Navigating global instability: risk and resilience in youth mental health

The European Union Youth Strategy 2019-2027 aims to support the mental health and well-being of young people and build their resilience to enable them to cope with a changing world. The current global instability is contributing to the escalating anxieties faced by young people today. Newly identified contemporary risk factors impacting the mental health and well-being of this population continue to emerge in the research post-Covid pandemic. These include factors at the individual (e.g., isolation), societal (e.g., social deprivation), and global level (e.g., climate change, conflict).

There is an urgent need to identify strategies to protect the mental health and well-being of young people against these turbulent global crises. The identification of strategies focused on building resilience necessitates the meaningful engagement of young people in such research. This will enhance ecological validity and translation of findings into practice as well as empower young people to effect positive change that is meaningful to them.

This research topic aims to explore the current and emerging risk and resilience factors affecting the mental health and well-being of young people in today's global context. It seeks to identify new factors that have surfaced post-pandemic and to assess the involvement of young people in research studies aimed at developing resilience-promoting strategies. By doing so, the research topic aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how young people can be better supported in times of global crises, ultimately contributing to their empowerment and mental health.

To gather further insights into the mental health and well-being of young people during global crises, we welcome various article types addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• identification of contemporary risk factors impacting young people's mental health and well-being;
• development and evaluation of strategies that reduce risk and/or increase resilience in this vulnerable population;
• youth collaboration and empowerment in research initiatives;
• the role of societal and global factors in shaping young people's mental health;
• innovative approaches to engaging young people in resilience-building activities.

Keywords: risk, resilience, mental health, global crisis, young people, well-being

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.