urban youth

Sports betting has expanded across sub-Saharan Africa, increasingly intersecting with young people’s aspirations, technological accessibility, and economic insecurity. Although awareness of gambling-related risks may influence young people’s decisions, recognising such risks does not necessarily lead to cessation of betting. This study explored how young bettors understood betting risks in Shibai Street, Buhongwa Ward, Mwanza, Tanzania. A qualitative cross-sectional study employing ethnographic methods was conducted between July and August 2025. Data were collected from 18 purposively selected active bettors aged 18-29 years through in-depth semi-structured interviews, non-participant observation, and informal conversations. Interviews were conducted in Kiswahili, audio-recorded, transcribed into English, and analysed thematically following Braun and Clarke’s approach. The findings were interpreted using Verstehen, strain, and rational choice perspectives. Participants identified financial loss, difficulty stopping, stress and mental distress, relationship conflict, theft, reduced attention to work or learning, reduced work-seeking, dishonesty, deepening poverty, and loss of personal possessions as important betting-related risks. However, awareness of these risks did not consistently result in withdrawal from betting. Some participants continued because betting provided hope, expectations of quick financial gains, peer influence, and a perceived opportunity to escape poverty. The study concludes that understanding betting risks among youth requires attention to the meanings attached to betting and the economic and social circumstances within which participation occurs. Risk education should therefore be complemented by livelihood opportunities, community support, counselling, and appropriate harm-prevention measures.

Developing adolescents’ soft skills is a strategic agenda aligned with SDG 4 and SDG 16, yet education in urban areas still emphasizes cognitive achievement and rarely internalizes collaborative character education systematically. This study examines the relationship between digital choir training methods and adolescents’ soft skills, with collaborative character education as a mediating variable. An explanatory quantitative approach was used, with a structured questionnaire completed by 78 adolescents in digital choir training in urban Indonesia, selected through purposive sampling. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with 5,000-sample bootstrapping. Digital choir training methods had a positive effect on collaborative character education (β = 0.289; p = 0.049), which in turn had a strong positive effect on soft skills (β = 0.536; p < 0.001). The direct effect of digital methods on soft skills (β = 0.164; p = 0.260) and the indirect effect (β = 0.155; p = 0.079) were not significant at the 5% level, although the total effect was significant (β = 0.319; p = 0.018); mediation is therefore not conclusively established. Soft skills formation appears to depend mainly on the internalization of collaborative character values rather than on the digital method alone.

توسعه مهارت‌های نرم نوجوانان یک دستور کار راهبردی همسو با اهداف توسعه پایدار ۴ و ۱۶ است، اما آموزش در مناطق شهری همچنان بر دستاوردهای شناختی تأکید دارد و به ندرت آموزش شخصیت مشارکتی را به‌صورت نظام‌مند درونی می‌کند. این پژوهش رابطه بین روش‌های دیجیتال آموزش هم‌سرایی و مهارت‌های نرم نوجوانان را با متغیر میانجی آموزش شخصیت مشارکتی بررسی می‌کند. رویکرد کمی تبیینی به‌کار گرفته شد و پرسشنامه‌ای ساختاریافته توسط ۷۸ نوجوان شرکت‌کننده در آموزش دیجیتال هم‌سرایی در مناطق شهری اندونزی که به روش نمونه‌گیری هدفمند انتخاب شده بودند، تکمیل شد. داده‌ها با استفاده از مدل‌سازی معادلات ساختاری حداقل مربعات جزئی (PLS-SEM) با بوت‌استرپ ۵٬۰۰۰ نمونه تحلیل گردید. روش‌های دیجیتال آموزش هم‌سرایی تأثیر مثبتی بر آموزش شخصیت مشارکتی داشتند (β = ۰٫۲۸۹؛ p = ۰٫۰۴۹) که به نوبه خود تأثیر مثبت قوی بر مهارت‌های نرم داشت (β = ۰٫۵۳۶؛ p < ۰٫۰۰۱). اثر مستقیم روش‌های دیجیتال بر مهارت‌های نرم (β = ۰٫۱۶۴؛ p = ۰٫۲۶۰) و اثر غیرمستقیم (β = ۰٫۱۵۵؛ p = ۰٫۰۷۹) در سطح ۵٪ معنادار نبود، هرچند اثر کل معنادار بود (β = ۰٫۳۱۹؛ p = ۰٫۰۱۸)؛ بنابراین، میانجی‌گری به طور قطعی اثبات نمی‌شود. به نظر می‌رسد شکل‌گیری مهارت‌های نرم عمدتاً به درونی‌سازی ارزش‌های شخصیت مشارکتی وابسته است تا صرفاً به روش دیجیتال.