| dc.description.abstract | This report gives a comprehensive and updated presentation of the impact socioeconomic resources have on the living conditions of Norwegian youth. It aims to describe a broad spectrum of social inequalities between Norwegian youth, based on new data from a national survey - Ungdata. The report covers many aspects of their lives; their relationships with parents and friends, how they spend their leisure time, their expectations and general well-being, as well as issues such as sexuality and sexual offences. Our results are consistent with other studies, which generally show that Norwegian youth are doing quite well, and lead active and meaningful lives. However, one major finding is that there are systematic social inequalities in living conditions and quality of life in almost all of the areas covered in this report. The report shows that adolescents with relatively few socioeconomic resources at home, in general have more complicated relationships with their parents and friends. In addition, these youths enjoy school less, have more health issues, are bullied more, are more pessimistic, they participate less in organized activities, and spend more of their spare time in front of screens than youth who grow up in higher socioeconomic groups. The report uses data from Ungdata – a survey conducted in 183 Norwegian municipalities in 2014–2015. The data stems from responses from 118,000 young people, aged 13-19 (from lower and upper secondary school). The response rate is high, ranging from 81 percent in the lower to 65 percent in upper secondary school. The study is representative for Norwegian youth attending school. In this report, we use a measure of the parents’ socioeconomic status, as reported by the respondents. This measure captures the socioeconomic resources the teenagers have access to via their families. The measure was constructed using information about the parents’ educational background, amount of books at home and access to various types of material goods and benefits. On this basis, we divided the respondents into five socioeconomic groups. In this report, youth from the different socioeconomic tiers are analyzed and compared. The report also illustrates gender inequalities and variations between youth in different stages of adolescence. Vulnerable families and different parenting styles The report shows that most teenagers are pleased with their parents and have a healthy, open and trusting relationship with them. The vast majority of parents know what their children do in their spare time. Not only do most parents know their children’s friends, but they also know the friends’ parents. Concurrently the analysis also demonstrates that there are clear socioeconomic differences in the relationships the young have with their parents. More frequently, youth from families in the lower social tiers have a more confrontational relationship with their parents and are more often dissatisfied with them. They argue more often with their parents and report that their parents know less about how they spend their spare time. They also report less emotional parental support. The socioeconomic inequalities are not dramatic, and regardless of their background, most young feel that their parents are positive, supporting and involved. Yet the results suggest that parents in the higher socioeconomic strata more often practice what research usually describes as “authoritative parenting”. Authoritative parents are described as being sensitive to the needs of the young, open to input, but also as having firm boundaries, high demands and to communicate their expectations clearly. Research has shown that this type of parenting often is positively associated with the youngsters’ social, emotional and cognitive development. The report also shows that youth from lower social tiers to a larger extent use grownups, other than their parents, when they need help with personal problems. Friendships, bullying and social background Peer relationships are a topic in various sections of the report. In general, most youth are satisfied with their friends. Still as much as ten percent reply that they are not sure if they have close friends they can trust. Youth from the lower social strata lack, more than others, confidential friends and they are not as pleased with their friends. It seems as if these teenagers have a weaker standing among their peers than youth in general. Regarding bullying, the report shows a higher prevalence of bullying, being either the bully or the victim, among youth in the lower social strata, regardless of whether the bullying is “face to face” or digital. Youth from lower social strata are both more often victims of bullying, and they participate more often actively in conflicts. Social differences related to school The report confirms findings from other studies, which show that most youth are comfortable at school: they feel that the teachers care and they are socially well adjusted. Although most are comfortable, a minority is unhappy and dread going to school. The percentage who do not feel well at school is approximately twice as large amongst young in the lower socioeconomic strata, compared with those in the highest strata. When teenagers from lower socioeconomic strata report that they are less comfortable at school, it might refer to both the social and educational environment. Youth from families in the lower social strata do less often feel that they fit in socially at school – among peers. However, they report to the same extent as youth from higher socioeconomic strata, that the teachers care about them. The report also shows quite clear patterns in parents’ involvement with school, based on their socioeconomic background. Youth from families with higher socioeconomic status more often experience parental help with their schoolwork, and that their parents talk more about school, in addition to being more interested in and praising them for their schoolwork. Analyses of time spent doing homework during weekends indicate that youth from higher socioeconomic strata invest more time in obtaining good grades than youth from families with lower social-economic standing. Still, the differences in time spent on schoolwork outside school is less than one might expect from previous research, which indicates relatively large difference in grades between youth from different social backgrounds. The report shows that already in their teens, youth with different socioeconomic backgrounds, differ in their expectations about what they can achieve in life. Most