En kvalitativ undersøgelse af danske gymnasiestuderendes oplevelser af fælleskaber, hverdagsliv & mental sundhed
In this project have I investigated how the young high school age population in Denmark has experienced and coped with a different everyday life during the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, several major impacts was done from a government and world leaders chair. Traveling got restricted. The nightlife was shut down, the cafes and restaurants was shut down, and for a longer time period everyone had to work from home, this is referred as the “lockdown”. This raises the question what possible consequences the lockdowns have had for young people in high school ages mental wellbeing. What I have done through qualitative research interviews is to find 3 informants through several sources like Facebook and networking through the municipality and private contacts. The young people who I was looking for, and found, all have in common that they are attending high school. What was interesting to discover was that they all have experienced difficulties during the pandemic. Some of the difficulties involved the limiting of socializing with friends and family, and problem of getting new friends when starting in a new school. But there are also benefits like the realization of getting closer to the friends that you do keep in contact with during the lockdown, if it is on an online platform, through video games, or it is outdoors in person. Theoretically have I used expressions regarding social pathologies like Hartmut Rosas theory about acceleration and resonance. How the social acceleration is defined from a constant competition that we must live up to with each other, and how this is broken down during the lockdown. Another is Anders Petersens theory about the performance society and how everyone must achieve certain goals in life to have fulfilled their purpose. On that behalf it’s concluded that the informants way of perceiving their stories about changed relationships to friends, family and the surrounding society, the importance of everyday life, has been different during the two lockdowns. In the first lockdown there was a relief from the social pressure regarding social life but also on the studies, whereas the second challenged the mental pressure of reaching the high bar of the norms because the pressure for achieving was just as high as before the lockdowns. Listening to the challenged youth, and how they experience the lockdowns, can show the changes in society and the consequences, for these individuals.
In this project have I investigated how the young high school age population in Denmark has experienced and coped with a different everyday life during the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, several major impacts was done from a government and world leaders chair. Traveling got restricted. The nightlife was shut down, the cafes and restaurants was shut down, and for a longer time period everyone had to work from home, this is referred as the “lockdown”. This raises the question what possible consequences the lockdowns have had for young people in high school ages mental wellbeing.
What I have done through qualitative research interviews is to find 3 informants through several sources like Facebook and networking through the municipality and private contacts. The young people who I was looking for, and found, all have in common that they are attending high school. What was interesting to discover was that they all have experienced difficulties during the pandemic. Some of the difficulties involved the limiting of socializing with friends and family, and problem of getting new friends when starting in a new school.
But there are also benefits like the realization of getting closer to the friends that you do keep in contact with during the lockdown, if it is on an online platform, through video games, or it is outdoors in person.
Theoretically have I used expressions regarding social pathologies like Hartmut Rosas theory about acceleration and resonance. How the social acceleration is defined from a constant competition that we must live up to with each other, and how this is broken down during the lockdown.
Another is Anders Petersens theory about the performance society and how everyone must achieve certain goals in life to have fulfilled their purpose.
On that behalf it’s concluded that the informants way of perceiving their stories about changed relationships to friends, family and the surrounding society, the importance of everyday life, has been different during the two lockdowns. In the first lockdown there was a relief from the social pressure regarding social life but also on the studies, whereas the second challenged the mental pressure of reaching the high bar of the norms because the pressure for achieving was just as high as before the lockdowns. Listening to the challenged youth, and how they experience the lockdowns, can show the changes in society and the consequences, for these individuals.
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socialt. Mangel på dette begrænser hende, og understøtter ikke en positiv udvikling af hendes
mentale tilstand, men kan derimod føre til stress, som illustreres i følgende udtalelser
(…) Jeg tror bestemt jeg er mere stresset, fordi jeg føler at jeg virkelig ikke kan præstere eller følge
med på gymnasiet, ja, og det med at du ikke går til noget, jeg plejer at gå til træning, men der er
ikke de ting som normalt plejer at give mig motivation. I forhold til at det her er vores ungdom, og
jeg har snakket meget med mine veninder om at det er nu vi burde have det sjovt, og bekymre os
mindst, samt opleve en masse, men vi føler derimod at vi spilder vores tid ” (Karoline).
Ligesom Karoline også oplever at manglen på social kontakt kan svække hende mentalt, fortæller
Charlotte at hun ligeledes mangler at være sammen med andre. Under 2. nedlukning hvor hun ikke
var sammen med mennesker hele tiden, som under den 1. nedlukning. Charlotte plejede at være
meget udendørs og social, for at undgå kedsomhed.
“Jeg synes stadig det er vigtigt at have kontakt til mennesker ellers så bliver man bare psykisk
dårligt tilpas” (Charlotte).
Det er en vigtighed for Charlotte at kunne gøre nogle af de ting hun plejede før Covid-19
nedlukningerne, for at holde sin mentale tilstand positiv.
Både Charlotte og Karoline oplever, at det har været en udfordring at skulle gebærde sig i
studiemæssig, såvel som sociale sammenhænge under nedlukningerne.
Hvordan informanterne oplever hvordan de har det
De fælles problematikker som Karoline og Charlotte døjer med, centrerer sig omkring oplevelsen i
at det har været svært at være studerende under nedlukningerne.
Karoline føler ikke at hun har lært sine ny gymnasieklassekammerater at kende, før det hele blev
lukket ned, dette har haft en negativ indvirkning på hende. Charlotte kendte allerede sine
medstuderende, og kunne derfor mærke et afsavn til dem, under nedlukningerne.
Informanternes manglende trivsel viser tydeligt hvor svært de har haft det med rollen som
studerende under den første nedlukning, da der ikke var særlig meget, hverken det sociale eller
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