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Open research questions in Youth Development and Social Support

84 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 1,727 Youth Development and Social Support papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • Fur- ther, future research should examine differential effects by race or ethnicity, taking into account unique barriers and strengths that may influence how youth with ADHD benefit from each type of extracurricular activity.

    Cultivating Strengths: Extracurricular Activity Participation in Relation to Psychological Wellbeing and Social Functioning in Adolescents with and without ADHD · 2026 · DOI

  • Several limitations faced by this study provide avenues for future research. First, the sample was limited to universi- ties in Hanoi, which may not fully represent other regions or demographic groups. Variations in sociodemographic, geographical, and cultural factors could significantly influ- ence perceptions of Vovinam and its connection to national identity. Second, the cross-sectional design of the study restricted its capacity to assess causal relationships between variables, as data were collected at a single time point. Thirdly, although these factors are significant motivators and influencers for practitioners, the study did not explore other key influences, such as social interactions with family and friends. Future research should broaden its scope by conducting surveys across different locations and regions of Vietnam to address these limitations and develop a more comprehensive understanding. Additionally, longitudinal studies would help trace the changing patterns of engage- ment with traditional martial arts, providing insights into how motivation and participation in Vovinam evolve. To support and promote traditional values and national identity, the study’s findings also recommend integrating Vovinam into physical education and cultural curricula. Implementing these suggestions in future research could strengthen and deepen the insights gained.

    Investigating Youth’s Motivation for Practising Traditional Martial Art – Vovinam: Moderating Role of National Identity · 2026 · DOI

  • Importantly, these findings may help explain the mixed results observed in recent studies of structured intergroup programs in divided societies (Mousa, 2020; Scacco & Warren, 2018).

    Cross-group friends and feeling empowered in intergroup contact programs: Mediating pathways and practical strategies for divided societies · 2026 · DOI

  • Adolescents in Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) settlements face unique psychosocial challenges that contribute to disciplinary problems, yet systematic evidence remains limited.

    Disciplinary Problems Among FELDA Adolescents: A Systematic Literature Review · 2026 · DOI

  • critical directions These case studies demonstrate how PYD processes operate across specific sociopolitical, digital, and mental health contexts that have been underrepresented in prior research and highlight several future PYD research with for marginalized youth. First, PYD frameworks should explicitly include factors for sociopolitical thriving that are unique to specific groups of adolescents, such as those from rural African American communities, while also identifying additional constructs related to positive development among these adolescents. An increasing number of studies have begun to extend PYD frameworks to include constructs that are salient in the lives of adolescents from marginalized backgrounds. For instance, the 5Cs PYD framework has now been extended to 6 or 7 C’s to include contribution and critical consciousness (Gonzalez et al., 2020). Our findings also further underscore that PYD measurement is inherently theory-laden: instruments that prioritize individual competencies while omitting culturally grounded assets—such as critical consciousness, digital flourishing, and socioecological resilience—risk systematically underestimating thriving among youth of color. Across these case studies, thriving emerged through relational, contextual, sociopolitical, and digital processes that fall outside dominant measurement traditions. The digital flourishing case study (Case Study 2) further demonstrates that construct validity and equivalence cannot be assumed across groups and must be empirically tested; without such practices, PYD research risks conflating measurement limitations with developmental limitations. These findings are consistent with previous research highlighting that methodological rigor should be evaluated in terms of both statistical adequacy and developmental validity. For instance, Tirrell et al. (2023) evaluated a PYD measure of youth perceptions of being known and loved in Rwanda and El Salvador to establish measurement invariance and support the use of theory-predicated measures for use in evaluating PYD programs in low- and middle-income countries.

    Broadening positive youth development: culturally-grounded assets that foster thriving among youth of color · 2026 · DOI

  • This tension presents an urgent challenge: how can evidence-based psychological interventions be realistically integrated into time-constrained educational settings? This scoping review systematically identified evidence-based, stand-alone, and brief PPIs that could be explored for potential classroom integration, while highlighting the need for future research.

    Evermore Wellbeing for Teens: A Scoping Review of Stand-alone and Brief Positive Psychology Interventions for Potential Use in Educational Settings · 2025 · DOI

  • Despite the current utilization of videos as a means to sustain and/or support PBIS initiatives, the supports for creating and procedures for disseminating videos remain unclear.

    Using Videos to Promote Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports: A Qualitative Study · 2019 · DOI

  • The main findings from this systematic review are that a limited set of methods are used in sail training research; participants experience a positive long-term effect in regard to personal and social domains; structured program design can lead to better specified outcomes; and the effects of demographic characteristics such as gender, age, or socioeconomic background remain unexplored.