Norwegian teenagers are optimistic about their future. The higher the family’s socioeconomic strata the more optimistic the young are in their perception of their opportunities in the future, be it getting a higher education, happiness, owning a home or employment. Leisure - different arenas different experiences The report illustrates some clear, but opposing social patterns in the young’s leisure time habits. Youth from higher social strata more often than others participate in organized activities in their spare time, while youth from lower socioeconomic strata have the most screen time. When young people from different social strata participate in different types of leisure activities, it also implies that they learn different things and acquire different experiences. Organized leisure activities offer meeting places for youth and give them opportunity to develop skills. Often grownups are present to set the terms for the activities, and additionally they contribute help and support. Organizations can also be an arena where young people can develop their identity and gain an understanding of democracy. When youth from lower socioeconomic strata participate less in such activities, they have less access to this type of learning and socializing activities. While youth from families with high socioeconomic status spend more time on organized activities away from home, the opposite is the case with screen activities. The socioeconomic differences are largest between the heavy users – those who spend more than four hours a day in front of a screen – and the social gradient is largest among the girls. The largest difference is found in the girls’ gaming activities (computer games and smaller games on cellphones / tablets), watching TV, movies or series, in additions to using social media. Girls from homes with lower socioeconomic status use these more extensively. The survey shows that most parents, regardless socioeconomic status, are relatively open-minded and have a liberal attitude towards their youngsters’ online activities. Only a minority reported having rules for usage and few say they hide their online activities from their parents. Youth in families with lower socioeconomic status experience less frequently that their parents know what they are up to online, and they more rarely experience their parents as good role models for use of social media. Social differences in health and wellbeing Regarding health, the report shows that social background matters. Compared with young from the higher social tiers, youth from lower strata in general are less pleased with themselves and their looks, and fewer report that they are satisfied with their own health. Youth from lower social strata more frequently experience physical ailments in their daily life and use painkillers more extensively. There are also social differences in mental health; especially girls from the lower strata more often suffer from anxiety and depressive symptoms. As in most other areas we have studied, there are gradients in the social health differences. The extent of the difficulties decrease gradually as the socioeconomic resources in the family increase. A consistent finding is that social inequalities in health are more evident among girls than among boys; the girls stand out as having most ailments. An example is that headaches and other physical pains bother significantly more girls than boys. The extent of mental health problems is two to three times as high amongst girls as boys. Girls are also far less satisfied with their appearance and self-image than boys are. Regarding the use of health services, the report generally shows rather small socioeconomic differences. Meanwhile, some differences go in slightly different directions for boys and girls. Visits to youth health, school health and psychologist / psychiatrist are, however, more common among youth in families with low socioeconomic status, particularly for girls. Both boys and girls state that physical health issues are the most common reason to seek school health services. Many also seek out school health services to get help or answers to questions about sexual health, mental health, well-being and friendship, and family issues. Overall, we do not find systematic patterns in the reasons youth with different socioeconomic backgrounds report. The exception is that young people from families with low socioeconomic status more frequently than others turn to school health services because of family problems. Few systematic differences in sexual experiences Adolescence is a time in life when many people have their first sexual experiences. The proportion who have ever had sex with anyone increases tenfold from the beginning of middle school to the end of high school, from seven to 73 percent. The increase is largest from mid-teens upward. The report concludes that there are no socioeconomic differences in terms of how many boys have made their sexual debut. However, we see a tendency that relatively more girls from families with lower socioeconomic status have made their sexual debut, compared to girls from the higher strata. The analyses also show that few of the sexually active young have experienced involuntary pregnancy. Simultaneously about 40 percent of the boys and one in four girls state that they did not use contraception the last time they had sex with someone. The analyses of social inequalities does not provide grounds to conclude that youth from lower social strata have unprotected sex more often than others. However, the analyses of sexual experiences are based on a smaller sample than other topics in this report. Therefore, we cannot be quite as sure, as elsewhere in the report, that these data are representative of most youth in Norway. Quite a few youngsters report exposure to various types of sexual offenses, this applies more to girls than to boys. Exchanging sex for material goods however is not prevalent. The boys report such actions somewhat more frequently, but the analyses only show minor differences in the adolescents' socioeconomic background. Nor, when it comes to sexual harassment, is there a clear pattern to suggest that young people from lower social strata are more susceptible. In some areas, these data nevertheless suggest that there are social patterns according to families' socioeconomic status. For example, we see a tendency that some types of sexual offenses – such as being exposed to rumors of a sexual nature and physical harassment - are more prevalent among girls from families with lower socioeconomic status. | en |
