The Dreams of Taiwan's Younger Generation--A Survey

Sinorama's "Survey on the New Generation's Dreams" was conducted in December 2003 over a period of ten days. The primary respondent group was 19-30-year-olds, with a representative sample of 1,009. Three age groups were set up for cross-analysis: 19-22, 23-26, and 27-30. The questionnaire included items on life concerns, satisfaction and confidence in personal life, satisfaction and confidence with regard to contemporary society, future dreams, and optimism. The survey has a margin of error of 3.5% at a confidence level of 95%.

Self-family-society

The survey shows a high number of respondents satisfied with their current lives. 75.1% responded "very satisfied" or "satisfied." Only 17.4% said they were "not very satisfied" or "very dissatisfied." Another 7.4% said they were "neutral" (Fig. 1). Respondents aged 19-22 reported more satisfaction than the other two age groups.

These results show that in recent years Taiwanese society has become increasingly stable and economically wealthy, and there has been little change in families' practice of giving economic assistance to 19-22-year-olds (a majority of whom are students). Life "in the greenhouse" is still peaceful and pleasant. By comparison, the 23-26-year-olds and 27-30-year-olds, who have already entered the workforce, feel social and economic pressures.

A cross-analysis involving education level shows that as the education level rises, satisfaction with life also rises. This demonstrates that those with a high education level have their own lives fairly well in hand and their living conditions are better.

Regarding the most pressing life concerns, respondents obviously are affected by the global economic downturn and the rise in the unemployment rate. In priority order, concern was expressed about work or business (28.4%), personal economic or financial situation (22.7%), health (13.3%), family (11.7%), schoolwork (9.3%), Taiwan's political and economic situation (6.8%), and personal relationships (1.7%). (Fig. 2)

A careful look at the above order of priority shows respondents were concerned with the individual, the family and, lastly, society as a whole, in that order. The sense of "taking care of oneself before taking care of others" was very marked.

On this question, there was a difference between men and women. Female respondents were clearly more concerned with family, with a response rate of 16.2% for females versus 7.2% for males.

As for age cohorts, because most of the 19-22-year-old respondents were students, they were most concerned about school (25.7%). But at the same time many regarded work and personal economics as the most pressing concerns, at 21.5% and 14.7% respectively.

Another interesting discovery is that only 1.7% of respondents said that they considered their emotional life to be the most important area of concern. The reason is perhaps that traditionally in Taiwan career development has always been the focus of attention for young people, and also because young people feel they still have plenty of time to find Mr. or Ms. Right.

Self-confidence

In terms of life concerns, do respondents feel they have the power to change the status quo and improve it?

Most responded positively, the results showing that 80.3% answered either "very much have the power" or "have the power" while only 14.5% said "do not have much power" or "have no power at all"; 3.9% said "have some power." (Fig. 4)

Asked what areas of personal concern they feel they most need to address, respondents answered, in order of priority: job skills or professional abilities and knowledge (30.1%); personal economic or financial situation (21.5%); foreign language ability (11.2%); level of academic achievement (9.6%); quality of life or place of residence (5.2%); and religious or spiritual growth (2.6%). (Fig. 3)

What's interesting about the results on this question is that males place greater emphasis on improving their economic and financial situation, whereas females feel improving professional abilities and language ability is more important. Gender is thus a significant variable with regard to this topic. The traditional notion of the male as breadwinner remains deeply imbedded in the mind of the younger generation.

Overall, the proportion of those who selected "academic achievement" is less than that selecting "language ability." Perhaps this is because for a number of years both the government and the public at large have been stressing that Taiwan's industry and personnel must "internationalize," and this has led the average person to value highly foreign language ability, even at the expense of academic achievement.

Powerlessness at the macro level

Respondents to this survey combined a high degree of satisfaction with their own personal lives with an equally one-sided response about their degree of satisfaction with Taiwan's current political and economic situation. 66.9% were "not very satisfied" or "very dissatisfied," while 24.1% were "extremely satisfied" or "satisfied"; 5.6% said they were "neutral." (Fig. 5)

For society at large, respondents felt it most necessary to improve the situation with regard to: political disorder (28.4%), economic prospects (13.8%), crime/social order (13.1%), social values (12.6%) and the gap between rich and poor (8.1%). Interestingly, only 3.7% and 3.4% said the most work needed to be done in the areas of "Taiwan's future" and "cross-strait relations"-small considering that these involve "macro" questions of war, and who will rule over Taiwan in the future. Contrasting this result with the current hubbub over referendums and the writing of a new constitution, it is obvious that young people have their own set ideas. (Fig. 6)

With regard to political, economic, and social issues, 88.9% of respondents said that they "do not have much power" or "have no power at all" to change the status quo, while only 6.2% said they "very much have the power" or "have the power," while 1.9% said have some power (3.1% gave other responses). (Fig. 7)

Live as you please

In an age of "self-absorption" what are the dreams of today's youth? Are they confident of seeing them through?

When asked about their life dreams, in a question in which multiple responses were allowed, the youth of the new generation were impressively unified. Close to half of the respondents chose "live as I please, free and unrestrained." Coming in second was "have a happy family," behind by a gap of 23.1 percentage points.

In order of priority the life dreams were: "live as I please, free and unrestrained" (46.7%), "have a happy family life" (29.8%), "have a steady job" (26.6%), "have a high income" (17.8%), "travel" (9.6%), "win the lottery" (8.9%), " become a social worker or volunteer worker" (7.3%), "become an influential person" (4.6%), "follow a religious or spiritual path" (3.3%). Only 1.2% of respondents answered that they had no dreams. (Fig. 8)

Why is it that so many respondents chose "live as I please, free and unrestrained"?

Looking at the question from the "support" side, elderly people have more financial and physical ability to look after themselves, so aged parents no longer need to rely on their children. Also, young people are now putting off marriage until much later, so they have much more time under their personal control. Finally, young people have their own marketable skills and incomes, so they don't need to be under the thumb of their parents. For all these reasons, a carefree life seems a good choice.

On the other hand, looking at the issue from the "pressure" angle, the traditional restrictions and expectations imposed by the education system, the job market, and family are still powerful. Many young people seek a carefree lifestyle in reaction against these pressures.

Cross-analysis shows that the variables of sex, education level, profession and college major have little effect on a young person's life dream.

Another interesting discovery is that a cross-analysis of professionals shows that among specialists, the dream to "become an influential person" stands at 15.4%, a proportion far higher than the average of 4.6%. This shows that as Taiwan moves toward labor specialization, specialists are regarded highly by society and it is comparatively easy to attain social prominence on the basis of one's profession. Many high-tech professionals enjoy high social recognition and influence. This fact has a strong influence upon how young technical workers see themselves in the future.

Finally, does the new generation of young people feel it has the power to realize its dreams?

Arguing against the popular image of the "strawberry generation," soft and easily bruised in time of hardship because they have had such an easy time of it, fully 77% of respondents answered that they felt they "very much have the power," or "have the power" to realize their dreams; 16.1% felt they "do not have much power" or "have no power at all," while 5.3% said they "have some power." (Fig. 9)

The most important thing of note is that the choice "very much have the power" was made by 38.1% of people educated to postgraduate level or above, far exceeding the 16.8% average. Among all respondents it is clear that the greatest source of confidence about whether one can realize ones dreams is possessing a high level of education.