Study title

Well-Being of LGBTIQ Youth 2013

Dataset ID Number

FSD2924

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2924
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2924

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Alanko, Katarina (Finnish Youth Research Society. Finnish Youth Research Network)

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Huldén, Sami (Seta - LGBTI Rights in Finland)
• Lehtonen, Jukka (University of Helsinki. Department of Behavioural Sciences)
• Finnish Youth Research Society
• Seta - LGBTI Rights in Finland

Abstract

The Well-Being of LGBTIQ Youth survey, conducted jointly by Finnish Youth Research Society and Seta - LGBTI Rights in Finland, charted the well-being of young Finnish lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people, and intersex and queer people. The extensive survey was part of the Hyvinvoiva sateenkaarinuori project (Wellbeing of LGBTIQ Youth), funded by the Child and Youth Policy Programme of the Ministry of Education and Culture. Topics studied included gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation and behaviour, relationships, health, experiences of discrimination and violence, and attitudes in the society. The respondents were able to explain their responses in more detail with open-ended responses. The survey was the first survey in Finland to chart sexual orientation and gender diversity of young people.

The respondents were asked about their gender expression and gender identity. Questions investigated whether the respondents identified as a girl/woman, boy/man, or other, what they thought their gender expression was like (masculine, feminine or neither), how they thought others viewed their gender expression, what sex they had been assigned at birth, whether they had any variations of sex development, whether they identified as a trans person, and which categories, if any, best described them (e.g. transgender, transwoman/man, queer or genderblender, cross-dresser).

One topic charted intersex traits and identity, with questions about, for instance, perception of own gender, age when diagnosed with an intersex condition, reactions/attitudes of people to the respondent's intersex identity, and support needed and received. With regard to transvestism/cross-dressing, the respondents were asked, among others, the frequency of the need to dress like the other gender, the age when first broke norms relating to dressing, and with whom had first talked about their possible cross-dresser identity. Relating to experiences of being a trans person, questions charted, for instance, the age when the respondents first noticed that their gender identity did not match the social expectations around them, to whom they were open about their trans identity, their situation in terms of transitioning and sex reassignment, and fear of negative attitudes of other people.

Several questions were asked about sexual orientation. The respondents' sexual orientation and sexual orientation they disclosed to other people were charted as well as romantic and sexual attraction to women, men and queer/trans/other people, changes in sexual attraction, and age when they first became aware of attraction to people of the same sex. The respondents were also asked about, among others, openness about their sexual orientation, attitudes of others, extent to which the respondents had been afraid of negative attitudes/consequences relating to their orientation, and plans to move from the municipality of residence as a result of the attitudes.

Social relationships, health, body image, and eating habits were charted. The questions investigated, for example, length of the longest intimate relationship with the same person, relationship status at the time of the survey, long-term/chronic illnesses or disabilities, perceived healthiness of own habits, help received for issues related to health, satisfaction with weight and different parts of body, and problems related to eating. Mental health and self-esteem were studied with statements about self-worth and feelings, and thoughts in the past two weeks as well as questions about inflicting self-harm and attempting suicide.

Sexual behaviour was surveyed by asking the respondents about sexual experience with girls/women, boys/men, and queer/trans/other people as well as age when first had sex and started a relationship, experiences related to sex and sexuality (e.g. "I have agreed to have sex even though I did not really want to"), sexually transmitted diseases, total number of sex partners, and own behaviour and behaviour of others on the Internet.

Experiences of discrimination and violence were investigated. The questions surveyed, among others, views on the frequency of discrimination of sexual and gender minorities, whether some people had urged or pressured the respondents into acting according to traditional gender expectations, how safe the respondents felt in different situations, and own experiences of bullying, discrimination, and physical and sexual violence. Finally, the respondents were asked about participation and social attitudes as well as thoughts on and hopes for future.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's year of birth, household composition, education level, employment status, mother tongue, membership of ethnic minority and religious community, and gross monthly income as well as type of municipality of residence, major region of residence, and parents' education level and social class.

