Concussions and youth football: using a public health law framework to head off a potential public health crisis

Concussion from sport is increasingly recognized as a public health priority. In response, all states and the District of Columbia have enacted youth concussion legislation. This paper first examines key developments in concussion-related policy and legislation and then uses the findings from recent scientific studies to highlight the need to incorporate evolving scientific evidence into concussion legislation in order to better protect youth and adolescent athletes. Next, the paper discusses the framework of empirical health law research and why it should be applied in the case of concussion legislation. Finally, this paper argues that empirical health law research should be considered in any decision about whether legislation can help improve the health and safety of young players, a particularly vulnerable population whose unique needs have not yet been adequately addressed.     

Community Involvement as a Vehicle for Integration: A Study with Young Immigrants

ABSTRACT

Immigrants are often exposed to conditions of economic deprivation or to hardships of a social nature connected to their status. These factors increase their feeling of impotence, thus slowing down the integrative process. An element that could counter these disadvantaged conditions is participation in an association that promotes immigrants’ demands on a socio-political level. The first aim of this study is understanding the relationships between involvement and integration. The authors hypothesize that youth engaged in community are more integrated than not engaged immigrant youth. The second aim is to investigate the relationship between the type of activity, type of association and integration. The participants were 644 immigrant youth (Age range 19–35, 56.2%) that were involved in the community. The results show that involved immigrant youth report higher levels of both ethnic and national identity compared to not involved youth. Regarding the type of activity carried out, there is a statistically significant difference between activity of a social type, which obtains higher means, and of a civic type, which rather obtains lower means. While exploratory, the study shows and confirms the relationship between community engagement, young immigrants’ integration process and construction of identity.     

Lived citizenship as the locus of political agency in participatory policy

Participatory policies seeking to foster active citizenship continue to be dominated by a territorial imagination. Yet, the world where people identify and perform as citizens is spatially multifarious. This article engages with the tension between territorially grounded perceptions and relational modes of practicing political agency. Studying empirically the Finnish child and youth policies, we address jointly the participatory obligations that municipalities strive to fulfill, and the spatial attachments that children and young people establish in their lived worlds. To this end, we introduce the concept of lived citizenship as an interface where the territorially-bound public administration and the plurality of spatial attachments characteristic to transnational living may meet. We conclude by proposing a re-grounding of lived citizenship in both topological and topographical terms as an improvement in theoretical understanding of mundane political agency and as a step towards more proficient participatory policies.     

热议青年网络参政议事

互联网时代的群众参政议事深刻地改变了现今社会政治的存在方式。当代青年熟练的网络技术为他们参与网络政治提供了有效基础。网络参政议事正在成为当代青年社会参与的重要表现手段,他们充分利用网络,痛快淋漓地表达自己对待政治的态度和生活的态度及表达他们生活诉求。当代青年的网络参政议事,越来越显示出与传统完全不同的新意识新形态,这种意识与形态,让青年越过社会的嘈杂尘嚣,认真思考人生,理性参与社会生活,在网络高尚纯洁的精神殿堂中漫游。     

世界城市与青年发展战略思考

随着全球化浪潮不断向纵深发展,世界城市建设步伐日趋加快。当前世界城市内涵不断丰富,呈现出与传统世界城市建设内涵不尽一致的特征和趋势。青年群体是当代世界城市建设的重要力量,青年发展在本质上与世界城市内涵具有内在一致性;青年问题与世界城市化问题存在同构现象;青年事务与世界城市变迁走向具有同塑化趋势。因此,为更好地促进青年积极贡献于世界城市建设,应该坚持科学发展观,指导当代青年工作和青年发展。     

落实“三结合”,创新青年思想政治工作

把知识和品德修养结合,把创新和社会实践结合,把全面发展和个性发展结合,是胡锦涛总书记对当代青年的殷切希望。要落实"三结合",必须改进青年思想政治工作,增强青年工作吸引力与向心力,提高青年工作的实效性与科学性。在分析青年思想政治工作面临的挑战的同时,提出创新青年思想政治工作的机制、途径、方法、形式、队伍建设的意见与建议,以期增强新时期青年思想政治工作的实效性。     

从国都到世界城市:北京青年的发展视野和价值追求

北京从国都发展到世界城市,意味着必须具备"六个性":包容性、开放性、异质性、公共性、民族性、历史性。在北京作为世界城市的建设过程中,北京青年应站在世界史的高度,有国际化的发展视野,站在人类文明的立场,有普世的价值追求。     

论中国共产党的青年观及其现实启示

建国以来,中国共产党历代领导集体的青年观体现在：都把青年的培养同社会主义革命和建设的成败紧紧地联系在一起;都把培养青年人的政治方向放在第一位,坚决抵制资产阶级的和平演变;都以社会主义的道德规范作为培养教育青年人的目标;都把与实践相结合作为青年人成长的道路。这样的青年观,对构建社会主义和谐社会和落实科学发展观有着重要的现实启示。     

小组工作方法在青年志愿服务中的应用与探讨——基于优势视角的分析

青年志愿服务在构建和谐社会过程中具有举足轻重的作用,但目前国内开展的各项志愿活动大多存在着短暂性明显、持续性低、内在支持低、助人自助效果微乎其微等弱点。本研究采用质的研究方法并结合优势视角理论的相关元素进行分析,来有效论证小组工作方法在志愿服务中的可行性及优势。一方面发挥青少年自身的优势,另一方面提升志愿者综合实践水平,从而整体上促进青年志愿服务质量的提升。