In Finnish society, as in many western countries, there is a lot of worried discussion on the ‘mental health crisis’ among young people (e.g., Madsen 2021). This concern is commonly expressed in the media and public discussions and different political solutions are offered to tackle the problem (e.g. the guarantee of therapy, ‘terapiatakuu’). At the same time the current discussion on the allegedly deteriorating young people’s mental health is very adult-centric. In Under Pressure, we claim that there is a need to understand how young people themselves perceive mental health problems as societal questions and how they interpret the societal pressures in their own lives, as well as in the lives of other young people.
Young people are closely monitored by the state
The key observation underpinning the Under Pressure research project is that compared to any other group in society, young people’s lives are much more strongly intertwined with the structures and institutions of the welfare state and controlled by them (cf. France 2016; Kelly 2000). Most young people have everyday contacts with schools and educational institutions. In addition, many have dealings with support services and institutions related to guidance, child welfare, employment services, housing support or social security.
Due to young people’s proximity to these institutions, their lives have a special position as objects of political decision-making. This decision-making, for its part, rests on the concern that young people will not be attached to society or commit to its systems, particularly through labour market involvement or democratic participation (e.g. Bessant 2004).
In this context, it is not very well acknowledged how political decisions, societal structures or institutional arrangements are creating the conditions for young people’s possibilities to fair well. Instead of realizing this, it is very common for the political decision-making to individualise the solutions to problems that concern young people. Young people are guided as individuals to the right track by means of support, counselling, activation, or control. In this individualised atmosphere, the nature and impact of societal arrangements on young people’s possibilities is not properly understood. Hence, while guiding young people as individuals to be responsible for their faith, the institutional system may actually contribute to the establishment of inequalities (Kallio 2023: Ågren 2024).
Already in our earlier studies we have heard testimonies from young people how they feel like being ‘trash of society’ despite having received incredible amount of support and guidance. They claimed that they simply cannot be helped because they are ‘so difficult’. Some young people hence internalise the responsibility to survive in difficult conditions and blame themselves for their troubles. It can be claimed that societal inequalities as lived experiences hamper young people’s opportunities for well-being and possibilities to experience belonging to society as its valued members.
Our mission: viewing mental health is a societal question
In Under Pressure, we regard it imperative to understand and acknowledge young people as appreciated members of society, whose lives are not separate from the political decisions, nor from the incidences in the world around them in the 21st century (see Leccardi 2021; Wyn 2020). What is more, we regard young people as capable of analysing these societal questions and their relationship to their mental health. In this, we follow the idea of sociological imagination which seeks to acknowledge private troubles as societal issues (Mills 1959). Inspired by this idea we are determined to employ youth-sensitive imagination in studying the societal roots of young people’s mental health crisis. This means using young people’s everyday experiences as a starting point of the analysis of the societal arrangements surrounding these experiences. Our aim is to study these issues firmly together with young people who take part in our research.
In Under Pressure, we adopt a critical youth research lense to guide us methodologically when we talk about the mental health crisis with young people coming from different backgrounds. We see that the individual-centered, empowering, diagnosing, or partly blaming interventions are not enough. Instead, the attention should be paid more broadly to the social phenomena that underlie behind young people’s mental health (see Davies 2022). Therefore, in the study, we utilise classical sociological thinking on how social arrangements are reflected in people’s experiences. These arrangements can cause suffering and problems in young people’s lives, and they try to solve these troubles in ways they have at their disposal.
We are inspired, for example, by the ideas of sociologist Emile Durkheim (1897/2005) about how suicide is a person’s ultimate reaction to harmful social conditions. This means that human well-being, or ill-being, are social and societal issues—and as we see, also issues of political and social justice as well as of intergenerational power and negotiations. This also means that behind individually interpreted behaviors, diagnoses, or problems can be found social causes. Therefore, we believe that a careful analysis of the societal conditions surrounding young people’s experiences has the potential of leading to the invention of better (and more efficient, sic!) social and societal solutions to youth problems.
