YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

Health and wellbeing of young people  225 Health satisfaction is strongly associated with general life satisfaction (r = 0.38; p <0.01). It is therefore unsurprising that young people in 2020 were on average significantly less satisfied with life when compared to the data from a decade before (2010: M = 7.24; SO = 1.77; 2020: M = 6.98, SO = 2.08). Even in this case, it would be difficult to find reasons in the objectively lower standard of living, as young people’s economic situa- tion has not deteriorated in the last decade, rather the opposite (e.g., the average income of young people has increased by about 20% in real terms over the last 10 years). So again, an explanation of higher expecta- tions is offered, this time toward one’s life as a whole, or an explanation related to other psychosocial factors, such as stress, feelings of insecuri- ty, interpersonal relationships, and similar. The proportion of young people who are predominantly or very satisfied with their health has fallen from about 80% to about 70% in the last decade, and the general satisfaction of young people with life has also declined significantly. This decline in satisfaction occurred despite the simultaneous improvement of some aspects of young people’s health and living standards. Although young people mostly feel healthy and are in fact on average healthier than older age groups, it should be noted that they are also more prone to “risky behaviour” (WHO, 2000). This is partly related to the general changes that young people experience in physiological and social development, and partly to the difficulties they face in the tran- sition to adulthood and independence (Shedler and Block, 1990). Vul- nerable groups of young people, for example those facing unemploy- ment, poverty, or social exclusion, may be particularly prone to more serious physical and mental health problems (Publications Office of the European Union, 2018). In this respect, risk factors for young people’s health can be divided into factors of unhealthy lifestyle (lack of exer- cise/physical activity, use of substances, unhealthy food, body mass in- dex) and factors related to the environment or external circumstances, such as the level of stress and conflict in the environment (at school, in