5. EMPIRICAL FINDINGS
5.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION
This section provides information regarding the age, year or grade of study, number of students from each of the four schools and number of females and males amongst the respondents. It also gives information regarding respondents’ stay with their families.
- 44 - Figure 1: Age
Figure-1 indicates the age of the target group upon whom the study was conducted. Usually high school studies of the young ones in Finland start when the students are 16 years of age.
As per the research concerned, adolescent age group from 16 to 19 years of age was studied.
51 percent of the respondents are 17 years old, making it the majority of the respondents.
One percent of the population comprises the missing data as they did not answer to this question.
Age is a crucial factor in an individual’s development. Different ages of life witness different levels of maturity and experiences. According to WHO, adolescence period occurs after childhood and before adulthood, between ages 10 to 19. This period is one of the critical transitions in life that undergoes physiological, social, emotional and cognitive changes.
Besides physical and sexual maturation, it also prepares for adulthood during which the individual grows a sense of social and economic independence, development of identity and self-concept (Anuradha 2014), skills required to carry out adult relationships and roles.
During this phase of life individuals, grow the capability of abstract reasoning. This period of growth also undergoes risk during which social circumstances put strong influences.
83
130 37
3 2
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
16 17 18 19 Missing
NO.OF RESPONDENTS
AGE
- 45 - Figure 2: Gender
Figure-2 shows the proportion of gender of the respondents. From the figure, it is clear that there is imbalance between female and male respondents. A bit more than half (55 percent) of the total respondents are females. Whereas the males are 44 percent. 1 percent of the population did not mention their gender. This is one example where the young Finnish girls go for upper-secondary level schooling more in numbers than the Finnish boys do.
According to Statistics Finland, 103,900 students attended upper secondary general school education leading to a qualification in 2014. 57 percent of the students in upper secondary general school education were females (Statistics Finland, 2015).
There was not much difference in opinion to the questions asked in the questionnaire between the young Finnish high school girls and boys, i.e., gender was not a meaningful background variable regarding the comparison of the answers of the questionnaire, except, the difference in numbers of them. Girls were the majority with a lead of thirty more than the boys were.
141 111
3
FEMALE MALE MISSING
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
GENDER
NO. OF RESPONDENTS
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Figure 3: Live with Family
Figure-3 illustrates whether the respondents live with their respective families. A majority of 96 percent of the respondents have stated that they live with their families, whereas only 4 percent of the respondents stay away from their families. Family is seen as the central structuring element of the society and is the social structure in which majority of people live.
It is the very first institution of socialization that provides the bonding (Putnam 2000) social capital found between individuals in tightly knit, emotionally close relationships. Coleman (1990) highlighted the role of family, kinship networks and religious institutions in the creation of social capital. Tight-knit families with parents interested and actively involved in their children’s educational development invest in social capital more than single parents or parents who are frequently absent from home and the former children show better educational and developmental cognitive outcomes (McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994; Parcel and Menaghan, 1994).
Family plays a pivotal role in modelling and developing social values in a society. Bonding social capital or relationships shared with family have effect on adolescents’ well-being.
Parental upbringing, family economic status, parental education etc., influence the
245 10
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
YES NO
NO. OF RESPONDENTS
LIVE WITH FAMILY
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development of one’s self-concept (Anuradha 2014). Positive parental upbringing will help to develop a positive self-concept among adolescents.
In this phase of life, adolescents start developing the ability to question and reason out with commands given to them. They begin to experience losses and hurts as they expand their friendship circle, find emotional connections with others and encounter people who may not be very kind. Hence, to deal with these changes, adolescents depend on their families to learn important skills that help them to cope with these pressures. Parents or caregivers of the family provide information, explanation and justification for the work they ask to do, and provide a comforting, protective place where the adolescents feel valued. This would in return help the parents to gain respect and good rapport with the adolescents. In this analysis this is seen in the way the respondents have mostly accounted with answers like ‘trust’ and
‘honesty’ when asked “Mitä asioita odotat eniten perheenjäseniltäsi ja ystäviltäsi?” (What are the things you expect the most from your family and friends?) According to Robert J.
Sampson and his associates, development of an individual is powerfully shaped by the trust and reciprocity within the family, school, peer group and larger community. It also has far-reaching effects on their opportunities, choices, achievements and hence on their behavior and development (Sampson et al. 2005). Trust refers to a person’s confident belief that another’s motivations are benevolent toward her/him and that the other person will therefore be responsive to her/his needs (Simpson 2007). Social norms within families influence feelings of security that builds their trust. Parents and family members have the responsibility to promote adolescent development, adjustment and to arbitrate effectively when there is problem.
