The Necessity of Metaphysics in the Context of Contemporary Youth Social Support

Authors

  • Tibor Máhrik Faculty of Theology, Theological Institute, Catholic University in Ružomberok, Spišská Kapitula 12, Spišské Podhradie, Slovak Republic
  • Martin Majda Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Theology Catholic University in Ružomberok Hrabovská cesta 1A, 034 01 Ružomberok, Slovak Republic
  • Gabriel Paľa Department of Applied Education, Greek Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Prešov, Ulica biskupa Gojdiča 2, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia
  • Marek Debnár Department of Journalism and New Media, Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, B. Slančíkovej 1, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2026.1.21.30

Keywords:

metaphysics, Gen-Z, social support, identity, resilience, values, mental health

Abstract

Aim. This study analyses the renewed relevance of metaphysics in the context of contemporary challenges faced by young people, with special emphasis on identity formation, psychological vulnerability, and social support, investigating how metaphysical frameworks contribute to psycho-social development, value stability, and existential resilience.

Methods. The study applies a theoretical and interdisciplinary approach combining philosophical analysis, contemporary metaphysical debates, sociological theories of individualisation, and psychological research on youth mental health. It employs comparative conceptual analysis and theoretical synthesis of current literature.

Results. The anthropological and ethical instability experienced by today's youth cannot be adequately addressed without metaphysical grounding. Metaphysics provides conceptual tools for understanding human dignity, objective values, and identity coherence. Social support systems — family, peers, and community — prove significantly more stable and effective when rooted in shared metaphysical or transcendent assumptions.

Conclusions. Metaphysics remains essential for understanding the human person amid cultural fragmentation, normative relativism, and psychological fragility. Its rehabilitation strengthens youth identity formation, value stability, and social resilience, positioning it not as an archaic remnant, but as an indispensable conceptual framework within contemporary educational and social sciences. Future quantitative and qualitative empirical studies on youth populations are recommended to complement these theoretical findings.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

  • Tibor Máhrik, Faculty of Theology, Theological Institute, Catholic University in Ružomberok, Spišská Kapitula 12, Spišské Podhradie, Slovak Republic

    Associate Professor Tibor Máhrik, PhD. worked at several universities in Slovakia, currently is working as a researcher at the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University in Ružomberok. With his education (MSc. in microelectronics at the Slovak University of Technology; PhDr. and PhD in nanoethics and philosophy at Constantine Philosopher University in Nitra; DipTh. in theology at Belfast Bible College) he bridges several fields of knowledge and seeks interdisciplinary interpretations of the phenomena under investigation. His areas of expertise are existential philosophy, biblical theology, and applied ethics, while specializing in the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, and nanoethics. In recent years, as a NextGenerationEU Research Excellence Fellow, his research has focused on the interdisciplinary dimension of contemporary forms of solipsism, particularly in relation to critical thinking, the quality of family life, and the ethical challenges of contemporary society.

  • Gabriel Paľa, Department of Applied Education, Greek Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Prešov, Ulica biskupa Gojdiča 2, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia

    He completed his engineering studies at the Technical University in Kosice, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, graduating in 1995. He completed his theological studies at the Comenius University, Roman Catholic Divinity Faculty in Bratislava, Theological Institute in Košice in 2002. He specializes in communication, mass media communication, mediation, media education, evangelization through media and application of media in church institutions. In 2012 he habilitated at the Faculty of Mass Media Communication at the University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava in the field of Mass Media Studies. In 2018, the President appointed him a university professor in Catholic Theology. From 2007 to 2019, he held the position of vice-dean at the Greek Catholic Theological Faculty of PU in Presov. Currently, he works at the Department of Applied Educology of the GTF PU in Presov , where he was the head of the department from 2007 to 2019. He is the author and co-author of several monographs at home and abroad, numerous studies, articles, papers and editorial activities in the field of theology, mass media and communication.

