PhD defence K.H. (Kayla) Green

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation

Adolescence is a unique and formative phase for socioemotional development and brain maturation. Today’s adolescents and young adults are growing up in a society marked by multiple global changes like climate change, wars, poverty, and the aftermath of a pandemic. These macro-level changes can interfere with daily live and subsequently affect how youth feel about themselves, their lives, and their future. However, not all youth are affected equally. There are major disparities in wellbeing among youth. To understand which youth are at risk to be disproportionally hit in their wellbeing and to foster healthy development and positive wellbeing, we need an integrative approach in which affective, cognitive, social, and neural processes are studied within context and time. The current dissertation aimed to examine the socioeconomic, social, and neural determinants of wellbeing as adolescents and young adults grow up in a rapidly changing world. I addressed this overarching aim in four parts throughout the dissertation. In part I (chapter 2 and 3) I studied the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents’ mood and satisfaction with life. In part II (chapter 4 and 5) I focused on how to assess wellbeing in developmental samples. In part III (chapter 6 and 7) I investigated adolescent wellbeing in the family context, by studying both protective and risk factors. Lastly, in part IV (chapter 8 and 9) I discuss two perspectives on how to bridge the gap between science, policy, and society. Despite the risks, challenges, and vulnerabilities, youth are also remarkably resilient and hence deserve a positive and promising view on their future. We as researchers have a collective duty to contribute to this goal by signaling systemic barriers that put youth at risk for negative developmental outcomes and by studying mechanisms that enable at-risk youth to thrive and flourish.