Tekijät

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

Asiasanat

adolescents, discrimination, driving, education, environment, ethnic minorities, expectation, future society, immigration, personal safety, road travel, satisfaction, standard of living, trust, values, youth

Sisällön kuvaus

The main theme for the 2016 Finnish Youth Survey was future. Values and attitudes on working life, environment, discrimination, safety, immigration, and private motoring were also surveyed.

Views on future were surveyed by questions about one's own future, the future of Finland and the world as well as on the possibilities to influence one's own life. The respondents were also asked how important it was to have, among other things, own family and children, close friends, permanent job, high standard of living, and good physical condition by the time they were 35 years old. The respondents' views on the economic situation of their own generation and the following generation were studied. The respondents also evaluated how likely and desirable certain future events in Finnish society were. These included: increase in gender equality, introduction of basic income, increase in material standard of living, and the preservation of the welfare state.

Views on trust and discrimination were probed by asking if the respondents thought that people were trustworthy in general and whether the respondents had faced discrimination. The extent to which the respondents agreed with various statements relating to career and employment, such as "education improves chances of finding a job", and "I will change jobs often during my working career", was investigated. Attitudes towards the environment were studied by asking whether the respondents agreed with certain statements, such as "human effect on global warming is a fact", and "science and technology will solve environmental problems".

Feelings of insecurity and uncertainty on different areas of life were studied. If the respondents had had feelings of insecurity regarding physical, sexual, or mental violence, they were asked to specify whether they had more of these feelings in public or private spaces. The respondents were asked to evaluate statements regarding immigration, such as "I am friends with some immigrants", "It is important to me that my friends have been born in Finland", and "Immigrants are a vital and valuable part of the Finnish society". Contact with people from different ethnic backgrounds was studied.

The respondents answered a number questions about private motoring. They were asked how many cars there were in their household, and if they planned on getting a driver's licence or already had one. The respondents were also asked to evaluate statements about the driver's licence and private motoring, such as "Getting a driver's licence is self-evident in my circle of friends", "No other means of transportation can replace the freedom of having your own car", and "Environmental reasons influence my decision on getting a car, or giving up my car". Finally, the respondents evaluated their life in general on a scale from 4-10.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's gender, age, mother tongue, household composition, parents' education levels, current studies, completed degrees, economic activity, and length of possible unemployment. Furthermore, the background variables included R's country of birth, whether R's parents had been born in Finland, when R had moved to Finland, Finnish citizenship, feelings of being a part of minority, and several questions on place of residence and living standards.