Young adults' personal concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland: an issue for social concern

Mette Ranta · Gintautas Šilinskas · Terhi‐Anna Wilska

56 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Sociology and Social Policy

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

COVID-19 and Mental Health Youth Education and Societal Dynamics Social impacts of COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose This study focuses on how young adults face the COVID-19 pandemic by investigating their personal concerns about mental well-being, career/studies and economic situation. The authors investigated how young adults' (aged 18–29) personal concerns differ from older people's concerns (aged 30–65) and which person- and context-related antecedents relate to personal concerns. Design/methodology/approach Data of Finnish young adults aged 18–29 (n = 222), who participated in the “Corona Consumers” survey (N = 1,000) in April 2020, were analyzed by path analysis and compared to participants aged 30–65 by independent samples t-test. Findings Young adults were significantly more concerned about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their mental well-being, career/studies and economic situation than older people. Females were more concerned about their mental well-being than males. Among youth, lower life satisfaction was related to concerns about mental well-being, and lower satisfaction with financial situation was related to concerns about career/studies and economic situation. Young adults' predisposition to avoid difficult situations was related to more frequent concerns in all domains, whereas generalized trust and education were not. Research limitations/implications Due to cross-sectional data, causal COVID-19 interpretations should be made cautiously. Practical implications Strong youth policies are needed for youth empowerment, mental health and career advancement in the pandemic aftermath. Originality/value The study highlights the inequality of the effects of COVID-19: The pandemic has radically influenced young adults as they exhibit significant personal concerns in age-related life domains.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 56 citations exist upstream.

References

1998Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification.1997Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation 2020Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, June 24–30, 2020 1997Individual-Level Evidence for the Causes and Consequences of Social Capital 2014The new life stage of emerging adulthood at ages 18–29 years: implications for mental health 2010Financial Literacy among the Young 1974The Value of the Ability to Deal with Disequilibria 1991How do adolescents see their future? A review of the development of future orientation and planning

Cited by

2023Interplay of Financial Socialization, Financial Behavior, and Adult Financial Well-being 2025Stimulation values and life satisfaction among young people: the role of impulsive buying and financial problems

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.