Neighborhood effects on internalizing and externalizing problems, and academic competence: a comparison of Roma and non-Roma adolescents

Risk behaviors and well-being among Egyptian and Roma adolescents in Albania during the COVID-19 pandemic: Vulnerability and resilience in a positive youth development perspective

“…Last, no other differences across ethnic, gender or education groups emerged in the associations between most developmental assets, wellbeing and risk behaviors, confirming prior findings that showed similar protective/risk factors for externalizing and internalizing behaviors among Roma and non-Roma youth (Vazsonyi et al, 2020).…”

“…Preliminary findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic jeopardized both Egyptian and Roma adolescents’ well-being ( Miconi et al, 2021a ), increasing isolation and mental health concerns. Such findings pointed to a possible increase in risk behaviors among boys as a way to deal with the stress of the situation, and to an overall decrease of well-being and mental health especially among girls ( Miconi et al, 2021a ), mirroring the well-established literature on the predominance of internalizing problems in women ( Vazsonyi et al, 2020 ) and of externalizing problems in men ( Kósa et al, 2007 ; Cook et al, 2013 ; Kolarcik et al, 2014 ; Molnar, 2021 ). To the best of our knowledge no studies provided information on well-being and risk behaviors among Egyptian youth specifically, nor on Egyptian or Roma youth who dropped out of school.…”

“…Cook's and colleagues' systematic review of health and wellbeing among Roma populations suggest overall lower well-being and higher depressive symptoms among Roma compared to non-Roma populations in Europe (Cook et al, 2013). Findings on gender differences in well-being among adolescents suggest that girls generally report lower scores of well-being compared to boys (Marquez and Long, 2021), and the same picture has been confirmed among Albanian youth (Lebedeva et al, 2018;Vazsonyi et al, 2020). The few studies that investigated well-being specifically in Roma youth found overall low levels of well-being, but gender differences are yet unclear and in need of further research (Dimitrova and Ferrer-Wreder, 2017;Dimitrova et al, 2017b).…”

“…Within the PYD literature, the developmental assets framework ( Benson, 2007 ) is a theoretical model that has been empirically tested across multiple cultural contexts ( Scales et al, 2017 ), representing a promising framework for cross-cultural research as well as for research across multiple ethno-cultural and minority groups. This framework suggests that the possibility for adolescents to rely on the alignment of resources in their contexts of life with their personal strengths can boost their well-being and reduce risk behaviors ( Scales et al, 2017 ; Vazsonyi et al, 2020 ). Hence, developmental assets can represent a potential protective factor to be targeted by prevention and intervention programs.…”

“…Although Roma youth often live in segregated and unsafe neighborhoods ( Kurtenbach, 2021 ), little research has focused on the association between neighborhood assets and Roma’s youth development. The available findings suggest that Roma adolescents’ neighborhoods are risk factors for both internalizing problems and risk behaviors, similarly for boys and girls ( Vazsonyi et al, 2020 ). Hence, in the present study we focus on perceived family and neighborhood support in terms of contextual assets.…”