Strengthening the base (family ties) would strengthen other social-ties (social capital). Social capital usually refers to social networks, trust, and norms. Social capital theorists claim that social capital has positive impacts on various aspects of societal life, such as economic well-being, health, crime rates, educational achievement, and adolescent development (Woolcock 1998). Teenagers need love and support from parents at a time when many other things in their lives are changing. Relationship between the parents and the teenager can be kept strong through ordinary, everyday activities that would in return grow a sense of trust. There is a notion that during adolescence period families become less important to the adolescents Irrespective to this the adolescent needs family, as they are the source of care and emotional support. This is evident from the survey that was conducted. In the open ended
question-”Miten haluaisit viettää vapaa-aikaasi, jos voisit valita mitä tahansa?” (How would you like
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to spend your free time, if you could choose any?), many of the respondents answered that they want to spend time with their parents, sharing ideas and creating good memories with their families and friends. Families provide teenagers practical, financial and material help that they need to move on in life until they are capable to take care of themselves.
Figure 4: School
Figure-4 represents the distribution of the respondents from the four schools that were selected by random sampling. As the bar chart shows there are no missing cases, all 255 respondents have replied to this question. 39 respondents were from Ilomantsi, a majority of 142 from Kontiolahti, 52 from Nurmes and only 22 from Outokumpu. School is the second place where an individual gets formal socialization. Here on the individual starts interacting with people other than closed family-ties and also gather bonding (Putnam 2000) social-ties.
When asked: ”Missä kaikkein parhaimmat ja läheisimmät ihmissuhteesi ovat syntyneet?”
(Where's the very best and closest of your relationships born?), most of the respondents replied that it is in the school and the home, and some of them replied it is through the Internet in Social Networking Sites.
Information from a conversation through email with the head-mistress of Ilomantsi high school (Päivi Nenonen 14.04.2016), there is only one high school in Ilomantsi region. The school is situated in the city center of Ilomantsi. Students need to travel 50 kilometers or
39
142 52
22
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
ILOMANTSI KONTIOLAHTI NURMES OUTOKUMPU
NO. OF STUDENTS IN EACH SCHOOL
SCHOOL
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even more to reach the school. Some of those who come from very far stay in the- dormitory -ordinary flat in a townhouse near the school. Staying is free for the students, and they can stay there from Monday to Friday during the school year. The transportation is a big expense in Ilomantsi. there is practically no public transportation in Ilomantsi, only the school buses to different villages run in the morning before the school starts and two times (14.00 and 15.35) in the afternoon after the school finishes. Some pupils and students come with their parents or by bike or motor-bike and the eldest students by car. The municipality provides the transportation and it gets a small portion of money back from KELA -social insurance institute of Finland. Ilomantsi municipality gets a certain amount of money from the state to organize schooling, but it is not enough. Therefore, Ilomantsi has to put her own tax revenues too. Distance does effect the students and their families in case of Ilomantsi.
Carrying out the school has been posed with difficulties. But fortunately till now the school is running with the help of its municipality taxes and KELA. According to the head-master of the Outokumpu high school (Juhani Räsänen, 18.04.2016), there are no other high schools. Outokumpu is just 45 kilometers away from Joensuu, hence young adolescents can also travel to Joensuu for higher studies. These information gives a backdrop about the situations in two of the data collection places and gives a deeper understanding of the distance variable, (one of the objectives of the study) that effects the decision making of the choices the respondents make for their present and future situations.
The mining town of Outokumpu is the second town in North Karelia region that has job opportunities, cinema hall for amusement and is only 45 kilometers away from Joensuu.
Kontiolahti which has the most number of respondents is the nearest to the capital of the North Karelia region. It is just 20 kilometers away from Joensuu. Hence distance affecting choices of life has its least effect on the students of Outokumpu and Kontiolahti unlike Ilomantsi and Nurmes which are further away and also has limited options.
The four schools situated in four different locations from the capital Joensuu, has their own pros and cons (as discussed in chapter-3) that effects the decision making of the adolescents in terms of present and future perspectives. The majority number of the respondents from Kontiolahti and also it being nearest to Joensuu has an effect on the entire result outcome.
This has a major effect on the results.
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Figure 5: Grade/Year of Study
Figure-5 illustrates the year of study of the respondents i.e., the grade or year of their upper secondary general school. According to Finnish education system, an upper secondary general school has three grades. The highest number of respondents were from grade 1 being 121 to that of the other two grades as shown in the figure. This was so as the third grade or year students were in their study leave for their matriculation examination. There were 10 missing cases out of the total respondents.
121 98
26 10
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
1ST YEAR 2ND YEAR 3RD YEAR Missing
NO. OF STUDENTS IN EACH GRADE/YEAR
GRADE/YEAR OF STUDY
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