Murray Drummond

Media narratives have commonly framed social media as an inherently harmful environment that endangers young people's gendered identities and wellbeing (McGorry et al., 2025). While this social med...

Partly in response to growing public moral concern about young people’s social media consumption and how this affects their wellbeing, the Australian government has enacted legislation to limit social media access for young people under 16 years of age. While these measures are framed around improving student focus, wellbeing, and safety, public discussion has also intersected with broader anxieties about online masculinity-related content and its powerful influence on boys and young men (BYM). Within an education context, school psychologists and counsellors are increasingly called upon to respond to concerns from teachers and parents regarding the diverse range of risks that digital spaces can pose to BYM, including issues related to internet addiction, online gambling, body image, sexting, extremism, among others. While we have seen some investments in e-safety oriented educational interventions to address these issues, we have also seen notable critiques suggesting they are insufficiently informed by young people’s perspectives and priorities. Drawing from 20 interviews with Australian BYM, this article captures how a diverse cohort of BYM navigate online spaces and their perspectives on its influence in terms of their identity formation, relationships, and wellbeing. We identify four key themes present in the data: (1) negotiating addiction and self-regulation; (2) social connection, belonging, and fear of missing out (FOMO); (3) engaging in comparisons with subsequent emotional consequences; and (4) reflecting on the importance of safeguarding. The research highlights the complexity of BYM’s online experiences and challenges risk-focussed narratives by revealing their perceived agency and the context-specific strategies they use to navigate digital spaces. As educators and school-based mental health professionals consider next steps for developing effective e-safety education, we foreground the importance of adopting a strength-based approach where the experiences of young people are carefully considered.

As a leisure pursuit, organized sport is recognized as a key contributor to population health through increasing physical activity and reducing chronic disease risk (World Health Organisation 2018)...

Organized sport participation can provide numerous benefits for adolescents. Despite this, rates of organized sport dropout for adolescents remain high, with rates typically higher for female adolescents than males. Two potentially productive methods of increasing sport participation rates in female adolescents are by reducing dropout and reengaging previous participants. This study employed a qualitative descriptive design to gain an in-depth understanding of organized sport participation, dropout, and reengagement in 15- to 19-year-old female adolescents in South Australia. A total of 30 adolescent participants were recruited (19 current and 11 previous participants) as well as 21 adults involved in female adolescent sport. A combination of individual interviews, group interviews, and focus groups were used to collect qualitative data. Findings elucidated four distinct themes: Social scoreboard , balancing act , equalit-ish , and controlled evolution . These themes highlighted a myriad of factors that currently act to diminish the competitive sporting experience for female adolescents. While adaptive and flexible sport formats were seen as beneficial under certain circumstances, it is important that these are implemented complementary to existing club-sport structures, and that female adolescents have easy and equitable access to high-quality, competitive sport opportunities. Future research should consider the potential of these results in guiding the development of sport reengagement interventions for female adolescents.