Youth resilience, risks and well-being in relation to their affiliation with the communities in the digital age (YoRSCRoWD)

• Acronym: YoRSCRoWD
• Coordinator: Institute for Social Research in Zagreb
• Financed by: Croatian Science Foundation
• Project duration: 10 December 2026 – 09 December 2029

The YoRSCRoWD project explores how belonging to specific communities influences young people’s resilience, vulnerabilities, risks, and well-being across both offline and digital contexts. It considers contemporary sources of anxiety, such as environmental concerns, global conflicts, and disrupted transitions to adulthood shaped by social and economic uncertainty, while examining how these dynamics are mediated by demographics, especially the gender and spatial dimension, socio-economic, and occupational factors, as well as by individuals’ values and attitudes. We employ an integrated mixed-method design: a quantitative survey on a nationally representative sample of young people aged 18-29 (Croatia, N=1.000), participant observation in at least five communities or subcultures supplemented by vignettes and interviews with at least 40 members of those communities or subcultures in Croatia, and digital ethnography across Croatia, Finland and Slovenia. The target groups are conceptualised as those constituted by shared practices, meanings and identities, ranging from structured subcultures, through various communities, to fluid post-subcultural formations. Based on instruments previously implemented in Croatia, Finland and Slovenia, this approach facilitates a cross-national comparative perspective and ensures validation and verification of research methods and data. The project balances the analysis of positive outcomes of belonging to communities and subcultural groups, such as identity formation, reduced loneliness, social support, cultural capital, and safe spaces, with risks such as marginalisation, radicalisation, gender-based violence, and digital addiction. The YoRSCRoWD objectives include innovation via triangulation of research methods, reflexivity among young people, informing inclusive youth policies, reducing moral panics, and strengthening cross-sectoral and international collaboration.