Impact of political affiliation on mental health and vulnerabilities with risk of violence among youth: insight from the global perspective

Purpose This study aims to primarily focus on youths’ political affiliation (PA) in higher education institutions (HEIs). It examines how PA affects youth mental health (MH) and contributes to vulnerabilities and the risk of violence associated with political activities. Various factors lead to political violence and increase MH issues, which are a global concern among youth. Several challenges have been faced since they involve in political association/activities. Mitigating strategies are highlighted to overcome MH issues and develop youth well-being, and reduce the risk of violence among higher education (HE) students. Design/methodology/approach A systemic literature review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses guidelines using online databases to identify and select the relevant studies, in which eight studies strengthen methodological literature. Six themes were derived from the search-recorded literature, which shows the PA, MH issues, challenges of vulnerabilities and risk of violence among youth in HEIs and the political side. Findings HEI students join political activities to achieve their social, academic and personal goals, but this involvement can sometimes impede their personal growth. Psychological health is an essential element of students’ overall development; it is important to address factors that negatively affect it. Additionally, this study highlights push, pull and personal factors which steer youth political violence, as it was found that youth are particularly vulnerable to violence. This study fosters peaceful youth political participation and civic responsibility by encouraging nonviolent youth participation. Research limitations/implications Literature and theoretical triangulation of merged components guides how to protect HE youth from negative political influence, vulnerabilities and the risk of violence. Given the recommendations, researchers could collect empirical data to examine whether PA is linked to youth MH issues and vulnerability to violence in real-world settings. Practical implications This study provides guidance to protect the youth from political influence, vulnerabilities and the risk of violence. In future, there is an opportunity to conduct research by collecting empirical data on this study. The research explores how politically affiliated youth are linked to MH issues and their vulnerability to the risk of violence. Originality/value This study shows that the effects of PA on youth form the global literature to local and indicates the MH issues linked to PA, as well as the risk associated with youth participation in campus politics.