Youth disadvantage

Question 1

Workplace

Answer 1

Ritzer - Young people are often on zero hour contracts and in what Ritzer calls ‘McJobs’ (unstimulating, low-wage jobs with few benefits, especially in a service industry).

The Equality Trust - Young people have been in a bad situation for the past decade with increasing rental, housing and accommodation costs.

Question 2

Health

Answer 2

youngpeopleshealth.org.uk - 75% of mental health problems start before the age of 24, 0.7% of the NHS spending is spent on young people’s mental health

Cheung, Hagell and Shah, 2019 - Most long-term conditions are developed in childhood. In comparison to similar countries, the UK has one of the highest rates of 16-24 year olds living with a long-term condition.

Question 3

Media

Answer 3

Cohen - Discussed negative labelling of youths in the media E.g. the Mods and Rockers. He stated that they are labelled as ‘folk devils’ who threaten the basic morals of society. This can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy where youths ‘live down to their label’.

Griffin – Stated that youths are labelled by the media in 3 ways:
Dysfunctional (meaning they don’t ‘function’ effectively), Suffering a Deficit (they act hard-done by e.g. financially due to increased tuition fees), Deviant (meaning they are norm and law breaking). This can create a self-fulfilling prophecy and also negative treatment from the general public / by those in ‘power’

Question 4

Crime

Answer 4

Youth Endowment Fund (2023) - 16% of teenage children had been a victim of violence in the last 12 months. 47% of teens had been a victim or witness of violence in the last 12 months.

Jacobson – Found that children and young people in custody - three quarters have absent fathers, half had to live in a deprived household, half had run away and others were from care homes – “Complex backgrounds