Hard times and European youth. The effect of economic insecurity on human values, social attitudes and well‐being

Abstract

While economic downturns have adverse effects on young people's life chances, empirical studies examining whether and to what extent human values, social attitudes and well‐being indicators respond to sudden economic shocks are scarce. To assess the claim that human values are less affected by economic shocks than social attitudes and well‐being, two distinct yet related studies based on the European Social Survey (ESS) are conducted. The first employs a fixed effects pseudo‐panel analysis of the 2008–2014 ESS‐waves to detect whether changes over time in the socio‐demographic group's unemployment risk and national youth unemployment affect individual dispositions to varying degrees. The second study captures micro‐ and cross‐national effects in the 2010 ESS cross‐section. Unique for this set‐up is that we can test whether the findings hold for over‐time changes in youth unemployment within countries (pseudo‐panel), as well as for cross‐country differences in youth unemployment (multilevel). Both studies indicate that political trust, satisfaction with the economy and subjective well‐being are lowered by economic risk and hardship, while social trust and self‐rated health are less affected by changes in youth unemployment. Secondly, human values are immune to economic risk, underscoring that values transcend specific situations and are therefore resistant against sudden economic shocks.

Exclusive and inclusive protest in Europe: Investigating values, support for democracy, and life conditions

“…In line with Schwartz's theory, which posits that personal values are socialized at an early age and are mostly stable and context independent for the rest of one's life, Reeskens and Vandecasteele (2016) found little impact of the economic crisis on values in the ESS data. However, they also found that some values related to social support and social interaction are more likely to be affected by specific life conditions and periods of economic hardship.…”

Youth and the Great Recession: Are values, achievement orientation and outlook to the future affected?

“…Using the European Social Survey, they examine both aggregate‐level population data and individual level data, showing that, as expected, values underscoring openness to new experiences or emphasising self‐restriction and order remain resistant in the face of sudden economic shocks. Likewise supporting prior expectations, declines in political trust and in satisfaction with the economy in the face of economic risk show the response of these social attitudes to the experience of economic hardship (Reeskens & Vandecasteele, ). However, counter to their expectations they find that social trust is less affected by changes in national youth unemployment rates, suggesting that it is less dependent on situational conditions and less volatile than political trust and satisfaction with the economy.…”

“…Positive self‐views are found to be associated with a person's overall life satisfaction, well‐being and mental health, even after controlling for the experience of socio‐economic risk and disadvantage (Trzesniewski et al, ). Regarding the effects of the recession on young people's self‐views and subjective perceptions of well‐being, the research reported in this special section finds that the demands of the recession slowed the development of positive self‐views among adolescents (Johnson et al, ), among general population samples (Reeskens & Vandercasteele, ), and among undergraduate students (Park et al, ). Moreover, the recession was linked to increases in depressed mood (Johnson et al, ) and lowered levels of subjective health (Reeskens & Vandercasteele, ).…”

“…Regarding the effects of the recession on young people's self‐views and subjective perceptions of well‐being, the research reported in this special section finds that the demands of the recession slowed the development of positive self‐views among adolescents (Johnson et al, ), among general population samples (Reeskens & Vandercasteele, ), and among undergraduate students (Park et al, ). Moreover, the recession was linked to increases in depressed mood (Johnson et al, ) and lowered levels of subjective health (Reeskens & Vandercasteele, ). However, the associations were not strong, especially not for adolescents (Johnson et al, ), suggesting that younger age groups might be better protected against the effects of the economic downturn than their slightly older peers who are preparing for the transition to independence (see also Schoon & Bynner, in press).…”

“…In the immediate term, the outcome of the transition from education to work gives signals of continuing employability. Failure to master the transition successfully can leave the young person with diminished confidence (see Shane & Heckhausen, 2016), eroding self-esteem (Park, Greenfield, & Twenge, 2016;Johnson, Staff, Patrick, & Schulenberg 2016;Aronson, 2016), and lack of trust in the institutions that are supposed to support or prepare them for the transition into the labour market (Reeskens and Vandercasteele, 2016;Aronson, 2016). These threats are not only relevant for young people with low-level qualifications, but also for those gaining postsecondary degrees.…”