Youth survey

The DJI Youth Survey is part of the continuous social reporting done at the German Youth Institute. Repeated representative surveys have been conducted with similar or even identical questionnaires. So it is possible to analyze change of the situation of young people and young adults, of their attitudes and of their behavior. The first wave conducted in 1992 provides basic figures for the successive waves. The second wave was conducted in 1997, the third wave in 2003.

The DJI youth survey is a representative study about youths and young adults aged 16 to 29 (in the third wave aged 12 to 29). The broad age range of the target group was chosen in order to include all phases of youth. This does justice to the fact that educational processes take longer and the biographies of young people have become more complicated.

The two waves of the DJI youth survey "Youth and Politics" conducted in 1992 and 1997 were based on personal interviews with ca. 7,000 pollees in each wave, the third wave from autumn 2003 with ca. 9,000 pollees.
The surveys included various topics such as:

• data about family situation, education, training and vocation;
• personal priorities such as: importance of various areas of life, value orientations, contentment with various aspects of life;
• coping with the sociopolitical change in Germany due to German reunification;
• value orientations, gender role attitudes;
• basic political orientations, e.g. political and ideological positions, attitudes towards democracy, Socialism and National Socialism as well as towards existing political parties;
• national identity, nationalism and xenophobia;
• confidence in social and political institutions;
• perception of social inequality and social justice;
• political participation, political interest, membership in intermediate organizations, dispositions for political behavior, and political behavior.

The Youth Survey examines living conditions, orientations and values of adolescents and young adults and their knowledge and use of public welfare services. The Youth Survey evaluates trends of social change regarding attitudes and behavior in western and eastern Germany.

The main analytical perspectives are:

• Gender
• Social inequality
• Social change
• Comparison of eastern and western Germany.

References:

Hoffmann-Lange, Ursula (ed.)1995: Jugend und Demokratie in Deutschland. DJI-Jugensurvey 1. Opladen: Leske + Budrich.

Gaiser, Wolfgang; Gille, Martina; Krüger, Winfried;de Rijke, Johann 1998: Youth and Politics in Germany. Interest in Politics, Confidence in Institutions, Value Orientation and Political Participation. in: Garlicky, Jan (ed.):Youth and Political Changes in Contemporary World. Warzawa, p. 145-182.

Gille, Martina/Krüger, Winfried (eds.) 2000: Unzufriedene Demokraten. Politische Orientierungen der 16- bis 29jährigen im vereinigten Deutschland. DJI-Jugendsurvey 2. Opladen: Leske + Budrich.

Gaiser, Wolfgang/Gille, Martina/Krüger, Winfried, de Rijke, Johann 2002: Satisfied - critical - detached: Attitudes of young East and West Germans towards democracy. In: German Youth Institute (ed.): Growing up in Germany. Living conditions, problems and solutions. München, p. 23-38.

Gaiser, Wolfgang/Gille, Martina/Krüger, Winfried/de Rijke, Johann 2003: Youth and Democracy in Germany. In: Journal of Youth Studies, Vol. 6, No. 3, p. 295-317.

Gaiser, Wolfgang/Gille, Martina/de Rijke, Johann/Sardei-Biermann, Sabine 2005: Zur Entwicklung der Politischen Kultur bei deutschen Jugendlichen in West- und Ostdeutschland. Ergebnisse des DJI-Jugendsurvey von 1992 bis 2003. In: Merkens, Hans/Zinnecker, Jürgen (Hrsg.), Jahrbuch Jugendforschung, 5. Ausgabe 2005, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, S. 163-198.

Gaiser, Wolfgang/Gille, Martina/de Rijke, Johann 2006: Politische Beteiligung von Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen. In: Hoecker, Beate (Hrsg.), Politische Partizipation zwischen Konvention und Protest. Eine studienorientierte Einführung, Opladen: Verlag Barbara Budrich, S. 211-234.

Gille, Martina/Sardei-Biermann, Sabine/Gaiser, Wolfgang/de Rijke, Johann 2006: Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene in Deutschland. Lebensverhältnisse, Werte und gesellschaftliche Beteiligung 12- bis 29-Jähriger. Schriften des Deutschen Jugendinstituts: Jugendsurvey 3, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

Gaiser, Wolfgang/Gille, Martina /de Rijke, Johann/Sardei-Biermann, Sabine 2007: Changes in the Political Culture of Young East and West Germans Between 1992 and 2003. Results of the DJI Youth Survey. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Volume 15, Issue 3, pp. 287-302.

Gaiser, Wolfgang/de Rijke, Johann 2008: Political Participation of Youth – Young Germans in the European Context. In: Asia Europe Journal, special Edition: Youth in Asia and Europe, Vol. 5, No 4, pp. 541-555.

Gille, Martina (Hrsg.) 2008: Jugend in Ost und West seit der Wiedervereinigung. Ergebnisse aus dem replikativen Längsschnitt des DJI-Jugendsurvey. Schriften des Deutschen Jugendinstituts: Jugendsurvey 4. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.


de Rijke, Johann/Gaiser, Wolfgang/Wächter, Franziska 2008: Political Orientation and Participation – a Longitudinal Perspective. In: Spannring, Reingard/Ogris, Günther/Gaiser, Wolfgang (eds), Youth and Political Participation in Europe. Results of the Comparative Study EUYOUPART, Opladen & Farmington Hills: Barbara Budrich Publishers, S. 121-147.

Gaiser, Wolfgang/Gille, Martina/de Rijke, Johann/Sardei-Biermann, Sabine 2008: Who counts on Europe? – An empirical analysis of the younger generation’s attitudes in Germany. Young People’s Studies Magazine, 81, June 08: Young People and Political Participation: European Research, S. 151-166. (nur online (Okt. 2008): http://www.injuve.migualdad.es/injuve/contenidos.item.action?id=519316275&menuId=1223021499)




For data, questionnaires and further informations on the surveys see: data