Guest Editor(s)
Prof. Dr. Hua Pang
Email: huapang@tju.edu.cn
Affiliation: School of New Media and Communication, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
Homepage:
Research Interests: generative AI and youth, mental health in the digital age, digital literacy, human–AI interaction, emotional well-being
Prof. Dr. Zhendong Liu
Email: liuzhendongagan09@126.com
Affiliation: School of Journalism and Communication, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China
Homepage:
Research Interests: intelligent cultural cognition, new media studies, film and television communication
Prof. Dr. Miao Guo
Email: gmiao@nwupl.edu.cn
Affiliation: School of Marxism, Northwest University of Political Science and Law, Xi'an, China
Homepage:
Research Interests: evironmental communication, new media ethics, and online public opinion governance
Prof. Dr. Dawei Zheng
Email: osakuki@zzu.edu.cn
Affiliation: School of Journalism and Communication, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Homepage:
Research Interests: science and technology communication, international communication
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jingxi Chen
Email: jingxi_chen@tongji.edu.cn
Affiliation: College of Arts & Media, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Homepage:
Research Interests: intelligent media and digital Health, intelligent media and urban studies, user research in intelligent media
Summary
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly becoming embedded in the everyday experiences of young people, reshaping how they learn, communicate, create, seek information, and engage with digital environments. Large language models, conversational agents, virtual companions, and multimodal generative systems hold considerable promise for expanding opportunities for personalized learning, creative expression, social participation, and access to informational and psychological support. Yet their growing ubiquity also introduces a range of developmental and psychosocial risks, including digital dependency, privacy loss, social disconnection, diminished self-esteem, identity-related vulnerabilities, and adverse consequences for mental health and emotional well-being.
GenAI’s growing presence in young people’s lives demands closer examination of its implications for well-being, relationships, resilience, and identity. While generative systems may support emotional expression, creativity, and access to resources, they may also heighten dependency, anxiety, loneliness, social comparison, and problematic use, with effects varying across developmental, socioeconomic, cultural, and psychological contexts. Digital literacy must therefore extend beyond technical competence to encompass critical evaluation of AI-generated content, recognition of misinformation and bias, privacy protection, awareness of system limitations, and emotional self-regulation. Strengthening these capacities is essential to promoting resilience and healthy development in AI-mediated environments.
This Special Issue brings together interdisciplinary perspectives to examine how GenAI shapes young people’s mental health, emotional experiences, and digital competencies. It welcomes theoretically original and methodologically rigorous empirical, conceptual, methodological, and review articles that advance scholarship and inform psychologically supportive, ethically responsible, inclusive, and developmentally appropriate uses of GenAI across educational, familial, social, and digital contexts.
Suggested themes include (but are not limited to):
· The impact of generative AI on youth mental health and emotional well-being
· Digital literacy, AI literacy, and critical evaluation of AI-generated content among young people
· Human–AI interaction and its psychosocial effects on adolescents
· Opportunities and risks of GenAI in educational, familial, and social contexts
· Digital dependency, privacy concerns, and identity formation in the age of GenAI
· Emotional expression, regulation, and support in AI-mediated environments
· Social participation, creativity, and personalized learning enabled by generative systems
· Cross-cultural, developmental, and socioeconomic differences in youth responses to GenAI
· Ethical, psychological, and policy considerations for promoting healthy youth development in AI-rich environments
· Interventions and strategies for building digital resilience and emotional self-regulation
Keywords
generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), young people, youth development, mental health, emotional well-being, emotional experiences, digital literacy, AI literacy, emotional literacy, digital well-being, human–AI interaction, digital resilience
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