Covid’s impact on young people: survey paints a bleak picture

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected almost every area of our lives and every age group in society. It has affected young people, teenagers and young adults under the age of 30.

A series of lockdowns has put their mental health, their relationships with their peers to the test, and many times it has also affected the way they see their future. As research by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions has shown, the pandemic has pretty much rationalised their previous optimism.

Post-pandemic pessimism of the youth

The study ‘Quality of life. The impact of COVID-19 on young people in the EU’ was conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.

The researchers decided to assess the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on young EU citizens, if only in view of the historical tendency of young people to be more vulnerable to the effects of economic crises. The study focused on the mental well-being, labour market situation and living conditions of EU citizens. By digging into and analysing the data, we can easily come to the conclusion that the covid-19 pandemic had a detrimental effect on each of the aspects discussed.

In 2020, unemployment in the 15-29 age group increased by 1.4 percentage points compared to 2019, when it stood at 13.3 per cent. This was also the highest rate among all age groups. There were many reasons for the decreased labour force participation of young Europeans, but it usually resulted in financial difficulties, lack of savings, increased stress, and often a return to the family home.

The survey also gauged the level of optimism and belief in the future among young EU residents. Respondents were asked ‘are they optimistic about their future’ three times. The first time was in spring 2020, then in summer 2020 and also in spring 2021.

At the start of the pandemic, an average of 53 per cent of respondents answered in the affirmative, while in spring 2021 the figure was around 49 per cent. Of these, young Maltese are the most optimistic – almost 90% were optimistic at the start of the pandemic, compared to 73% in spring 2021, which, despite the significant change, still puts them in first place in the EU.

First place, but from last, goes to the Spanish, where in spring 2021 a positive vision of the future was indicated by only 35 percent of those asked. Just ahead of them is Poland, where only 37 percent of young citizens seem to have an optimistic view of the coming years.

There’s still a place for hope

Having the study in mind, I decided to ask more detailed questions, demanding more than just a “yes” or “no” answers. I decided to ask about the post-covid mindset young people from Spain and Poland- countries with the lowest index of optimism among young generation, but also Romania where the index seems to be much better. I decided to ask the same question to each of my interviewees, so I will have a visible comparison of their point of view.

“I see things differently now. Although I must also say that in recent months and before the war in Ukraine began, I had begun to see everything in a more positive way. I don’t know what to think now…” says Celia, an exchange student from Spain, when I ask her if the pandemic affected the way she sees her future.

Her friend, Noelia, also from Spain, points out the technology changes, that after the pandemic are way faster. “At first, I thought that it didn’t affect me, but I feel like my mindset has changed a bit about how I see the future. Now after the pandemic, I think we’ve all discovered that technology has helped help us enormously in terms of accessibility to work from anywhere in the world and, maybe now, it’s a little bit easier to find a job even if it’s just working remotely.”

Alexandra from Romania says: “I think that the pandemic has affected the way I see my future because now I learned to ‘expect the unexpected’ and not take things for granted because they can change in a short period of time. It’s very hard now to plan things in advance (such as trips), that’s why I had to delay a lot of plans I made. In general, the pandemic made the future much more unclear for me.”

What’s interesting, Mateusz, student from Poland makes a pretty similar point. “The pandemic definitely had an impact on my life. For a long time I didn’t plan anything more than a week in advance because of the restrictions, I gave up on making plans for the next few years.

“I was afraid that I might become attached to them too quickly and that the sudden turn of events would not allow me to realise them.”

The answers were agreeing on the same think, that was not surprising- the pandemic changed their lives and so it changed the way they were seeing their future at such uncertain time. I also wanted to know if they used to see the upcoming years more optimistically before the pandemic started. Here, the opinions were pretty more divided.

“I definitely was more optimistic before the pandemic. Perhaps because it was the moment when I started university and everyone told me that they were going to be the best years of my life (they are still doing so) but it has taken me a little longer to see the coming years more optimistically since everything has started,” says Celia.

“I like to think that I am more optimistic now if I’m being honest. I think that after experiencing what we have experienced and seeing that now things seem to be going better, we all have changed in this aspect.

“Before the pandemic, I saw the future as more distant than it really is and quarantine helped me think about it. After the worst stage of the coronavirus, I believe I now see the future from a more cheerful perspective.”- says Noelia.

“I used to be very optimistic about the coming years, but when the pandemic started my mental health was very affected. At one point (during Christmas lockdown in 2020) I was feeling so depressed that I just couldn’t see my future, it was all blank. I didn’t have any hope or motivation for doing anything and that was totally different from what I expected from my first year of uni. However, coincidence or not, this thoughts have stopped when all the restrictions were lifted.”- shares Alexandra.

“Before the pandemic, I was optimistic about my studies or work. Lockdowns have severely verified this, because instead of meeting new people, going out and having new experiences, everything was mainly limited to online meetings and lectures, and getting a job was also severely restricted.”- tells Matuesz.

Were there any positives for their self-development or mental well-being due to the pandemic which was changing our lives for more than two years? I’m glad to hear that everyone could notify something beneficial.

Celia tells me about valuing more all the little things and appreciating going out without masks and spending time with her loved ones. Noelia tells that it gave her time for self-reflection, helped her to focus on her mental health and made the more determined in archiving the goals.

Matuesz also mentions the time he had to reflect on his relations and values. He became more grateful and started new hobby, which is writing.

Although Alexandra, tells that it was the begging of the pandemic which was the most positive time for her. “I was able to see the positives of the pandemic only for the first month or two of it because I was doing so many things to make time pass quickly.

“I started to exercise, try new recipes, I quit smoking, trying new makeup styles and studying for my exams, making tik-toks and having zoom parties with my friends. It was nice to have a break from the ‘normal’ life, but it gets boring and lonely after some time and I wanted my normal life to come back.”

I interviewed only some of the representatives of the young generation, but almost immediately noticed that research results, although may, will not always fully reflect real life experiences.

The way the youth see their future, the way the pandemic has changed their life optimism level depends on many factors, which are not only influenced by the place where they live, but also their relationships with peers, parents, how they cope with stress, their previous experiences and many other conditions.

Feature image by Helena Lopes via Unsplash.