Hardly visible, highly admired? Youth perceptions of the EU in Kazakhstan

Youth have always been one of the central target audiences of the European Union’s (EU) policies towards Central Asia, which was once again emphasised in the recent EU Strategy for the region. This paper scrutinises how youth representatives in Kazakhstan, Brussels’ closest partner in the region, perceive the EU and its policies. By doing so, the paper shifts the focus from the EU-centric assessment of its external activities, which has long dominated the academic literature, and provides a ‘voice’ to the targets of the EU’s various initiatives. Examining data obtained through the method of pictorial test and focus group discussions with students of leading Kazakhstani universities, the paper argues that the issue Brussels faces among youth is not an image problem, rather it is a visibility issue. Although Kazakhstani youth are aware of the EU’s main ‘attributes’ at the basic level, they have little knowledge that goes beyond stereotypical, yet positive, images of it. This stereotyped admiration towards the EU, however, is not necessarily an outcome of Brussels’ successful policies, rather it is partly inherited from the historically idealised image of Europe. The paper suggests that increasing its visibility and better communicating its policies and messages need to be a priority for the EU in Central Asia.

Youth Perceptions of Early Marriage in SMA X Years 2021

Marriage is an inner and outer bond between a man and a woman as husband and wife to form a happy and eternal family (household) based on God Almighty. In the Law of the Republic of Indonesia, Number 1 of 1974 Article concerning Marriage, marriage itself has conditions, including that it must be approved by both prospective brides, and prospective brides who have not reached the age of 21 years must obtain permission from both parents. 1 Chapter II Article 7 Paragraph 1 of 1974 has explained that marriage is only permitted if the man reaches the age of 19 years and the woman has reached the age of 16 years. The type of research used is qualitative research with a qualitative descriptive study research design. The informants in this study were teenagers at SMA X South Tangerang. The informants who will be interviewed are 4 informants who are in high school. The results of this study indicate that there are undesirable events such as pregnancy out of wedlock because children have relationships that violate norms, forcing them to have early marriages, to clarify the status of the child they are carrying Economic difficulties are one of the factors causing early marriage, families who experience economic difficulties will tend to marry off their children at a young age to have early marriages. The impact of early marriage for women who are less educated and not ready to carry out their role as mothers will be less able to educate their children so that children will grow up poorly, which will be detrimental to the children's future. Then, under certain conditions, children who marry early tend not to pay attention to their education, especially when they get married immediately they get offspring, they will be busy taking care of their children and their families, so this can prevent them from continuing their studies to a higher level.

Youth Perceptions of Sex Education at The University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta

Adolescence is a period of transition from childhood to adulthood during which one undergoes psychological, cognitive, and sexual changes. Indonesian youth still lack knowledge about sexuality and reproductive health, because it is still considered taboo to convey information about it. This study aims to determine the perception of adolescents about sex education at the University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta. The factors studied were knowledge and perception. This research activity was carried out in June-July 2021. This research is qualitative research and the main informants of this research are 4 students of the Faculty of Public Health, University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta, who are not married, with 2 people each from semester 4 and semester 6. The research used a phenomenological qualitative method with data analysis based on content analysis and synthesis tables. Validation of this research data using triangulation of sources and observation of secondary data. Although the informants considered there was a controversy that sex education could protect negative things, it could also increase children's curiosity towards negative things. However, all informants considered sex education very important. Informants still view the goals of sex education as normative, according to the perception of adolescent students from the Faculty of the Public Health University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta, that the current environment directs people or teenagers to have free sex

Did attending P.A.R.T.Y. change youth perceptions? Results from 148 Queensland schools participating in the Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth Program, 2018–2019

BackgroundPrevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth (P.A.R.T.Y.) is an immersive 1 day in-hospital injury awareness and prevention programme designed to educate high-school students on the consequences of a variety of risk-taking behaviours. This multisite contemporary analysis examined differences in programme effect and temporal changes on participant knowledge and attitudes.MethodsMetropolitan and rural schools were invited to attend the programme at one of the 11 hospital sites throughout Queensland, Australia. Pre–post study design with participant questionnaires provided at three time periods: immediately preprogramme and postprogramme, and 4 months later. The questionnaire used scenarios to determine a participant’s opinion on the safety of drugs/alcohol, driving and risk-taking activities, using Likert scales.ResultsA total of 5999 students participated in the programme between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2019. Responses to all questions related to safety, harm or risk followed a similar pattern. The immediate postcourse responses demonstrated significant increased awareness of risk or change in action, followed by a decay at 4 months to within 10% of preprogramme levels. Public school students, males and students from Central and North Queensland demonstrated lower risk-aversion (p<0.05).ConclusionThis study demonstrated across more than 100 school sites, the positive change in knowledge and student participant attitudes towards risk-taking behaviours after attending the P.A.R.T.Y. programme. The need to address the significant decay at the 4-month follow-up was identified. Findings offered potential for tailoring of messaging to target key demographic groups/topics where the decay was greatest.

Low Self-Control and Perceptions of Procedural Justice Among Urban-Born Youth: The Moderating Role of Officer Intrusiveness

The current study examines whether the link between low self-control and perceptions of procedural justice among urban-born youth is contingent on acts of officer intrusiveness. Data come from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and are restricted to youth reporting lifetime police stops at Year 15 ( N = 918). Findings reveal that the association between low self-control and diminished perceptions of procedural justice is significantly moderated by officer intrusiveness. To be precise, low self-control became more relevant in diminished perceptions of procedural justice as officer intrusiveness decreased. The findings carry implications for police-citizen interactions, including the training of police officers in developmental science and how low self-control may shape youth perceptions of police encounters.