Authors

• Keskinen, Vesa (City of Helsinki Urban Facts. Urban Research Unit)
• Nyholm, Anna Sofia (City of Helsinki Urban Facts. Urban Research Unit)

Keywords

expectation, families, hobbies, interpersonal relations, leisure time activities, schoolchildren, youth, youth culture

Abstract

The study investigated the leisure time, hobbies, interpersonal relationships, school life and future plans of young people attending schools located in Helsinki, Finland. The dataset is part of City of Helsinki's longitudinal study in which surveys have been conducted every ten years since 1980.

The respondents were first asked questions about their leisure time and hobbies. Views were probed on, for example, how much leisure time the respondents felt they had, what they did in their leisure time and how much time they spent in different activities (e.g. watching TV, surfing the Internet). The respondents were also asked how often they engaged in a wide range of different activities and hobbies, whether they shared any hobbies with their parents, and whether they had ever had to give up a hobby and for what reason.

The respondents' interpersonal relationships were charted. The respondents were asked whether they had been feeling lonely in the past year, whether they were dating, how many close friends they had and how often they kept in contact with their friends by different means (e.g. meeting, email, Facebook). Further questions probed, among others, who was their closest family member, what the atmosphere in their family was like and whether they discussed different things with their parents (e.g. curfews, friends, Internet use).

Relating to school life, the respondents were asked how they liked going to school, what they thought their performance at school was like, how often they played truant and whether they were afraid of going to school. Future fears and expectations were charted as well as future study plans.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, mother tongue, living arrangements, municipality of residence, grade level and parents' education levels and employment statuses.