IMPORTANCE OF AND OPTIMISM-PESSIMISM IN PREDICTING SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL PROBLEMS. CHANGE OF PERCEPTION IN ESTONIA BETWEEN 1991 AND 2012
2015-03-06
Merle Talvik, Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied Sciences (EUAS)
Mati Talvik, Merlecons & Ko LLC
Martin Talvik, Tallinn Secondary Science School (Tallinna Reaalkool)
KEYWORDS: attitude to global problems, environmental concern, optimism and pessimism, future orientation
Summary
In the present study the attitude towards global problems of high school students and the shift in the perception of these problems in the past two decades are examined. The survey was conducted among high school students all over Estonia and the results were compared to earlier studies.
The survey was conducted by using A World Problem Questionnaire (Chlewiński & Zaleski, 1991) in which 32 global problems were listed. In 2012 we supplemented the same questionnaire and added seven statements describing global problems which can also become crucial in the future.
The survey results indicate that global environmental problems were the most crucial ones both 20 years ago and now. Compared to the past survey the present students are more worried about the exhaustion of energy resources, the continuous growth of the world population and the issues of social inequality. Problems concerning folklore disappearance have become more important whereas the danger of nuclear war and AIDS have become less important. There is a pessimistic outlook concerning finding solutions to crucial global problems in the future and the pessimism has increased in the course of years.