Authors

• Finnish Environment Institute (Syke)

Keywords

adolescents, attitudes, citizenship, citizenship participation, development, environment, environmental awareness, social influence, social progress, social systems, sustainability, values

Abstract

The survey examined young Finns' attitudes towards sustainable development and social influence. It also studied their trust in social actors. The data was collected as part of the Urban and regional planning with the young generation - collective and intergenerational learning encouraging sustainability transformations (URGENT) project.

First, respondents were asked what they thought about various statements related to sustainability. The statements concerned their own knowledge of the subject and their willingness and ability to influence sustainability. Next, respondents were asked to rate how active they felt they were in promoting sustainability in society. This was followed by a series of questions on how often respondents had participated in a specific activity in the last six months. For example, sorting waste, participating in a sustainability related demonstration or discussing sustainability issues with others. Respondents were also asked to give an open-ended answer on other ways in which they have tried to contribute to sustainability. Finally, respondents were asked about their general level of trust in various social actors.

Background variables included the respondent's age, gender, place of residence at county level, current place of study, parents' level of education and NUTS3 region of residence.