In 2019, SUSS conducted the first instalment of a youth survey to examine their characteristics and find out their thoughts on various issues in Singapore.

Singapore, June 14, 2022 – The Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) collaborated with Great Eastern to conduct a study on the influence of social media and technology on the behaviour and perceptions of Singapore youths. Titled “Youth in the Digital Space”, the study uncovered their views on topics such as financial planning/goals, education and employment, and the impact of digital communications on youth behaviour, personal beliefs and principles.

The study which started in March 2021 and ended in October 2021, surveyed 2,500 Gen Z Singaporeans aged between 16 and 25 years old -- the first generation who grew up in the digital age.

Findings include the following key points from youth across varying backgrounds:

1. Youths feel that they lack control over their circumstances in their journey towards achieving their life goals, with financial stability as a key concern and priority over getting married and starting a family. While most respondents want to get married (90%) and have children (75%), many of them have cited financial stability and having to meet the right person as the “pre-requisites” to marriage and starting a family. These factors highlight the challenges faced that are not necessarily within their control.
   
   
2. Youths rank having a job with purpose as the most important factor influencing their choice of career. Nearly 40% of respondents have ranked having meaningful work as the top factor influencing their choice of job.
   
   
3. Youths recognise and tap on opportunities offered by technology, with more involvement in investments and aspiring to start their own businesses at an earlier age. One out of five respondents below 20 years old is looking at starting up a business. Four in 10 respondents have made some form of financial investment. These processes have been simplified due to digitalisation and the convenience of social media.

The survey respondents included youths from different stages of their lives ranging from those who have just completed their ‘O’ levels, to those serving their National Service and starting their first jobs. This allowed for a comparison of behaviours and perceptions across different cohorts and for the researchers to observe the changing patterns of behaviour and habits due to their age and life experiences.

Most of the respondents see the importance of receiving a good education, getting a job with a purpose that pays well, starting a family and building a successful career. However, many respondents pointed out some of their pre-requisites to these goals such as attaining financial stability and securing a Build-To-Order flat before marriage. These findings depict the challenges that the younger generation faces in achieving some of these goals, things that might not be within their control.

Dr Grace Chee, Senior Lecturer, S R Nathan School of Human Development, SUSS, said, “The earlier study helped us to understand the educational and career aspirations of the youths as well as their personal goals related to marriage and starting a family. For instance, we found that the youths value education and its ability to help them secure better career prospects. Most of them were keen to get married and to start their own family. The current survey verified these earlier findings.

We gained new perspectives through our collaboration with Great Eastern and extended our research coverage to examine the financial habits and goals of youths. This study enabled us to see the challenges they faced and their plans to overcome them. Since the study was conducted during the pandemic, we also observed whether the pandemic has made the attainment of their goals more challenging.”

From the SUSS perspective, it is hoped that understanding the mindsets and challenges of Gen Z will help shine the spotlight on how others can empower youths to cope with the challenges they face at different life stages.

Nicholas Lee, Head of the Centre for Design, Insights and Innovation, Great Eastern, said, “We see the importance of understanding the mindsets and challenges of this new generation. As our youth progress in their adulting journey, we want to be that credible Life partner to help them navigate the financial complexities in the world ahead and be their go-to brand as they journey through their different life stages.

With the SUSS partnership, we were able to take a deeper dive into their behaviours, discover new insights into the financial habits and goals of our youth, and how they want to secure financial freedom for themselves. Together with our own ongoing consumer research, these insights will ultimately help us develop more innovative products and services that can better meet the needs of the next generation, and make their experience with Great Eastern more meaningful.”

Great Eastern started its Centre for Design, Insights and Innovation in 2020 to harness customer insights and data analytics to add greater value to the design of its products, services and customer journeys.

The findings were further categorised into the four areas below:

1. Education and employment

2. Digital communication and youth behaviour

3.  Financial plans and goals

4.  Personal beliefs and principles

The research team is led by Associate Professor Randolph Tan, Director of SUSS Centre for Applied Research (CFAR) and comprised Dr Grace Chee (Senior Lecturer, Social Work Programme, SUSS), Ms Shaw Wen Hui (CFAR executive), Mr Alexander Tan (CFAR Research Assistant), and Mr Jonathan Soh (CFAR Research Assistant). They drew out a number of similarities in the results when comparing them to an earlier survey conducted on 19-year-olds in 2019.

The team plans to further the study on youths to potentially observe the changing mindsets and attitudes of youths at different time frames. They also intend to conduct similar research outside Singapore to understand the different issues that youths may be facing in other countries and what could be the possible reasons behind these.  

For more details on the key findings, please click https://www.suss.edu.sg/about-suss/centres/centre-for-applied-research/youths-in-the-digital-space/.

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