Fears for the future among Finnish adolescents in 1983–2007: From global concerns to ill health and loneliness

We examined how Finnish adolescents’ fears for their future changed over a quarter of a century and how these changes reflect transformations of the adolescents’ key contexts from the late-modernist perspective. Nationally representative samples of 12-, 14-, 16-, and 18-year-olds in 1983, 1997, and 2007 were surveyed using mailed questionnaires regarding health behaviours (N = 17,750). Over 1900 fears to open-ended questions were reported. Inductive content analysis was used to construct 19 fear categories. The percentage of adolescents reporting fears in each study year is presented for the entire study population and by age and sex with tests for statistical significance. Fears concerning global and societal issues declined from 1983 to 2007. The emphasis on future work remained stable, but uneasiness about making wrong decisions has increased. Fears regarding health, death, loneliness, and relationships gained importance. Our findings indicate that the perceptions of risks have become more individualized, thus providing strong support for the late-modernist theory.