Study title

Life Processes of Finnish Young Adults 2001

Dataset ID Number

FSD2441

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2441

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Martikainen, Liisa (University of Jyväskylä. Faculty of Education)

Abstract

The survey focused on the life processes and life satisfaction of Finnish young adults. The respondents were persons who had participated in a life process study conducted by Maijaliisa Rauste-von Wright in 1984. The year 1984 study is not archived at the Finnish Social Science Data Archive.

The first theme pertained to life satisfaction. The respondents were asked whether they were satisfied with their life in general, their social relationships and their work. The reasons why they were satisfied or unsatisfied were charted. Some questions focused on what work or lack of it meant for the respondents, what leisure time activities they had and whether they thought they had enough leisure.

The next theme pertained to the respondents' values and what was important for them. The respondents were asked how important a number of things (for example, work, good social relationships, good health, acting for the human rights, possibility to have hobbies, money/property, religious beliefs) were for them. Future expectations were charted by asking how hopeful they felt their future looked, what were the possible threats or reasons for hopefulness, what were their goals for the future and why. Views were probed on what things they thought were important to the Finns in general.

Further questions covered social relationships and violence. The respondents were asked about their couple relationships, children and satisfaction in the current couple relationship. They were asked whether they had been subjected to mental or physical abuse or had been in a situation where such abuse had occurred and how they themselves had reacted. Opinions on whether violence was ever acceptable were charted.

Finally, the respondents' smoking habits, alcohol use and illegal drug use and reasons for the use were charted with several questions. The respondents were also asked whether they followed any particular life style, for instance, vegetarianism, boycotting international companies, sustainable development, religious belief etc.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, marital status, occupation, and job.

Keywords

alcohol use; antisocial behaviour; domestic violence; employment history; illegal drugs; job satisfaction; leisure time activities; life histories; partnerships (personal); satisfaction; smoking; social networks; values

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Martikainen, Liisa (University of Jyväskylä. Faculty of Education)

Data Producers

• University of Jyväskylä

Time Period Covered

2001

Collection Dates

Summer 2001 ( 2001 )

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Finnish young adults born in 1968 who had participated in the year 1984 study conducted by Maijaliisa Rauste-von Wright

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

Total study of all people participating in the 1984 study. Their address information was taken from the population register using their social security number as the search element. Of the previous participants, four had died, no address information could be found for eight, there was no information at all in the population register for ten and 13 persons had put a ban on the forwarding of their address information. In addition, the social security numbers for one school class had disappeared. The questionnaire was sent to 331 persons and the researcher contacted the non-respondents by phone to remind them of the study. The total number of respondents was 192 persons.

Stratified sampling was used to select the municipalities for the year 1984 sample. The provinces of Finland were divided into three parts, based on the geographical location. In the next stage, municipality selection was based on the number of inhabitants, unemployment rate and positive net migration. The first sample consisted of urban municipalities with over 30,000 inhabitants: Espoo, Imatra, Kuopio and Oulu. The next sample consisted of smaller municipalities with an unemployment rate higher than 5,5% in 1980: Haapajärvi, Noormarkku and Rautavaara. The third sample consisted of municipalities with less than 30,000 inhabitants and a positive net migration (over 1,5% during 1981-1983): Kemijärvi, Lempäälä and Naantali.

The year 1984 sample consisted of 15-16 years old 9th grade pupils of upper secondary schools in the sampled municipalities. Participating school classes were selected in cooperation with the headmasters, province school inspectors and school boards. The following selection criteria were used: 1) pupil composition had to be typical of the municipality (in smaller municipalities there was generally only one upper secondary school), 2) in bigger municipalities, where two classes were selected, classes from different types of school districts were selected if the districts differed (often one from a suburb and the other from the centre), and 3) no special or selective schools were to be included. The original sample consisted of 424 pupils but as some were absent on the day of the study, the final sample consisted of 396 pupils, of whom 190 were girs and 206 boys.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Semi-structured questionnaire

Response Rate

58

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

Non-respondents are included in the data and are displayed as Missing in the frequency tables. The sample of respondents is reported to represent the entire age cohort born in 1968 relatively well in terms of education level and place of residence.

The variable identifying the municipality of residence has been removed from the data. In addition, the variables corresponding to the questionnaire questions 1, 3, 20.2, 22, 26, 27, 30 and 35.1 are missing from the data.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Martikainen, Liisa (University of Jyväskylä): Life Processes of Finnish Young Adults 2001 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2010-11-18). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2441

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

The occupational classification used in the data is based the Classification of Occupations 2001 by Statistics Finland (http://www.stat.fi/meta/luokitukset/ammatti/001-2001/index_en.html).

Martikainen, Liisa (2006). Suomalaisten nuorten aikuisten elämään tyytyväisyyden monet kasvot. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto. Kasvatustieteen väitöskirja.

Rauste-von Wright, Maijaliisa & Makkonen, Timo & Markkanen, Mikko (1986). Suomalaisten 15-16-vuotiaiden nuorten "terveistä" ja "epäterveistä" elämäntavoista. Helsinki: Lääkintöhallitus. Lääkintöhallituksen julkaisuja; Tutkimukset 2/1986.

Related Publications

Martikainen, Liisa (2006). Suomalaisten nuorten aikuisten elämään tyytyväisyyden monet kasvot. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto. Kasvatustieteen väitöskirja.

Martikainen, Liisa (2008). The Many Faces of Life Satisfaction among Finnish Young Adults. Journal of Happiness Studies 10(6), 721-737.

Martikainen, Liisa (2009). Nuoruuden perheympäristö ja elämään tyytyväisyys. Nuorisotutkimus 2009(2), 3-14.

Martikainen, Liisa (2010). Life Satisfaction of University Educated Young Adults. Teoksessa: Psychology of Happiness (toim. Mäkinen, Anna & Paul Hájek), 127-141. New York: Nova Science Publishers Inc.

Rauste-von Wright, Maijaliisa & Makkonen, Timo & Markkanen, Mikko (1986). Suomalaisten 15-16-vuotiaiden nuorten "terveistä" ja "epäterveistä" elämäntavoista. Helsinki: Lääkintöhallitus. Lääkintöhallituksen julkaisuja; Tutkimukset 2/1986.