) published during 2002-2014. The selected articles were analysed using inductive content analysis and narrative synthesis.

The findings suggest that there was a complex set of relations connected to adolescent health behaviours, also encompassing socio-ecological factors. The authors tentatively conclude that socio-ecological circumstances influence adolescents’ health-related behaviour, but that this review does not provide the full picture. There seemed to be certain key factors with a relation to behavioural outcomes that might increase health inequality among adolescents.

School health education is an important pathway for interventions to reduce unhealthy behaviours among adolescents including those related to socio-ecological factors.

Some socio-ecological factors were strongly related to health behaviours in adolescence, which may indicate an important pathway to current and future health. This paper may help schoolteachers, nurses and other school staff to understand the relationships between socio-ecological factors and health-related behaviours, which may be useful in developing health education to reduce health disparities during adolescence.

Mothers – The Silent supporters focus on the potential role of the mother in the restorative justice (RJ) process. This chapter provides a contextual framework for the research highlighting debates pertaining to RJ and parents, especially mothers. This was made possible with a grant from the BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants. The research provided a holistic understanding of social backgrounds and links between theory and the practice of RJ. The workshop provided a multi-perspective analysis of the interactions within significant relationships between mothers and sons. The author’s focus was on the role of the mother prior to the RJ process. The workshops were held in a safe space in a northern region. The mothers were from different economic and social backgrounds.

The use of virtual reality (VR) technologies in the education of autistic children has been a focus of research for over two decades. It is argued that this form of technology can provide authentic “real world” contexts that target social and life skills training in safe, controllable and repeatable virtual environments. The development of affordable VR head-mounted displays (HMD), such as Google cardboard and Oculus Rift, has seen a renewed interest in their use for a wide range of applications, including the education of autistic individuals. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A systematic search of electronic databases focussing on empirical studies on the use of VR-HMD for children and adults on the autism spectrum was undertaken.

A review of the literature identified a limited number of studies in this field characterised by differences in the type of application, technology used and participant characteristics.

Whilst there are some grounds for optimism, more research is needed on the use of this technology within educational settings to ensure robust recommendations can be made on the implementation, use and sustainability of this approach.

This paper is the first to consider the evidence base for the use of VR-HMD technology to support the needs of the autistic population.

The study is a preliminary attempt to identify cognitive factors (e.g., executive functions and intelligence) promoting resilience in youth in an underprivileged population. Sample consisted of 26 adolescents (seven female, 19 male) between the ages of 13 and 19 years (M=16.62, SD=1.53) from an underserved population who live in circumstances of poverty and family dysfunction and who had experienced multiple traumas.

Resilience was measured with the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM)-28. Intelligence, working memory, and information processing speed were the cognitive factors of interest. Socioeconomic status was the environmental factor in interest.

The protective factors (i.e. individual skills, relationship with caregivers and contextual factors) promoting resilience were correlated with cognitive factors. Further analyses yielded gender differences in these relations.

Long-held beliefs that intelligence is positively associated with resilience are brought into question by these findings. The relationship between these concepts seems to differ in accordance with socioeconomic status.