Study title

Nordic Study on Child Rights to Participate 2009-2010: Nordic Countries

Alternative Title

Child Rights Awareness and Participation 2009-2010: Nordic Countries

Dataset ID Number

FSD2547

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2547
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2547

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Hetemäki, Inka (UNICEF Finland)
• Oksanen, Eija (UNICEF Finland)
• Pronin, Nina (UNICEF Finland)
• Suvilaakso, Tanja (UNICEF Finland)

Abstract

The main aim of the survey, conducted by UNICEF, was to investigate to what extent children and young people can influence matters at home, school and in society and what issues they would like to have influence on. Other main themes included how much children and young people know about children's rights and human rights in general. This integrated dataset contains the responses of 5,775 pupils in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Island and Denmark. FSD collections also include the dataset containing the Finnish part only (FSD2546).

Knowledge of child and human rights were charted by asking the respondents how much they knew about the rights of the child, where they had got the information from, and whom do the rights concern. The respondents were also asked to what extent they agreed with statements relating to human rights issues, for instance, to corporal punishment of children, whether all people have the same rights regardless of their religion, whether boys and girls have the same rights etc.

One topic pertained to what extent the respondents were able influence matters at home, school and spare time and how important they considered it to be to be able to influence these matters, including use of own money, bed times, interior and decor of their own room, where to live if parents divorced, hobbies, decision which school to go to, what one learns at school, school menu, facilities in the municipality, the family's water and electricity consumption etc. Next, the respondents were asked whether they agreed with statements relating to the media, decision making at school, voting age, and climate change. In addition, they were asked to name the three most important issues they would like to have influence on and the three most important things that can be done to combat climate change.

The respondents were asked whether they had participated in the school council or other school bodies, other school activities (e.g. as peer mediators/tutors), local or youth council or political party activities. Opinions were charted on the importance of different channels or methods of participation and how well these had worked in their own case. Channels/methods mentioned included petitions, demonstrations, different kinds of youth bodies, online blog postings etc. The respondents also evaluated the quality of their life on a 10-point scale.

Background information included the respondent's age, gender, R's and parents' country of birth and whether the parents had university education or not.

Keywords

adolescence; adolescents; attitudes; children; decision making; family life; human rights; political influence; political participation; schoolchildren; social influence

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Youth (CESSDA Topic 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

• Innolink Research

Data Producers

• UNICEF Finland

Time Period Covered

2009 – 2010

Collection Dates

2009-09 – 2010-02

Nation

Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Island

Geographical Coverage

Nordic countries

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Schoolchildren aged 12 - 16 living in Nordic countries.

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Stratified

Schools were selected to the sample from all administrative regions in the country. The sampling also took into account school size (small, medium-size, large).

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

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: English.

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

Number of Cases and Variables

127 variables and 5775 cases.

Data Version

2.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

Names of the schools and municipalities have been removed from the data.

Weighting

There is a weight variable matching the data with the proportion of 12 - 16 year-olds in the country as a whole. The proportion is based on the year 2008 population statistics.

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

Hetemäki, Inka (UNICEF Finland) & Oksanen, Eija (UNICEF Finland) & Pronin, Nina (UNICEF Finland) & Suvilaakso, Tanja (UNICEF Finland): Nordic Study on Child Rights to Participate 2009-2010: Nordic Countries [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-08-14). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2547

Deposit Requirement

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

Special Terms and Conditions for Access

Users of the data shall notify the data producer UNICEF (information@unicef.fi) of all publications based on or using the data.

Disclaimer

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

Related Publications

Yhteispohjoismainen tutkimus lapsen oikeudesta osallistua 2009-2010: Suomi (2010). Unicef. Saatavilla www-muodossa: [http://www.unicef.fi/files/unicef/pdf/Suomen_maaraportti_UNICEF_-_Yhteispohjoismainen_tutkimus_Lapsen_oikeudesta_osallistua.pdf].

Nordic Study on Child Rights to Participate 2009-2010 (2010). Unicef. Saatavilla www-muodossa: http://www.unicef.fi/files/unicef/pdf/Joint_report_UNICEF_-_Nordic_Study_on_Child_Rights_to_Participate_2010.pdf [viitattu 14.5.2013].

Yhteispohjoismainen tutkimus lapsen oikeudesta osallistua 2009-10 (2010). Unicef. Saatavilla www-muodossa: http://www.unicef.fi/files/unicef/pdf/Yhteenveto_UNICEFin_tutkimus_lasten_osallistumisesta.pdf [viitattu 14.5.2013].

Harinen, Päivi & Halme, Juha (2012). Hyvä, paha koulu. Kouluhyvinvointia hakemassa [verkkodokumentti]. Suomen UNICEF Nuorisotutkimusverkosto/Nuorisotutkimusseura, verkkojulkaisuja 56. https://unicef.studio.crasman.fi/pub/public/pdf/hyva_paha_koulu-1.pdf [viitattu 20.11.2015]