Using Work Training in Norway as a case, this article provides insight into motivation and structural factors that impact employer engagement with active labour market policies (ALMP) targeting young people. Drawing on mixed-methods data, we find a substantial proportion of Norwegian employers engage in Work Training. Both social responsibility and the economic interests of the company influence employers’ motivation for committing to Work Training. The findings reveal that the structural factors of business size and sector are crucial determinants of employer behaviour when it comes to hiring Work Training candidates. Although improved outreach activities by local job centres may be important, the article argues that efforts towards opening up sectors closed by sector-specific regulations on hiring, and increased awareness of structural constraints, are similarly important.

Electronic sports (esports) have evolved into a major cultural phenomenon in the 21st century, mirroring traditional sports with organized, competitive play. This study investigates the prevalence of esports participation and characteristics of esports players among Norwegian adolescents. Using data from the Ungdata survey, a comprehensive web-based survey of Norwegian adolescents that includes questions on demographics, health, physical activity, social relations, and leisure activities such as gaming and esports, we analyzed responses from 70,695 students aged 16–18 years collected during 2021–2023. We conclude that about one out of twenty in the age group of 16–18 years actively engage in esports. The figure conceals significant gender differences: only 0.7% of girls, compared to 8.8% of boys, actively participate in esports. While female esports players differ noticeably from non-players on almost all indicators included in our analyses, the picture among boys reflects more similarities between esports players and other boys, than differences. Among the esports players, females almost consistently reported more negative experiences than males, including less physical socialization, lower self-rated health, higher rates of loneliness and sleeping problems, and a greater difficulty fitting in at school. Despite these negative aspects, esports players maintain close friendships similar to their non-playing peers.

In recent decades, there has been an increasing focus on measuring and monitoring the subjective experiences of children and young people through surveys. Among the dimensions being measured is children and young people’s “school belonging”, referring to a feeling of being included, respected, valued, and accepted in school. This paper provides an overview of the multitude of survey instruments used to capture children and young people’s (0–25 y.o.a.) belonging to school and other persons or objects to which they may feel they belong, such as family, peers, places, leisure activities, and things. The scoping review is of peer reviewed articles published in Web of Science, Scopus, SocIndex and Google Scholar. The review finds that current instruments surveying children and young people’s belonging is based on Goodenow and Grady’s (1993) concept of school belonging and fails to consider recent development of the school belonging concept emphasising its context-sensitive and dynamic aspects. Suggestions about how current instruments can be more aligned with the recent concept are given.

Digital technologies play an increasingly significant role in the everyday lives and culture of children and young people, but research and societal discussions often focus solely on the perceived risks and concerns associated with their use. This narrow focus does not recognise children’s agency in digital spaces. In this chapter, we address this gap by exploring the meaning children and young people attribute to their leisure-time use of digital technology, from their own perspective. Our study draws on interviews and digital diary data collected in Austria, Greece, Norway, Romania, and the United Kingdom. The findings highlight that children not only perceive digital technologies as a source of entertainment but also as a meaningful part of their leisure activities, enabling communication, socialisation, play, and learning. However, there appears to be a generational gap in the meaning attributed to leisure-time activities, as there is a discrepancy between children’s and parents’ perspectives. Consequently, parents impose restrictions on content and screen time, thereby limiting children’s agency to some extent. Nevertheless, children’s negotiations regarding screen time, content choices, and decisions about whom and what to engage with can be seen as their attempts to expand and assert their agency.

Children and young people are often labelled the “digital generation”, naturally equipped with the skills to reap the benefits of digitised education, working life and communication through social media now and in the future. However, this age group’s use of information and communication technology (ICT) is not uniform, nor are the outcomes of their adaption to ICT. Shaped by their social environment and socioeconomic conditions, the potential benefits of children’s and young people’s ICT use may vary greatly, contributing to increased inequalities that exacerbate vulnerability for some while promoting health and well-being for others. This paper presents a protocol for conceptualising, systematically identifying and synthesising the literature on which conditions contribute to children and young people being negatively or positively impacted by their use of ICT. Here, children and young people are seen as social actors in four domains of their everyday lives illustrated through the digital ecosystem: family, leisure, education and civic participation. This protocol’s overview of the actors’ navigation within and across the different domains and potential for studying the interactions between the different spheres of the ecosystem may advance the understanding of both the risks and benefits facing children and young people in their digital lives.

This chapter examines the situation for young adults in the Nordic countries in education and in the labour market. The authors identify the risk factors for school dropout, unemployment and NEET (not in employment, education or training). After discussing the impact of gender, minority ethnic status, disability and health conditions, the chapter further synthesizes evaluations of the Nordic tradition for Youth Guarantees, and reforms in the education system and active labour market policy measures aimed at reducing the risk of exclusion of young adults from the labour market. Previous research has, however, provided limited knowledge about the effectiveness of the different policy measures. The authors conclude by calling for more differentiated and nuanced outcome measures to improve the quality of future policy evaluations.