    Sail Training: A Systematic Review · 2017 · DOI

  • It has been suggested that a comprehensive, school-based approach, including prudent use of time before, during and after the school day may be an effective way to increase overall physical activity, but little is known about why urban students voluntarily participate in these extracurricular programmes.

    Why inner-city high-school students attend after-school physical activity clubs · 2015 · DOI

  • Background: Offering physical activity clubs (PACs) for students in urban high schools can provide avenues for increased physical activity (PA); however, little is known about why some clubs are not successful.

    Challenges in Offering Inner-City After-School Physical Activity Clubs · 2014 · DOI

  • To date, little is known about SROs; thus, using data from a single state (n = 149), this study examined the characteristics and functions of newbies (i.

    The Characteristics and Activities of School Resource Officers: Are Newbies Different than Veterans? · 2011 · DOI

  • Sociopolitical control (SPC) is generally considered to be a vital element of the intrapersonal component of psychological empowerment, despite contradictory findings concerning the dimensionality of the construct when applied to a youth population.

    Measuring youth empowerment: validation of a Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth in an urban community context · 2011 · DOI

  • Despite the increasing popularity of involving young people in the processes that affect their lives and communities, little is known about the demonstrated impacts that such participatory programming has on young people (Gray & Hayes, 2008; Zeldin, 2000).

    PROTOCOL: Youth empowerment programs for improving self‐efficacy and self‐esteem of adolescents · 2010 · DOI

  • While TPSR is widely used in practice and has a growing empirical base, few studies have examined the degree of transference of its four primary goals beyond the scope of a given program.

    Transference of responsibility model goals to the school environment: exploring the impact of a coaching club program · 2009 · DOI

  • Rather than being easily parsed for further research into independent and dependent variables, these influences overlap, fade into, engage with and 353 supercede each other over time to co-create and mutually constitute learning environments.

    Youth Participatory Evaluation: A Field in the Making by Kim Sabo · 2004 · DOI

  • ” The city has struggled to gentrify for nearly 30 years, claiming that its tax base is insufficient to support educational, economic, transportation, housing, health services, and other infrastructure.

    Youth Participatory Action Research on Hustling and Its Consequences: A Report from the Field · 2004 · DOI

  • Noting stu- dents spend most time away from school, at home and in the community, student wellbeing could be investigated with a wider perspective, beyond school and classroom, to understand how their broader life experiences can influence school experiences.

    Scoping review of student wellbeing policies for Australian school systems · 2026 · DOI

  • Therefore, the review’s source scope is limited by absence of policies available to only internal staff of jurisdictional government departments for education.

    Scoping review of student wellbeing policies for Australian school systems · 2026 · DOI

  • Conclusions This combined evaluability assessment and feasibility study suggests that the eHOOD intervention is ready for larger-scale evaluation, although refinements to outcome measures and data collection procedures are warranted before effectiveness can be evaluated.

    Evaluability and feasibility of an intervention combining gaming and social activities to improve mental wellbeing and health behaviour in adolescents facing social challenges · 2026 · DOI

  • Background: Grit is often celebrated as a predictor of youth success in sport, but little is known about how it develops over time through social and relational contexts.

    Inside-Out and Outside-In: Dual Pathways of Grit Development in Youth Powerlifting · 2026 · DOI

  • Yet, even given the growth of sport-based PYD research over the last two decades, much remains unknown about specific programmatic design features.

    Empowering Youth Through the Power of Reflective Journaling: Understanding Life Skills from the Reflections of Youth · 2025 · DOI

  • Helpseeking has not been investigated in the led outdoor activity (LOA) domain, in which thousands of adolescents participate annually.

    Gender differences in adolescents’ help-seeking behaviours and intentions for psychosocial problems in led outdoor activities · 2024 · DOI

  • While the findings highlight the Cs experienced and predictive values among each variable in the Nigerian context, future research could consider how each domain of the 5Cs holistically promotes contribution equally in males and females among diverse Nigerian youth.

    Demographics and Five Cs of PYD as Predictors of the Domains of Contribution among Youth in Nigeria · 2024 · DOI

  • Justice settings provide potentially critical spaces for realizing the benefits of sport, but barriers in access among justice-affiliated youth persist, and little is known about programs in this setting.

    The role of sport in juvenile justice: benefits according to key informants · 2024 · DOI

  • Abstract While interest pursuits are widely recognized as being inherently contextual, what this contextuality entails for different interests has not been explored systematically.

    Unraveling the contextuality of adolescents’ interest pursuits in daily life: four latent configurations · 2023 · DOI

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84 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 1,727 Youth Development and Social Support papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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