The seven papers included in this special issue succinctly chart the current conditions of youth services and policies in Chinese societies represented by those in Beijing, Jinan, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Hong Kong. These papers address the related issues stemming from unemployment, volunteering, internal migration, economic disadvantages, school social work, and leadership training. They cull essential insights through comparative or intensive analyses as outlined below.
The first paper, written by Cheung, Ngan-pun Ngai, and Steven Ngai, presents quantitative findings from a comparative study of unemployed youth in Shanghai, Tianjin, and Hong Kong. It finds that work commitment is highest in the youth of Tianjin and is lowest in the youth of Hong Kong. This difference persists with the control for a number of factors, among which the sense of powerlessness appears to dampen work commitment, and work skills appear to raise work commitment. These two influences are most salient in Tianjin. The findings imply that theories about social exclusion and underclass formation are applicable to explain obstacles facing unemployed youth. Policies and services for removing the obstacles are helpful to foster youth work commitment.
The second paper, written by Zeng, exhibits findings from a study of unemployed youth in Shanghai. These qualitative findings indicate the reduction in social contact and social networking, and thereby the segregation and social exclusion of youth. As such, the findings echo and supplement the quantitative findings presented in the first paper. All these findings signify the importance of policies and services to uproot social exclusion against unemployed youth. Furthermore, policies and services can upgrade unemployed youth's work skills to help them leave the trap of social exclusion.
The third paper, written by Xu, provides qualitative findings about volunteering associated with the Chinese Communist Youth League, with a focus on its work in Jinan. These findings illustrate that the League capitalises on its political capital developed through the linkage with the Chinese Communist Party to legitimise volunteer work associated with the League. Paradoxically, the legitimising tends to foment a negative effect on the volunteering, because of bureaucracy and inadequate communication. The findings imply the need for policies and services to revamp the current governmental approach to volunteering organisation.
The fourth paper, written by Wu, Tsang, and Ming, proffers quantitative findings about the mental health of children of migrant workers in Beijing. This mental health appears to benefit mainly from social support from family. In contrast, human capital and financial capital accessible from the family do not generate direct effects on mental health. Moreover, social capital at community level is prone to raise mental health only indirectly, through mediation by social support from family. The findings thus imply that policies and services that facilitate the family to provide social support to its children would be helpful to sustain the latter's mental health.
The fifth paper, written by Steven Ngai, Cheung, and Ngan-pun Ngai, unfolds findings on youth from low-income families in Hong Kong. Mental health, again being one of the concerns, tends to benefit from teachers' support. Teacher support also appears to be the strongest and most pervasive contributor to various development outcomes. As such, teacher support is more important than parental supervision, family communication, and social participation as a target for promotion through policies and services designed for economically disadvantaged youth.
The sixth paper, written by To, elaborates qualitative findings from school social workers in Hong Kong. Such findings highlight the social workers' experiences of domination and disciplinary power and resistance to them. They reveal problems of alienation and isolation in school social work. Some work in policies and services is therefore required to resolve the problems and dissolve internecine power struggles in school social work.
The seventh paper, written by Ngan-pun Ngai, Cheung, Steven Ngai, and To, examines youth leadership training in Hong Kong. It reveals that the five domains of personal development, interpersonal relationship and team building, community participation, national identity, and international horizons compose youth leadership training. The training is mainly employing the strategies of experiential learning, adventure-based training, service training, non-local exposure, and project-based competition. Furthermore, the paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of various training modes to inform policies and services on youth leadership development.
In all, the collection of papers elucidates the current issues for youth policies and services to address. For young people, work commitment, social inclusion, social support from family and teachers, volunteering, and leadership training are notable concerns for development. Meanwhile, services in organising volunteering, school social work, and leadership training suffer from various problems that fuel alienation, social exclusion, and disempowerment. A common solution to the dilemmas at both youth and service levels would be the strengthening of empowerment and social inclusion to eliminate alienation, powerlessness, and underclass status. The quest for social inclusion therefore merits renewed attention in the youth policies and services of Chinese societies.