  • Marek Debnár, Department of Journalism and New Media, Faculty of Arts, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, B. Slančíkovej 1, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia

    Assoc. prof. Marek Debnár, PhD is a Slovak scholar specializing in aesthetics, the philosophy of media, semiotics, and digital humanities, with a particular focus on authorship, autobiography, and digital textuality. His research examines how aesthetic and philosophical categories are transformed in data-driven and algorithmic environments. He earned his PhD in systematic philosophy from Comenius University in Bratislava and completed his habilitation in aesthetics at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, where he currently teaches at the Department of Journalism and New Media. He previously worked as a researcher at the Institute of Slovak Literature and the Institute of Linguistics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. Debnár was the principal investigator of the project DISPRO – Digital Collection of Slovak Prose, funded by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, and is a recipient of the NextGenerationEU Research Excellence Fellowship. He has completed research stays across Europe and the United States and has published in volumes issued by Peter Lang, Manchester University Press, and other respected international academic publishers.

References

Barry, C. M., & Abo-Zena, M. M. (Eds.). (2014). Emerging adults' religiousness and spirituality: Meaning-making in an age of transition. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199959181.001.0001

Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Polity Press.

Beck, U., & Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2002). Individualization. SAGE.

Bengtson, V. L., Putney, N. M., & Harris, S. C. (2015). Families and faith: How religion is passed down across generations. Oxford University Press.

Binetti, M. J., & Pavlikova, M. (2019). Kierkegaard on the reconciliation of conscience. XLinguae, 12(3), 192-200. https://doi.org/10.18355/XL.2019.12.03.14

Boyatzis, C. J., & Janicki, D. L. (2003). Parent-child communication about religion: Survey and diary data on unilateral transmission and bi-directional reciprocity styles. Review of Religious Research, 44(3), 252-270. https://doi.org/10.2307/3512386

Campbell, H. A., & Vitullo, A. (2016). Assessing changes in the study of religious communities in digital religion studies. Church, Communication and Culture, 1(1), 73-89. https://doi.org/10.1080/23753234.2016.1181301

Cigna. (2020). Loneliness and the workplace: 2020 U.S. report. Cigna Corporation.

Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 310-357. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.98.2.310

Drescher, E. (2016). Choosing our religion: The spiritual lives of America's Nones. Oxford University Press.

Fiese, B. H., Tomcho, T. J., Douglas, M., Josephs, K., Poltrock, S., & Baker, T. (2002). A review of 50 years of research on naturally occurring family routines and rituals: Cause for celebration? Journal of Family Psychology, 16(4), 381-390. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.16.4.381

Hardy, S. A., Pratt, M. W., Pancer, S. M., Olsen, J. A., & Lawford, H. L. (2011). Community and religious involvement as contexts of identity change across late adolescence and emerging adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35(2), 125-135. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025410375920

Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, R. E., Mayall, E. E., Wray, B., Mellor, C., & van Susteren, L. (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: A global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), e863-e873. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3

House, J. S. (1981). Work stress and social support. Addison-Wesley.

Illouz, E. (2019). The end of love. Oxford University Press.

King, P. E., & Boyatzis, C. J. (2015). Religious and spiritual development. In M. E. Lamb & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology and developmental science. Vol. 3. Socioemotional processes (7th ed., pp. 975–1021). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118963418.childpsy323

King, P. E., & Roeser, R. W. (2009). Religion and spirituality in adolescent development. In R. M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology: Vol. 1. Individual bases of adolescent development (3rd ed., pp. 435–478). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470479193.adlpsy001014

Koenig, H. G. (2018). Religion and mental health: Research and clinical applications. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-811282-3.00001-8

Králik, R. (2017). Kierkegaard’s interpretation of faith. XLinguae, 10(3), 37–43. https://doi.org/10.18355/XL.2017.10.03.03

Lerner, R. M., Tirrell, J. M., Dowling, E. M., Geldhof, G. J., Gestsdóttir, S., Lerner, J. V., King, P. E., Williams, K., Sim, A. T. R., & Iraheta, G. (2019). The end of the beginning: Evidence and absences studying positive youth development in a global context. Adolescent Research Review, 4(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-018-0093-4

Lyotard, J. F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge (G. Bennington & B. Massumi, Trans.). University of Minnesota Press. (Original work published 1983)

MacIntyre, A. (1984). After virtue (2nd ed.). University of Notre Dame Press.

