What do Armenian youth want today? Key findings of new monograph on youth discussed at YSU

The monograph "Armenian Youth at the Crossroads of Uncertainty and Hope" by Marina Galstyan, a sociologist, researcher of the sociology of education and youth issues, and founder of the Center for Educational Research and Consulting, presents a comprehensive analysis of the social reality of contemporary Armenian youth based on quantitative and qualitative research data. The work examines young people's educational pathways, employment opportunities, political and civic participation practices, lifestyles, migration attitudes and perceptions of the future in a post-war and rapidly changing social environment. 

The monograph was prepared as part of a research project supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, recommended as a monograph by the YSU Academic Council and published by YSU Publishing House. 

The study offers a multidimensional analysis of the lives, experiences, opportunities and challenges of young people in Armenia, viewing youth not only as an age group but also as active participants in social processes whose experiences reflect the country's social, economic and political changes. 

One of the central ideas of the book is that young people's life-stage transitions are shaped both by personal choices and by historical events and the social environment.

According to the author, a number of developments in recent years, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the 44-day war in 2020 and the forced displacement from Artsakh in 2023, have had a significant impact on young people's lives, creating a new atmosphere of uncertainty.

The monograph aims to comprehensively examine the dynamics of young people's lives in Armenia, including life stages, experiences of gaining independence in the post-war context, and visions for the future. The analytical basis of the work combines theoretical approaches in the sociology of youth with empirical data on young people's demographic, educational, economic, civic, health-related, and cultural characteristics.

Emphasizing the scientific and practical significance of the work, YSU Vice-Rector for International Cooperation, Development and Innovation Mikayel Hovhannisyan said it could serve as a guide not only for researchers but also for universities, educational institutions and bodies developing youth policy. According to him, the work makes it possible to understand the environment in which young people's values, goals and expectations are being shaped today, while also offering practical approaches for making decisions in line with that reality.

"Today, it is not only youth who are at the crossroads of uncertainty and hope. Armenia, the region and, by and large, the entire world are also at that crossroads. Youth is simply the prism through which it is possible to understand this changing reality," he stressed.

Zara Aslanyan, Head of the Youth Affairs Department at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, emphasized the role of such research in the development of state policy. She said the ministry has begun developing a strategic youth policy document, which is expected to be approved in 2027 and will define the sector's development vision and priority areas for action.

"We are now working jointly with the United Nations Population Fund to develop an important tool, the youth index, which will enable us to understand what young people need today in terms of participation, protection, education, career guidance, employment and other areas. On the basis of all these data, we will be able to form a clearer picture of what we want to identify through this process and how to use the results obtained," she said.

According to her, such studies are an important source for understanding young people's expectations and priorities. Aslanyan also presented the ministry's participatory programs, noting that youth engagement has been steadily increasing in recent years. She said young people are actively involved in shaping the agenda of the Youth Capital initiative, participatory budgeting programs implemented in communities and other initiatives, through which they not only voice their proposals but also take part in their implementation and in decision-making processes.

Introducing the author of the book, Artur Mkrtichyan, Dean of the YSU Faculty of Sociology, stressed that the monograph is based on her PhD dissertation and summarizes the results of many years of sociological research.

In the monograph, author Marina Galstyan presents youth as a social group distinguished by internal diversity, whose representatives have different strategies for adapting, becoming independent and imagining the future.

Responding to a question from Professor Artur Atanesyan, Head of the YSU Chair of Applied Sociology, editor of the monograph and moderator of the discussion, on what today's Armenian youth want, the author presented the main conclusions of the study. According to her, the biggest challenge for young people today is not only socio-economic problems but also the growing uncertainty about the future. Nevertheless, the majority of young people continue to link their future to education, work and building an independent life.

The study showed that young people are more willing to participate in processes where they feel their own influence. For that reason, their activity is more often expressed not on broad institutional platforms but in micro-environments, such as the university, the community, small initiative groups or local programs, where the results of participation are immediately visible.

The author also presented one of the study's important innovations: the youth independence index and the typology of life strategies, as a result of which several main groups were identified: innovative leaders, advocates of stability, conformists and the desperate or disoriented, and self-assertive young people.

According to the author, typologies of young people are tools of sociological analysis that enable the distinction of young people's life strategies and the specific features of their path toward independence, while avoiding the view of youth as a homogeneous group.

"It is very important to understand what a young person is looking for, because youth, in essence, defines a path toward striving for independence, or a life stage, and the strategies that can lead to that independence become the main goal for young people. For example, I can mention job change as a strategy. About 46 percent of employed young people said they wanted to change jobs. This shows how dynamic a group we are talking about. And within that dynamism, we need to understand where the young person's gaze is directed: it is toward achieving stability or independence. A young person seeks to be in an environment where it is possible to achieve independence, which for them is also a resource for further change," the author said.

During the discussion, Artur Mkrtichyan, Dean of the YSU Faculty of Sociology, responding to the observations of monograph author Marina Galstyan, noted that the idea raised in the study regarding young people's active involvement in micro-environments was especially important to him and applicable in university practice.

In his assessment, the formation and development of micro-environments can become an important tool for encouraging student participation and initiative both at the university and in community life.

The speakers emphasized that young people's experiences should be more widely incorporated into the development of youth policies, the design of state programs and public discussions. They said studies based on scientific data make it possible to develop more targeted and effective policies by taking into account the societal characteristics and the real needs of young people.

During the open discussion, participants also asked the author questions about the research methodology, sample formation and the practical significance of the results. It was emphasized that the study, conducted with the participation of around 1,000 young people, led to forming a comprehensive understanding of the current problems, expectations and perceptions of the future among young people in Armenia.

The event was organized in cooperation between the YSU Sarkis and Marie Izmirlian Library and the Center for Educational Research and Consulting.