Citation

Martins AR, Vella S, Santos F. Front. Psychol. 2021; 12: e598766.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Frontiers Research Foundation)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.598766

PMID

33762992

Abstract

The purpose of this opinion article is to provide insights on the need to foster mental health and Positive Youth Development (PYD) through sport within the prison system as well as identify a set of practical implications and future research directions relevant to this line of inquiry and contextualized to the Portuguese context. This is predicated on the assumption that society is characterized by a complex reality where youth ranging between 15 and 18 years old face multiple social challenges such as the need to succeed in a highly competitive environment, cope with stress, deal with a global pandemic and subsequently flourish now and in the future as adults (Lambert et al., 2020). Further, many youth are currently incarcerated, serving sentences and need support to become active contributors to society in the future (Barnert et al., 2015). For example, in the United States of America approximately more than 30.000 youth are currently incarcerated (Kaeble et al., 2015). Considering that many young people are incarcerated across the globe, there is the need to have in mind the long-term detriments associated with incarceration during adolescence such as mental health disorders and the low reintegration rate. In many cases, young people experience problems with reintegration into society after their release from prison, for instance in terms of obtaining housing and engaging in school ...

Keywords: Juvenile justice

Language: en

Keywords

social justice; youth; challenges; life skills; sport