Youth in transition

The transition from childhood and adolescence into adulthood is often difficult.

There are many decisions which young people have to make in a rapidly changing world in which there are many options and pathways but also numerous risks and uncertainties. Many of the traditional institutions and values of the society in which their parents grew up are under threat or have changed. There are also changes in the experience of growing up in families and communities as well as changes in beliefs and expectations about roles and opportunities for young men and women in a globalised world; the relationship between the individual and society; access to education, employment, careers, social support, and material well-being; and concepts of a just, equitable, and healthy social world.

ASSA Symposium 2003, held in conjunction with the Association of Asian Social Science Research Councils (AASSREC) 15th Biennial General Conference, will bring together social scientists from a range of countries and disciplines — including psychologists, sociologists, demographers, anthropologists, economists, and social geographers — to examine from their perspectives some of the challenges and opportunities young people face in different national settings and how the social sciences can anticipate and respond to the challenges faced by youth in transition.