Die Zukunftserwartungen junger Österreicher*innen : Eine Frage wahrgenommener und erfahrener Krisen ?

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect young Austrians‘ expectations of their future? The data of the Social Survey Austria 2021 indicate that although the optimism of Austrians for the future has declined overall, young people are more optimistic about the future than society as a whole. In particular, young adults between 25 and 29 showed an increased optimism in early summer 2021 when being compared with 2018. Next to the fact that higher levels of education led to optimism for the future, the following aspects determining future optimism could be identified via Heitmeyer’s theory of social integration: Young adults, who were not in employment or in education in early summer 2021, were more likely to believe that there is a necessity for the future to become actually better, and among the young population up to 29 years, those, who witnessed the effects of politics on their lives or were interested in these, were to be more optimistic about the future.