Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE YTH5017

 
TITLE Psychological Perspectives of Youth

 
UM LEVEL 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course

 
MQF LEVEL 7

 
ECTS CREDITS 10

 
DEPARTMENT Youth and Community Studies

 
DESCRIPTION This study unit addresses some of the salient psychological and psycho-social issues in relation to youth studies. The unit is divided into three parts. The first part presents an overview of core concepts and theories that course participants can expect to encounter in the course of their studies. The core concepts explored include: youth transitions, conceptualisations of adolescence and youth, identity, and the developmental trajectory of young people (from early, middle, late adolescence to youth and emerging adulthood). The second part addresses social psychological issues in relation to young people as members of communities and addresses the following themes: the Self; Social Cognition; Media; Social influence and Gender. The third part focuses on the concept of Youth "at risk" drawing inter alia from the works of Giddens and Beck and critically unpacks the research and theory surrounding youth risk behaviour. This part will address the following themes: representations of youth, the concept of risk, stress and coping, at risk issues, at risk categories and resiliency.

Study-unit Aims

This study unit aims to engage course participants in a critical evaluation of dominant conceptualizations of young people. It seeks to understand how these conceptualizations have developed from various disciplines that inform youth studies and the implications of such understandings of young people for policy development, research and service provision.

Learning Outcomes

1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

(a) critically engage with dominant discourses in social and psychological perspectives on youth;
(b) understand the implications for policy development and service provision;
(c) understand that the way we talk about young people has impact on the way they are treated in society, and,
(d) understand the social influences that impact on young people.

2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

(a) be conversant with the main academic discourses in youth studies;
(b) review seminal works on the subject and present a critical evaluation of them in class, and,
(c) make applications to policy evaluation and the evaluation of services for young people.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings

Main Texts:

- Beck, U. (1992). Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage. [available].
- Giddens A. (1991). Modernity and Self Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Oxford: Polity Press. [available].
- Griffin, C. (1993). Representations of Youth: The Study of Youth and Adolescence in Britain and America. Oxford: Polity Press. [unavailable].
- McElwee, A. (2007). At-risk Children and Youth: Resiliency Explored. New York: Haworth Press. [available].

Supplementary Readings:

- Featherstone, M. (1990). Consumer Culture and Post-Modernism. London: Sage Publications. [available].
- France, A. (2007). Understanding Youth in Late Modernity, Buckingham, Open University Press. [unavailable].
- France, A. and Homel, R. (2007) (edited collection) Pathways and Crime Prevention: Theory, Policy and Practice, Willan Publishers. [unavailable].
- France, A. and Meredith, J. (2009). Giving Respect: the 'new' responsibilities of youth in the transition towards citizenship in Millie, A. (ed) (2009) Securing Respect: Behavioural expectations and anti-social behaviour in the UK, Bristol: Policy Press.
[unavailable].
- Furlong, A. (1992). Growing up in a classless society? : School to work transitions.Edinburgh. University of Edinburgh. Press. [available].
- Furlong, A. and F. Cartmel (1997). Young People and Social Change: Individualisation and Late Modernity. Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press. [unavailable].
- Wyn, J., and J. White (1996) Rethinking Youth. London: Sage. [available].

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Presentation

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM2 Yes 40%
Presentation SEM2 No 60%

 
LECTURER/S Joanne Cassar

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit