About this Research Topic

Background

In the transition period from adolescence to adulthood, young people go through confusing and often difficult processes. They strive to build their identity, defend their ideals, make decisions, and establish a sense of autonomy that is crucial in making them feel they can fend for themselves, take responsibility for their actions, and face problems on their own. Despite this desire for self-realization, emancipation from parents, and alignment with peers in opposition to adults, various studies reveal that autonomy is achieved gradually and progressively over time. In consequence, parents, educators, psychologists, and social workers are interested in gaining a better understanding of those aspects that influence young people’s autonomy, when faced with their future, in order to develop accompaniment, guidance, and intervention processes.

Given its importance, young people’s autonomy and wellbeing in the transition to adulthood is a major issue in both psychological and educational research. As such, within the framework of positive psychology, there is a large amount of empirical data on the subject, which relates to perceived psychological wellbeing in relation to academic performance, personality, intelligence, et alia. However, there are very few studies that correlate psychological wellbeing with autonomy understood as the capacity to self-organize, comprehend context, develop critical thinking, establish relationships with others, and socio-political engagement. In this respect, investigative work consists of exploring the correlations between these variables in order to discover new relationships that could provide explanations for a variety of realities in diverse socio-educational contexts. Furthermore, it is also vital to achieving a deeper understanding of the methodological approaches used in the study and analysis of these variables.

Consequently, the objective of this study is to contribute to the knowledge on young people’s autonomy and wellbeing in their transition to adult life. It aims to encourage the discovery of new findings that could enable education to improve understanding of reality via original research and reviews.
Of particular interest to this research are those empirical studies that demonstrate the relationship between young people’s autonomy and wellbeing; the correlation between these issues and current problems raised by educational research; and/or the impact of effective educational practices on improving young people’s autonomy and wellbeing. Recommended topics include, but are not limited to:

- Conceptualization and measurement of autonomy
- Elements of young people’s autonomy and dimensions of psychological wellbeing
- Educational practices for the improvement of autonomy and wellbeing
- Prevalence of social factors and contexts in the processes of autonomy and psychological wellbeing

Keywords: Autonomy, Critical Thinking Acceptance, Personal Growth, Psychological Wellbeing, Young individuals and Adolescents

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