Keywords

bisexuality; discrimination; discrimination against homosexuals; gender identity; gender minorities; health; homosexuality; mental health; sexual behaviour; sexual health; sexual identity; sexual minorities; sexual orientation; transgender people; transsexual; youth

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Gender and gender roles (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Youth (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Minorities (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (C) available only for research including master's theses.

Data Collector

• Finnish Youth Research Society. Finnish Youth Research Network

Data Producers

• Ministry of Education and Culture

Time Period Covered

2013

Collection Dates

2013-04 – 2013-06

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Finnish gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transpeople, intersex and queer people over 15 years of age

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Availability

The online survey was conducted in April-June 2013. The questionnaire was available in Finnish from 5 April onwards and in Swedish about a month later. Even though the goal of the survey was to collect information on the well-being of LGBTQI youth, anyone regardless of age, sexual orientation, or gender identity was able to respond. The survey was widely advertised in newspapers, on Facebook, online community Qruiser and the websites of Finnish Youth Research Society and Seta - LGBTI Rights in Finland. People who followed Seta on Facebook and people who had participated in the research on the subject were also asked to spread information about the survey. 2,503 persons responded.

Collection Mode

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: Finnish and English.

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

Number of Cases and Variables

1143 variables and 2503 cases.

Data Version

2.0

Related Datasets

FSD3020 Life for LGBTIQA Youth in the Past and Present 2014

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

FSD has no information on filter questions in the questionnaire. The open-ended responses are available in Finnish only. The maximum length of open-ended responses is 255 characters.

For reasons of anonymity, open-ended responses relating to the ages of family members (q5), membership of ethnic minority (q13) and religious community (q17) have been removed from the data. To maintain anonymity, variables q2, q12, q17 and q18, charting municipality type, mother tongue, religious community and monthly income have been recoded.

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

Alanko, Katarina (Finnish Youth Research Society): Well-Being of LGBTIQ Youth 2013 [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2019-08-26). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2924

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 Publications

Alanko, Katarina (2014). Mitä kuuluu sateenkaarinuorille Suomessa? Helsinki: Nuorisotutkimusverkosto/Nuorisotutkimusseura, julkaisuja 146, verkkojulkaisuja 72 & Seta, Seta-julkaisuja 23.

Alanko, Katarina (2014). Hur mår HBTIQ-unga i Finland? Helsingfors: Ungdomsforskningsnätverket/Ungdomsforskningssällskapet. Nätpublikation 68 & Seta, Seta-publikationer 21.

Taavetti, Riikka & Alanko, Katarina & Heikkinen, Lotte (2015). Hyvinvoiva sateenkaarinuori -tutkimushanke. Tiivistelmä. Helsinki: Nuorisotutkimusseura. Nuorisotutkimusseuran julkaisuja; 158 & Nuorisotutkimusseuran verkkojulkaisuja; 82 & Seta-julkaisuja; 26.

Lund, H. (2015). Relationships that support transgender youth. Åbo: Åbo Akademi. Pro gradu.

Alanko, K. (2014). Lesbo-, homo- bi- ja transnuorten hyvinvointi ja perheiden tuki. Teoksessa: Nuorten elinolot -vuosikirja (toim. Gissler, Mika & Kekkonen, Marjatta & Känkänen, Päivi & Muranen, Päivi & Wrede-Jäntti, Matilda), 187-198. Helsinki: Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-245-996-1

Taavetti, Riikka (2016) "Reflecting the Queer Me. Memories of Finnish Queer Youth from the 1950s Onwards." Lambda Nordica 3-4/2016, 81-107

Taavetti, Riikka (2016) "Tärkeintä on lähteminen. Muuttamisen merkitykset sateenkaarinuorten elämässä." Teoksessa. Kivijärvi, Antti & Peltola, Marja (toim.) Lapset ja nuoret muuttoliikkeessä - Nuorten elinolot 2016 -vuosikirja. Helsinki: Nuorisotutkimusverkosto/Nuorisotutkimusseura & Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos & Valtion nuorisoasiain neuvottelukunta, 135-147. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-7175-19-4

Lehtonen, Jukka (2018) Ei-heteroseksuaalisten poikien ja transnuorten kokemukset ja valinnat koulutuksessa. Teoksessa Kivijärvi, Antti, Huuki, Tuija & Lunabba, Harry (toim.) Poikatutkimus. Tampere: Vastapaino, 121-145.

