The Advisory Council for Youth Affairs (Nuora) started to produce Finnish Youth Surveys in 1994. The

survey Survey may refer to: Statistics and human research * Statistical survey, a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population * Survey (human research), including opinion polls Spatial measurement * Surveying, the techniq ...

series charts attitudes and expectations of

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

young people aged 15 – 29. Each survey contains both unique, current questions and recurring questions, which are repeated over time, enabling the study of long-term attitude changes. The main themes include attitudes to

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

working life Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a co ...

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

spending Consumption is the act of using resources to satisfy current needs and wants. It is seen in contrast to investing, which is spending for acquisition of ''future'' income. Consumption is a major concept in economics and is also studied in many o ...

, drug use, and young people's willingness to participate in order to influence

decision making In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either rati ...

. The data for the 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006 are available in the Finnish Social Science Data Archive.

Youth Survey 2006

Number surveyed: 1901 Date Surveyed: March 2006 Type of Survey: Telephone Interview Method of Data Collection : Cross-Sectional Universe: Young People aged 15–29 in Finland Abstract: The youth survey focused on Finnish young people's trust in institutions,

voting Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, can engage for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holde ...

behaviour, views on acceptable behaviour and on causes for

social exclusion Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. It is used across discipline ...

, feelings of insecurity, religious affiliation, attendance and beliefs, and opinion on the Church. First, the respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with a number of statements relating to work, working life, and commitment to work. Trust in

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

public official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their s ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s, the Church, the Defence Forces, the police, Parliament, municipal executive council, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, the President, banks, judiciary, the Government,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, the media and the Internet was charted. Some questions covered the respondents' voting behaviour in the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

s, and opinions on Finland's EU membership. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with statements relating to acceptability of

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term f ...

, demonstrations against foreigners, downloading music from the Internet without paying,

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

, etc. A number of statements related to sex, e.g. is it acceptable to buy or sell sex, have sex with a same-sex partner, have an

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

, etc. Views were probed on to what extent exclusion is caused by lack of

, friends, hobbies or faith in the future, own indifference, troublesome childhood home,

injustice Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situation, or to a larger status quo. In Western philosophy and jurisprudence, injustice is very commonly—but n ...

in society, etc. The respondents were asked whether they felt insecure or uncertain regarding studies, getting a job, health and safety of family members, increase in immigrant numbers, prevailing values and attitudes, etc. The respondents'

religious affiliation Religious identity is a specific type of identity formation. Particularly, it is the sense of group membership to a religion and the importance of this group membership as it pertains to one's self-concept. Religious identity is not necessarily the ...

and attendance were surveyed. The respondents were also asked how religious they considered themselves to be, how religious their childhood home had been, and whether family members had talked about religion, attended religious services or

Sunday School A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

, or prayed before meals in their childhood home. Further questions charted how often the respondents pray and with whom they talk about religious issues. Two questions focused on beliefs about God. Attitudes towards different

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

s and religious groups were surveyed. The respondents were asked whether they believe in supernatural beings,

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

es,

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

s, Jesus the Son of God, Holy Spirit,

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

s, extraterrestrials,

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...

, or that God created the world like it says in the Bible, that everything is

predestined Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby Go ...

, etc. Feelings of life control and general satisfaction with life were charted. Views were also probed on what happens after death, and whether the Church is capable of providing good answers to moral, spiritual or social problems and needs. The respondents were asked how important they considered certain activities and services carried out by parishes to be. Voting behaviour in church elections was investigated. Background variables included the respondent's

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

, age, household composition,

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...

, and the education, age and occupation of R's parents, R's current educational or employment situation, type of employment contract, economic activity and occupational status, region and province of residence, type of municipality.

Youth Survey 2005

Number surveyed: 2000 Date Surveyed: March 2005 Type of Survey: Telephone Interview Method of Data Collection: Cross-Sectional Universe: Young People aged 15–29 in Finland Abstract: The main themes of this youth indicator survey were young Finns’ attitudes to occupational life, future expectations, sources of money, spending behaviour, financial support received from parents, attitudes to immigrants, and general values. At first, respondents were asked to what extent they agree or disagree with statements relating to commitment to a job or company, unemployment, salary, importance of education in occupational life etc. Intentions to work or study abroad, set up own business, or start a family were charted. Finnish primary and lower secondary education was evaluated. Some questions focused on the respondent's economic situation and consumer habits: sources of money, financial support given by parents, amount of money spent on certain things (hobbies, make-up, travelling etc.). Young people's views on foreigners, different immigrant groups and cultural tolerance were surveyed. Willingness to marry or befriend an immigrant, and willingness to have a person from certain immigrant groups as the next door neighbour were studied. Respondents were asked whether they have friends who are immigrants or of immigrant origin. Respondents’ values were charted by asking how important they considered the following to be: exciting life, self-respect, national security and traditions, religion, equality, social relations, work, own health, own appearance etc. Satisfaction with life was surveyed. 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, status, high salary, experience in politics, good physical condition by the time they were 35 years old. Background variables included the respondent's year of birth, household composition, vocational education, main activity, institution of study if a student, type of employment contract, mother tongue, gender, province of residence, municipality type and parents’ level of education.Finnish Youth Survey 2005 omputer file FSD2099, version 1.1 (2005-10-20). Ministry of Education. The Advisory Council for Youth Affairs (NUORA) & The Finnish Youth Research Society. The Finnish Youth Research Network roducers Espoo: TSN Gallup Finland ata collection 2005. Tampere : Finnish Social Science Data Archive istributor 2006. Available: http://www.fsd.uta.fi/english/data/catalogue/FSD2099/cbF2099e.pdf

References

{{reflist Youth in Finland