Young Despair focuses on risk behaving young people under 30 years who have faced extreme adverse consequences during their life course. Applying a social autopsy method, different data sources and advanced analyses we will scrutinize young peoples violent, suicidal, and drug-induced deaths as well as near-miss cases with non-fatal outcomes: the examination of these most severe cases yields knowledge that can be used to prevent negative trajectories among youth and to enhance understanding of how inequality, exclusion, and overall ill-being play out in young peoples lives. By improving the means to prevent extreme cases, the wider group of youth in distress can also be helped. The study will be conducted by researchers from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, the Finnish Youth Research Society, A-Clinic Foundation, and the universities of Helsinki, Tampere and Turku in collaboration with young people and interaction partners in practical fields and administration.