Is it the profound experience of heteronomy in the Corona crisis? Feeling powerless in the face of war and climate change? Or the general feeling that nothing can be predicted or planned anymore?
The “Trust Study 2022”, which scientists from Bielefeld University conducted on behalf of the Bepanthen child support, is not able to conclusively clarify which events are the ones that have lastingly shaken the trust of children and young people in the media and politics. For this purpose, 1,582 children between the ages of six and eleven and young people between the ages of twelve and 16 and their parents were interviewed nationwide.
A key result of the survey: the vast majority of young people has neither trust in newspapers (75.8 percent) nor in journalists (71.6 percent). More than a third of 12 to 16 year olds suspect that the media deliberately withheld important information (37.9 percent) and only spread their own opinion (32.8 percent). 38.3 percent agree with the general statement that newspapers and news programs cannot be trusted.
In the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022, researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Media Research asked young adults aged 18 to 24 about their general trust in news in Germany. 35 percent stated that the “majority of the media” could not be trusted. 37 percent expressed confidence; 28 percent were “undecided”.
In the new “Confidence Study”, politics also comes off moderately. According to the survey, only slightly more than half of young people (53.9 percent) trust the federal government. Scientists (76.1 percent) and the police (79.9 percent) fared best.
“We consider the blatant distrust of young people in the media, combined with the assumption that they are deliberately withholding information or only spreading their own opinion, to be alarming,” said study leader Holger Ziegler. A distinction must be made between mere skepticism and a tendency to conspiracy. “A healthy skepticism questions the information we receive. That makes sense and is useful in life.”
However, if not only the truthfulness of a piece of information is questioned, but also suspected that the media deliberately wanted to withhold and manipulate information, one is moving into a “dangerous area of conspiracy fantasies,” according to Ziegler.
The study shows that a third of young people are prone to conspiracy tendencies – especially those who primarily get their information from social media. On the other hand, consumers of serious news offerings hardly tended towards conspiracy fantasies. A result that is also consistent with other studies.
The scientists emphasized that a high degree of trust is usually accompanied by an optimistic view of the future and emotional satisfaction with life. They differentiated between self-confidence, trust in others and trust in the future. They found significant differences in these three categories.
Young people seem to trust themselves more than others. A quarter has a rather low level of self-confidence. On the other hand, according to the study, almost three quarters know how to deal with new challenges and have the confidence to find a solution for every problem.
When dealing with other people, on the other hand, two-thirds think you should be careful – the scientists see this as clear evidence of a lack of trust in your fellow human beings. Four out of ten young people are not convinced that people have good intentions. Almost half of them have personally experienced that they could not rely on others.
Exerting yourself for the job is no longer an option for many young employees. You finish work on time and only do the most necessary tasks. In return, they have more time for friends and family.
Source: WORLD / Lea Freist
“In our daily work we see again and again how children and young people withdraw, trust little and struggle with strong fears,” said Bernd Siggelkow, founder and head of the children’s charity “Arche”, when presenting the results; these should flow into the practical work of the association. According to Siggelkow, the corona pandemic and the economic pressure on families due to the sharp increase in the cost of living are pushing everyone involved to the limit.
The scientists have also identified the fears that plague young people. In the first place for almost three quarters: climate change.
Pollution, war and poverty follow. Half of the young people are worried about finding a good place to study or train. Just over a third are afraid of illness or not being able to find a partner. At the lower end of the worry scale is immigration at 21.3 percent.
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