The narrow conception of valued citizenship excludes some young people
In our previous studies we have argued that young people’s experiences of societal belonging are a very central part of their well-being (Rättilä & Honkatukia 2023) – as drivers of well-being they have an equal position as sufficient income or decent living conditions (also Fromm 1977). Societal belonging relates to acceptance and recognition. Although societal belonging is a subjective and identity-related experience, the conditions of it, however, are socially and structurally constructed (Yuval-Davis 2006): society defines the conditions for what kind of (active) citizens young people should be like in order to be accepted in society. In Finnish society, this appreciation is usually redeemed by labour market participation, i.e. as labour market citizens. The most important task of young people is to become active citizens who contribute to the maintenance of the welfare society by paying taxes. Also, most young people agree to this, and make their best to respond appropriately to this expectation on their part. However, this is not an equally possible and easily attainable ideal for all young people due to their diverging positions in the societal structures. Simultaneously the complex conditions of the ideals in the current labour market are something that every young person must at least in some way take a stand on (Ågren 2024). Consequently, the complexities of labour market citizenship often produce insecurities and experiences of injustice among young people.
The structures of Finnish society are based on the above-described kind of a normative idea of societal belonging. However, such a narrow conception of valued citizenship may exclude some of the young people’s own ideas about their participation in society; the things they find important elements of good life and bring them well-being. These views are often excluded or misinterpreted in the welfare services that are designed to guide young people’s lives (Kallio 2023).
Towards a societal analysis of the ‘mental health crisis’
In Under Pressure, we are interested in finding out how to understand the pressures and shortcomings of well-being experienced by young people through a broader societal analysis. We examine in close collaboration with young people themselves what their experiences of studying and transitioning into working life, social media, loneliness or exclusion, discrimination and racism tell us about our society, its prevailing ideas and ideals, and the rationales of political decision-making. We discuss with young people about the local and global developments as phenomena that can affect their experiences of well- or ill-being. We talk about the austerity and neoliberal politics, climate and environmental issues, militarisation, feelings of insecurity, and young people’s ideas about democracy and social trust. We take seriously young people’s expertise and participation in social discourse related to these issues—not only when trying to reduce the pressures and mental health problems experienced by young people, but also as an important perspective for building a sustainable society and future. Our goal is to produce solutions that support young people’s well-being and to focus on their perspectives.
In the implementation of our research, our approach is qualitative. We aim at involving 100-150 young people in the study and examine the topic with them by adopting creative and art-based methods, and co-research. We do this with an extensive network of educational institutions and NGO partners from different parts of Finland. Together, we will bring out young people’s response to society’s shared concern for their well-being.
Text: Under Pressure researchers
References:
Bessant, J. (2004) Mixed messages: youth participation and democratic practice. Australian Journal of Political Science 39 (2), 387–404. https://doi.org/10.1080/1036114042000238573
Davies, J. (2022) Sedated: How Modern Capitalism Created Our Mental Health Crisis. London: Atlantic Books.
Durkheim, E. (1897/2005) Suicide. A study in sociology. Translated by J. A. Spaulding and G. Simpson. London: Routledge.
France, A. (2016) Understanding youth in the global economic crisis. Bristol: Policy Press.
Fromm, E. (1977) Olla vai omistaa. Translated by Matti Kannisto. Helsinki: Kirjayhtymä.
Kallio, J. (2023) Eletty, opittu, kamppailtu: Itsenäistyvien nuorten kansalaisuuden rakentuminen institutionaalisessa järjestelmässä. Dissertation. Tampere University, Faculty of Social Sciences. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-3106-1
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Rättilä, T. & Honkatukia, P. (2023) Introduction. In: P. Honkatukia & T. Rättilä (eds.) Young People as Agents of Sustainable Society. Reclaiming the Future. London: Routledge, 1–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003345114-1
Wyn, J. (2020) Introduction. In: J. Wyn, H. Cahill, D. Woodman, H. Cuervo, C. Leccardi & J. Chesters (eds.) Youth and the New Adulthood: Generations of Change. Singapore: Springer Singapore Pty, 1–12. Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3365-5_1
Ågren, S. (2024) Epistemological Dissonance of Worker-Citizenship: Young vocational students’ and graduates’ negotiations of societal belonging within the changing labour market. Dissertation. Tampere University, Faculty of Social Sciences. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-3228-0