Lehtonen, Jukka (2016) Experiences of Non-Heterosexual and Trans Youth on Career Choice and in the Workplace. In Köllen, Thomas (Ed.) Sexual Orientation and Transgender Issues in Organizations: Global Perspectives on LGBT Workforce Diversity. Springer, 289-306.

Lehtonen, Jukka (2016) Sukupuolen ja seksuaalisuuden moninaisuus osana laaja-alaista seksuaalikasvatusta ja heteronormatiivisuuden purkamista. Teoksessa Bildjuschkin, Katriina toim. Seksuaalikasvatuksen tueksi. Työpaperi 35/2015. Helsinki: THL, 104-115.

Lehtonen, Jukka (2015) Going in 'the men's school'? Non-heterosexual and transgender youth choosing military service in Finland. Men, Masculinities and Young People: North-South Dialogues, special issue edited by J. Hearn, K. Ratele and T. Shefer, NORMA: The International Journal for Masculinity Studies, Vol. 10(2), 2015, 117-135.

Lehtonen, Jukka (2014) Ei-heteroseksuaalisten ja transnuorten kokemukset työelämästä. Työelämäntutkimus -lehti, 12(3), 285-291.

Lehtonen, Jukka (2014) Sukupuolittuneita valintoja? Ei-heteroseksuaaliset ja transnuoret koulutuksessa. Sukupuolentutkimus, 27(4), 67-71.

Lehtonen, Jukka & Taavetti, Riikka (2018) Ambivalent Positions and Challenging Contexts in Researching "Rainbow Youth" in Finland. In Hearn, Jeff, Shefer, Tamara, Ratele, Kopano & Boonzaier, Floretta (eds.) Engaging Youth in Activism, Research and Pedagogical Praxis: Transnational and Intersectional Perspectives on Gender, Sex, and Race. New York & London: Routledge, 75-90.

Taavetti, Riikka & Lehtonen, Jukka (2018) Metodologisia ja eettisiä kysymyksiä sateenkaarinuorten etnografisessa ja osallistavassa tutkimuksessa. Teoksessa Honkatukia, Päivi & Kiilakoski, Tomi (toim.) Miten tutkia nuoria ja nuorisotyötä? Tampere: Vastapaino, 260-276.

Taavetti, R., Alanko, K., Hästbacka, N., Lehtonen, J. & Palojärvi, I. (2020) Sateenkaareva nuoruus ja merkitykselliset ihmissuhteet. Teoksessa Lahti, A., Aarnio, K. Moring, A. & Kerppola, J. (toim.) Perhe- ja läheissuhteet sateenkaaren alla. Helsinki: Gaudeamus, 29-44.

Lehtonen, Jukka (2021). Heteronormative violence in schools: Focus on homophobia, transphobia and the experiences of trans and non-heterosexual youth in Finland. In Odenbring, Y. & Johansson, T. eds. Violence, Victimisation and Young People. Education and Safe Learning Environments. Switzerland: Springer, 155-172.

Kinnusjärvi, Inka (2024). Heteronormatiivista väkivaltaa kokeneiden sateenkaarinuorten toimijuuden muodot väkivallasta selviytymisen näkökulmasta. Valtiotieteiden maisterintutkielma, sosiaalitieteiden maisteriohjelma, sosiaalityö. Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto.

Recker, J., & Perry, A. (2024). Data on the Margins - Data from LGBTIQ+ Populations in European Social Science Data Archives. Data Science Journal 23(1), 39. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2024-039