Tough Times & Tough Minds (Breed Transformative Mindsets)

TOUGH TIME FOR YOUTHS

Economic downturn caused many to pinch resources, seek jobs as helpers

By Martha Irvine Associated Press

   Drew Miller clearly remembers the day his father was laid off. Miller, now 25, was a freshman at an Ohio college, full of hope and ready to take on the world. But here was this “red flag … a big wake-up call,” he says. The prosperous years of childhood were over, and his future was likely to be bumpier than he’d expected. Across the country, others of Miller’s generation heard that same wake-up call as the Great Recession set in. But would it change them? And would the impact last? A new analysis of a long-term survey of high school students provides a glimpse at ways their attitudes shifted in the first years of the economic downturn. Among the findings: Young people showed signs of being more interested in conserving resources and a bit more concerned about their fellow human beings.

   Reassessing priorities Compared with youths who were surveyed a few years before the recession hit, more of the Great Recession group was less interested in big-ticket items such as vacation homes and new cars — though they still placed more importance on them than young people who were surveyed in the latter half of the 1970s, an era with its own economic challenges.

   Either way, it appears this latest recession “has caused a lot of young people to stop in their tracks and think about what’s important in life,” says Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University who co-authored the study with researchers from UCLA.

   The analysis, released last week, is published in the online edition of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

   Its data comes from “Monitoring the Future,” an annual survey of young people that began in the mid-1970s. The authors of the study compared responses of high school seniors from three time periods — 1976-78, 2004-06 and 2008-10.

   They found that at the beginning of this latest recession, more of the high school seniors were willing to use a bicycle or mass transit instead of driving — 36% in 2008-10, compared with 28% in the mid-2000s. However, that was still markedly lower than the 49% of respondents in the 1970s group who said the same.

   There were similar patterns for other responses, such as those who said they:

   › Make an effort to turn heat down to save energy: 78% (1976-78); 55% (2004-06); and 63% (2008-10).

   › Want a job directly helpful to others: 50% (1976-78); 44% (2004-06); and 47% (2008-10).

   › Would eat differently to help starving people: 70% (1976-78); 58% (2004-06); and 61% (2008-10).

   Psychologist Patricia Greenfield said the findings fit with other research she has done that shows that people become more community-minded, and less materialistic, when faced with economic hardship.

   “To me, it’s a silver lining,” says Greenfield, another study contributor, along with lead author Heejung Park, an advanced doctoral student in psychology at UCLA.

   Their analysis found that, of the three groups, the Great Recession group was still most likely to want jobs where they could make a “significant” amount of money. But the authors say that may simply be attributable to the ever-rising cost of day-to-day expenses, from groceries to electric and gas bills.

   In comparison, they note that the Great Recession group also showed a bit less interest in luxury items than the students who were surveyed in the mid-2000s.

   For instance, 41% of high school seniors questioned in 2008-10 said it was important to own a vacation home, compared with 46% in 2004-06. Again, both percentages are higher than the 34% who said the same in 1976-78.    These findings have a margin of error of plus-or-minus 1 percentage point, or less.

   Tough job market

   Tina Wells, CEO of Buzz Marketing Group, which tracks youth trends, says the analysis fits with what she has seen in her own work.

   Many young people, she says, are living in what she calls “millennial purgatory,” unemployed or underemployed, working in jobs below their qualifications, and sometimes still living at home with their parents. During the Great Recession the unemployment rate for 15- to 24-year-olds has risen above 20% — more than double the overall rate.

   “If you’re 22 and trying to jump-start your life right now, it’s not so easy,” Wells says.

   Like many of the survey respondents, Ashley Rousseau, a 25-year-old in Miami, says she’s now more focused on a job that helps her community in some way than in landing “a corner office.”

   “The recession made it even more clear that I’m not going to find job satisfaction from a high-paying career,” says Rousseau, who’s getting her MBA and works at the medical school at Florida International University, which she says “improves the medical care in the community.”

   “I’m proud to be part of that mission,” she says.

   It remains to be seen, however , how members of this generation will cope with this economic adversity.

   Brent Donnellan, an associate professor of psychology at Michigan State University, found that how parents handle the stress of an economic situation affects a child’s resilience. But so does the child’s personality. Perhaps not surprisingly, Donnellan says, studies found that young people who have more self-control and who do well in school weather hardship better.

MICHAEL HOGUE/MCT