A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
Youth Attitudes Towards Immigrants in Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland
Authors: Saaga Somerkoski
Editors: Mirella Cacace, Raija Halonen, Hongxiu Li, Thao Phuong Orrensalo, Chenglong Li, Gunilla Widén, Reima Suomi
Conference name: International Conference on Well-Being in the Information Society
Publication year: 2020
Journal: Communications in Computer and Information Science
Book title : Well-Being in the Information Society. Fruits of Respect : 8th International Conference, WIS 2020, Turku, Finland, August 26–27, 2020, Proceedings
Series title: Communications in Computer and Information Science
Volume: 1270
First page : 238
Last page: 250
ISBN: 978-3-030-57846-6
eISBN: 978-3-030-57847-3
ISSN: 1865-0929
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57847-3_17
The aim of this study is to compare the attitudes towards immigrants
among Finnish second grade students. The study was carried out in
Southern Ostrobothnia region where the number of immigrants is the
lowest in Finland. During the next decades, immigrants will be an
important source of labor, since the population in our country is
getting older - faster than in any other European country. The data
(n = 275) was collected during spring 2018 from colleges and upper
secondary schools. The youths’ attitudes varied towards different
immigration groups and nationalities. Attitudes towards the immigration
of children and workers for example, were more positive than attitudes
towards unemployed migrants and refugees. In terms of nationalities,
Western immigrants were more positively welcomed than immigrants from
war zones and areas with the crisis were. In the open answers, the
attitudes towards immigration were particularly concerned with refugees
and the policy of immigration. Open answers included both racist and
negative statements as well as statements to helping refugees.
