In today’s increasingly uncertain world, youths are facing heightened insecurities and pressures about their future. This report dives deep into exploring their core values, and our insightful findings from focus group discussions (FGDs) with 21 youths, aged 14 to 19 years old. We uncover why these values are important to youths, and how they significantly shape their behaviours, decisions, and even influence their actions.
Key Takeaways
- Growth and Competence are values prioritised by youths in order to stay competitive, but are often driven more by fear, rather than genuine interest or passion.
- Empathy and Communication emerge as vital tools that youths feel they need to equip themselves with, to navigate an increasingly individualistic and disconnected society - but these values are seen as something challenging to practice.
- Relationships with loved ones, such as family and friends are looked to as grounding anchors - sources of comfort and security providing essential support - but there is a struggle to create time for quality interactions between multiple commitments.
Understanding our young people in an evolving world is a way of keeping pulse on emerging trends and patterns, pushing us to engage with them beyond the surface. Through these insights, we hope to bring fresh perspectives on why youths hold importance to these values, and how it influences their aspirations and actions.
