Children’s Psychological Wellbeing Under Armed Conflict: Findings from the East of Turkey

Towards a decolonial developmental science: Adolescent development in the Majority World taking center stage

“…Studies reported in the articles examine aspects of emotional (Shi et al., 2024), cognitive (Lichand et al., 2024; Thomas et al., 2024), and moral development (Pandya & Bhangaokar, 2024; Nwafor et al., 2024), prosocial behavior (Mesurado & Resett, 2024), adolescents' use of time (Kerai et al., 2024), their perceptions of work (Santana & Ristum, 2024), social identity processes (Appachu & Singh, 2024), health (e.g., body image, Mahama et al., 2024), and well‐being (Zambrano et al., 2024). Some studies focus on highly relevant and challenging life experiences such as cumulative risk and armed conflict exposure (Kara & Selcuk, 2024), ethnic and national discrimination (Zhao et al., 2024), substance use (Shaikh & Sarin, 2024), and interventions to promote positive bystander behaviors in intergroup conflict (Brenick et al., 2024). Studies also investigate family processes including family obligation (Yang et al., 2024), role of family in adolescents' occupational choices (Pease Dreibelbis et al., 2024), grandparenting (Tan et al., 2024), and parental socialization of adolescent emotions (Shi et al., 2024).…”

“…Appachu and Singh (2024) explore social identity of youth in an indigenous community in South India that is typically not included in psychological research. Kara and Selcuk (2024) examine cumulative risk and armed conflict exposure among adolescents from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds in Eastern Turkey. These articles highlight the ways in which coloniality is re‐enacted through excluding communities within the Majority World that experience further disadvantages within their local contexts and advocate for focusing research attention on adolescents from marginalized communities in the Majority World.…”

Toward a decolonial developmental science in Asia: Exploring adolescent development in communities from the majority world

“…(2024) explore the complexity of negotiating family obligations in China, given shifting generational dynamics as a result of Government policies such as the One Child Policy as well as social welfare programs. Shaikh & Sarin (2024) expose exploitative systemic forces that induce inhalant abuse among street‐involved children in Western India, describing the levers of “exclusion from potentially protective institutions,” “vulnerabilities of living environments,” and “dismal economics.” Exposures to structural risk factors such as armed violence are explored in the article by Kara & Selcuk (2024), which describes the role of cumulative risk on psychological symptoms in adolescents in East Turkey. The authors highlight the complex dynamics of engagement between policymakers, practitioners, and communities to support the well‐being of adolescents living in conflict‐affected regions.…”