Wiley
Despite some evidence that being an activist, particularly during adolescence, can positively affect well‐being, activism has been relatively neglected in both psychology and youth civic engagement research. This study aimed to address this gap by exploring how being an activist as a teenager can positively affect personal development and well‐being. Seven focus groups comprising adolescent human rights activists were conducted in classrooms throughout the United Kingdom. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify four dominant themes–A place to go, Power in numbers, Skilling‐up, and In it together—which are discussed in relation to existing literature. Because findings from this study suggest that there are a number of positive psychological benefits to being a youth activist, implications for psychology and youth civic engagement are also considered.