Generation Z and and Corona (July 2021)

On behalf of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, the opinion research institute Kantar conducted a target group survey of the ´Generation Z´. For this purpose, 1,022 people between the ages of 14 and 24 were surveyed online between 05 and 18 July 2021.
The focus of the survey was on the values and orientation of the generation, their situation in the pandemic, political interest and information behaviour as well as political and social attitudes. In order to map the influence of the corona pandemic on the attitudes and social image of Generation Z, the results of this survey were compared with a survey from 2019.<br>1. Current life circumstances: life satisfaction; highest school-leaving qualification of father and mother; material situation: frequency of renunciation for financial reasons; source of money (from own work, from parents, from state support, from elsewhere); primary source of money; negative effects of the Corona crisis on personal income; organisation of distance learning (communication via a digital learning platform, via video conference, via e-mail, via messenger/chats such as e.g. WhatsApp, via a cloud, by telephone, by post or by other means); agreement with statements on the situation in schools/colleges (I was able to concentrate well on my tasks at home, I missed direct contact with my classmates/ fellow students, my grades deteriorated during the pandemic, distance learning at my school/college worked well, I had insufficient equipment to follow lessons, the accessibility of teachers was very good even in times of distance learning, learning became more strenuous for me during the pandemic); opinion on the future recognition of school, university or professional degrees made during the Corona pandemic; leisure activities during the pandemic (less sport since the beginning of the pandemic than before, relationships with friends have deteriorated during the pandemic, significantly more time on the internet since the beginning of the pandemic than before, started a new hobby during the pandemic); vaccination status; likelihood of Corona vaccination.

2. Values and attitudes: personally most important life goals (e.g. self-discovery, independence, enjoying life, career, etc.); importance of various aspects for pursuing a profession (secure job, adequate income, interesting work that is fun, compatibility of private life and profession (work-life balance), career opportunities, responsibility, opportunities for further training and development); comparison of values : comparison of values Corona: extensive collection of data for infection protection vs. data protection, especially young vs. especially old people have suffered from the pandemic, pandemic as a chance for change vs. after the pandemic back to the usual normality, comparison of values State: debts in favour of education and infrastructure not a problem vs. always a burden for future generations, active role of the state for important future tasks such as climate protection and educational justice vs. leaving a passive role and shaping of the future to society and the economy, orienting politics towards future generations vs. protecting the interests of those who have already made a contribution to society, comparison of lifestyle values: conscious renunciation in favour of sustainability vs. doing what I feel like doing, doing without in favour of health vs. having fun in the foreground, self-realisation vs. putting aside one´s own needs in favour of one´s personal environment, today´s generation has completely different values than the generation before it vs. in principle very similar values as the generation before it).

3. Media and information: interest in politics; points of contact with politics in everyday life (e.g. media consumption, when using social networks, in personal conversations with friends and family, at work, at school or university, in public spaces, in leisure time/hobbies); being informed about politics; most frequently used sources of political information (media) (e.g. news programmes on TV, talk shows on TV, websites of public institutions and authorities, etc.). e.g. news programmes on TV, talk shows on TV, websites of public institutions and authorities, satire programmes on TV, etc.); change in political information behaviour in the Corona pandemic.

4. Politics and society: satisfaction with democracy; opinion on democracy as an idea; need for reform of politics in Germany; most important political problems in Germany (open); satisfaction with the work of the federal government; trust in institutions (judiciary, environmental and aid organisations such as Greenpeace or Amnesty International, public health authorities such as the Robert Koch Institute, federal government, Bundestag, police, churches, school/university); perception of social lines of conflict (between rich and poor, employers and employees, young and old, foreigners and Germans, East Germans and West Germans, women and men, people in the city and people in the countryside); attitudes towards Corona (politicians take young people´s concerns seriously, young people received sufficient financial support from the state during the pandemic, young people´s needs were not taken into account enough by politicians during the Corona pandemic, the Corona pandemic will affect my generation´s future opportunities in the long term, my generation will benefit significantly from the awakening after the Corona pandemic, the Corona crisis has changed my perspective on many things in life, young people´s career opportunities have deteriorated as a result of the pandemic); agreement with various statements on Corona vaccination (children and young people aged 12 and over should also be vaccinated against Corona, young people currently have to wait too long for a vaccination appointment, vaccination prioritisation should have been lifted earlier, vaccination of young people against Corona is not necessary, there should be compulsory vaccination for schoolchildren, I personally feel that Corona vaccinations in Germany are treated fairly); currently appropriate measures to support children and young people (open).

5. Future perspectives: assessment of personal future opportunities; assessment of the future opportunities of one´s own generation in Germany; future vision of politics: agreement with various statements (a council of randomly selected citizens should be created to draw up political recommendations for the federal government, voting in elections should be possible via app, the voting age in federal elections should be lowered to 16, the population should be represented in the Bundestag by means of quotas, the population should vote directly on important political issues by referendum).

Demography: age; sex; federal state; current attendance at school, college or university; type of educational institution currently attended; highest level of education attained to date; employment; subjective class classification; housing situation; household size; party sympathies; migration background.

Additionally coded was: serial number; city size; weighting factor.