Máhrik, T., Kosa, M., Máhriková, J., Uhrínová, M., & Tvrdoň, M. (2025). Existential anxiety of the young generation and the importance of social support. In L. Gómez Chova, C. González Martínez, & J. Lees (Eds.), ICERI2025 Proceedings (pp. 8654-8660). https://doi.org/10.21125/iceri.2025.2445

Mercadante, L. A. (2014). Belief without borders: Inside the minds of the spiritual but not religious. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199931002.001.0001

Noddings, N. (2003). Happiness and education. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499920

Pargament, K. I., Exline, J. J., Jones, J. W., Shafranske, E. P., & Mahoney, A. (2013). Envisioning an integrative paradigm for the psychology of religion and spirituality. In K. I. Pargament (Ed.), APA handbook of psychology, religion, and spirituality: Vol. 1. Context, theory, and research (pp. 3-19). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14045-001

Peters, M. A. (2017). Education in a post-truth world. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(6), 563-566. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2016.1264114

Park, C. L. (2017). Distinctions to promote an integrated perspective on meaning: Global meaning and meaning-making processes. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 30(1), 14-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2015.1119082

Pavlikova, M. (2018). Kierkegaard’s understanding of man and society [Kierkegaardovo vnímanie človeka a spoločnosti]. XLinguae, 11(1), 323–331. https://doi.org/10.18355/XL.2018.11.01.27

Pavlikova, M., & Tavilla, I. (2023). Repetition as a path to authentic existence in Kierkegaard’s work. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 14(2), 105-115. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2023.2.105.115

Pew Research Center. (2020). The global God divide. Pew Research Center.

Putnam, R. D., & Campbell, D. E. (2012). American grace: How religion divides and unites us. Simon & Schuster.

Roehlkepartain, E. C., King, P. E., Wagener, L., & Benson, P. L. (Eds.). (2006). The handbook of spiritual development in childhood and adolescence. SAGE Publications.

Sirin, S. R., Brauer, S. Z., & Tugberk, R. C. (2024). Reframing adolescent identity: A global perspective for the digital age. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 6, 301–322. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-010923-101059

Siuda, P. (2021). Mapping digital religion: Exploring the need for new typologies. Religions, 12(6), 373. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12060373

Smith, C., & Snell, P. (2009). Souls in transition: The religious and spiritual lives of emerging adults. Oxford University Press.

Springtide Research Institute. (2021). The state of religion & young people 2021: Navigating uncertainty. Springtide Research Institute.

Taylor, C. (2007). A secular Age. Harvard University Press.

Turkle, S. (2012). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Basic Books.

Twenge, J. M. (2017). iGen: Why today's super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy—and completely unprepared for adulthood. Atria Books.

Twenge, J. M. (2023). Generations: The real differences between Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, boomers, and silents—and what they mean for America’s future. Atria Books.

Twenge, J. M., Cooper, A. B., Joiner, T. E., Duffy, M. E., & Binau, S. G. (2019). Age, period, and cohort trends in mood disorder indicators and suicide-related outcomes in a nationally representative dataset, 2005-2017. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 128(3), 185-199. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000410

VanderWeele, T. J., Li, S., Tsai, A. C., & Kawachi, I. (2016). Association between religious service attendance and lower suicide rates among US women. JAMA Psychiatry, 73(8), 845-851. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.1243

Varma, M. M., Chen, D., Lin, X., Aknin, L. B., & Hu, X. (2023). Prosocial behavior promotes positive emotion during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emotion, 23(2), 538-553. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001077

Vattimo, G. (2011). A farewell to truth. Columbia University Press.

World Health Organisation. (2023). World Mental Health Report: Transforming mental health for all. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240049338

Winter, R. (2002). Still bored in a culture of entertainment: Rediscovering passion and wonder. InterVarsity Press.

Zarzycka, B., Bartczuk, R. M. & Rybarski, R. (2020). Centrality of Religiosity Scale in Polish research: A curvilinear mechanism that explains the categories of centrality of religiosity. Religions, 11(2), Article 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11020064

Downloads

Published

2026-06-27

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2026): Journal of Education Culture and Society

Section

ETHICS

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Tibor Máhrik, Martin Majda, Gabriel Paľa, Marek Debnár

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

CC-BY

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. All authors agree for publishing their email adresses, affiliations and short bio statements with their articles during the submission process.

How to Cite

Máhrik, T. ., Majda, M. ., Paľa, G., & Debnár, M. (2026). The Necessity of Metaphysics in the Context of Contemporary Youth Social Support. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 17(1), 21-30. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2026.1.21.30