Youth attitudes towards immigrants in Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland

Abstract

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.