Young people who engage in activism and service experience personal growth, expand their networks, often receive mentoring, and can enjoy opportunities to expand their impact by participating in broader political and community leadership.The youth need a purpose, and in most cases, they crave a sense of belonging. Activism presents them with an opportunity to network with like-minded individuals which helps them develop more confidence, a passion for the causes they are interested in, and long-lasting friendships.
Activism (or Advocacy) especially in youth consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. The survey results from a sample of 636 youth participants in the ACLU (American civil liberties union civil and human liberties organisation) a Advocacy Institute, conducted a study that finds that although youth generally report greater benefits from their activism than costs, the costs are significantly related to worse mental health, physical health, and flourishing, while benefits are positively associated with flourishing only. A sense of belonging to an activist community, however, emerges as a significant protective factor for mental health, physical health, and flourishing. Focus group respondents explain how peer support and a sense of belonging act as salves to burnout, the most common cost that youth activists in this sample report are experiencing. The study also identify three main sources of burnout: backlash in response to their efforts; pressure to be the savior generation; and the slow progress of change. This study advances understanding of the complex relationship between youth activism and wellbeing and raises implications for youth activists and those who support them. In recent years, health professionals have been sounding the alarm about a crisis in youth mental health and wellbeing.
Gen Z is coming of age in a precarious time. To channel the grief, rage, anxiety, or despair they feel about the various crises, arising from time to time, some youth have turned to activism. Youth’s personal experiences with violence and oppression, existential dread due to climate change, or some other array of factors, activism offers participants a conduit to greater feelings of control, empowerment, and hope as they work to confront and challenge injustice and threats to their survival. Researchers have found activist spaces to be powerful sites of radical healing, particularly for some marginalized youth. The youth activism can expose youth to greater mental and physical risks. Among some youth activists, a culture of guilt, or not sacrificing enough for the cause, can develop. Spending more time on activism can come at the expense of other necessary functions, such as sleep, exercise, and schoolwork. Burnout has emerged as a pressing concern among youth activists.
The various studies exploring the relationship between youth activism and wellbeing has conceptualized activism using a variety of frameworks, including critical consciousness, sociopolitical development, and empowerment theory. defining activism as taking action to effect change in an unjust status quo. As such, activism encompasses organizing as well as other actions undertaken to challenge inequities or injustice.
ACLU in their systematic review of 29 studies, researcher Maker Castro and colleagues concluded that research with adolescents tends to find positive relationships between activism and wellbeing. Research has shown that youth involvement in organizing against educational inequities can shift some youth’s orientation to schools, making them more committed to their education, even as they become more critical of the shortcomings of their schools. In one study, 57% of college student activists reported that their experiences as activists enhanced their academic performance. Several studies report on what youth learn as a result of participating in activism. These learning outcomes include both civic knowledge, such as a greater understanding of how change happens and how various governmental agencies work, and civic skills, including communication skills time management and planning skills and leadership skills. In addition, youth describe honing skills of critical social analysis through the political education they experience in activist space’s. Youth Activism that challenges social injustice has also been associated with the development of civic efficacy or empowerment as well as greater critical reflection or analysis of inequalities and gaps in societal environment.
