Social bonds and social networks are important to young people - for their well being, for their development and their future trajectories. In early years, parents and extended families represent the most important social bonds and resources in the life of young people. As they grow out of their childhood and into their identity formation years, social peer networks are of growing importance. At the same time, local as well as globalized communities are contexts for family ties, friendships and other relationships. 

The 10th Nordic Youth Research Information Symposium wants to highlight young people´s social ties - from the closest of dyads to the most distanced of the global, from the nourishing to the destructive. 

In high modernity, the fear of social disintegration, breach of tradition and social cohesion is evident in social research in general and youth research in particular. Risk society and events of terror produce complex reactions, reasoning and emotions and challenge community in multicultural neighbourhoods and societies. Each individual depends on social capital in their identity development, building blocks shaped by gendered, ethnic and localized relationships as well as social class and family backgrounds. Young people´s mental health, development and well being is related to the quality and nature of their relationships. A holistic approach to young people´s lives includes the support, resources and potential which lie in their own social bonds.
  

Conference plenaries include:
James Côté, University of Western Ontario, Canada
Janet Holland, South Bank University, UK
Katrine Fangen, University of Oslo, Norway
Les Back, Goldsmith College, University of London, UK

Organizing committee
Kristinn Hegna, Anders Bakken & Elin Borg, Norwegian Social Research (NOVA)