Tekijät

• Advisory Council for Youth Affairs (Nuora)
• Finnish Youth Research Society. Finnish Youth Research Network

Asiasanat

family influence, generations (age), health, illegal drugs, institutions, parent participation, satisfaction, sociability, youth, youth culture

Sisällön kuvaus

The theme of Finnish Youth Survey 2012 was relationships between generations and also included a sample of respondents' parents (or guardians).

First, views were probed on the respondents' trust in various institutions, interest in politics, own and parents' placement on the left-right scale and knowledge about parents' political party choices. Second set of questions surveyed how firmly the respondents felt they belonged to family, group of friends and other communities. The respondents were also asked to what extent they agreed with several statements relating to trust in other people.

Experience of volunteer work, reasons for volunteering or not volunteering and willingness to volunteer if asked were charted. Family relations were investigated with questions focusing on how often the respondents met family members and friends, which adjectives described their childhood home best, how often certain activities had been done in the family when they were school-aged and to what extent various statements applied to their parents (e.g. parents had helped with homework). One set of questions examined the respondents' estimates on how similar their opinions were to those of their parents.

The respondents' views on health were studied by asking whether they attempted to influence their well-being by doing certain things, how often they had exercise through all-day activities (such as commuting by bicycle), how many times a week they had physical exercise lasting more than 30 minutes, whether they did competitive sport, what the role of vegetables was in their diet and the reasons for eating vegetables.

Attitudes toward alcohol and substance use as well as smoking were investigated. Questions were asked about alcohol use in childhood home, opinions on alcohol-, drug- and smoking-related statements and the respondents' smoking habits and use of alcohol, snus and drugs.

Satisfaction in several things on a scale of 4-10 was charted. These included financial situation, leisure time, relationships, health, physical condition, appearance and life in general. Finally, the respondents were asked to rate their parents on the same scale in terms of teaching them healthy ways of life.

The respondents were also asked for consent to interview their parents. The parents were asked mostly the same questions as their children but the total number of questions was lower.

Background variables included, for the young respondents, their gender, age, mother tongue, household composition, number and ages of siblings, own and parents' level of education, average grade of the latest report card and economic activity and occupational status.