Young Adults Literature Review

Young Adults LiteratureReview: A report by FamilyKids and YouthEngaging with 16-24 year olds0

AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank the Money Advice Service for their support and guidance inthe production of this report.1

ContentsAcknowledgements .1Contents .2Executive Summary .41. Context .61.1 Introduction .61.2 Participation in Education, Training and Employment .72. Lifestyles and Attitudes .112.1 Young people living with parents.112.2 Media consumption and internet use .122.3 Values .132.4 Political and social views .142.5 Relationships .152.6 Aspirations .162.7 Well-being and mental health.183. Factors that influence behaviour .213.1 Factors influencing young adult’s financial management .213.2 The danger of stereotypes and the role of family .224. Engaging young adults .24Introduction .244.1 The importance of personalisation .244.2 Holistic approaches .265. Implementing initiatives .275.1 Online Engagement .272

5.2 Co-creation .325.3 Youth Practitioners and teachers .366. Unsuccessful engagement .40Conclusion .431. Influencers on young people’s behaviour .432. Successful methods of improving young people’s wellbeing and financial confidence andcompetence .44Unsuccessful methods and barriers of engagement .45Further research recommended .47Appendices .48Appendix 1: Intergenerational definitions .48Appendix 2: Money Advice Service: ‘Financial Capability in the UK – Young Adults’ .49Appendix 3: Character Skills and Growth Mindset .51Appendix 4: Vulnerable Young People .53Appendix 5: Youth United – the impact of community action .56Appendix 6: Examples of Online Engagement .58Appendix 7: Further Examples of Co-creation .61Appendix 8: Youth Practitioners and Teachers .63Appendix 9: Engaging young people to prevent risky behaviour .65Appendix 10: Report Evidence .68References .893

Executive SummaryTo improve young people’s financial capability, we must first engage them. Support existsthrough a variety of channels to help young adults make key financial decisions during theirpost-school transition to independent living. Yet engaging them to access and/or act on theguidance that is available remains a challenge. It is for this reason that we decided to focusthis literature review on understanding more clearly the relative strength of differentengagement techniques and methodologies. We see this as an important first step in thenevaluating existing and designing new interventions that seek to enhance financial capabilityin young adults. Key to our success will be active partnership alongside organisations thathave more direct reach and resonance with young adults, whether through digital means, viayouth practitioners or in community, education, training or workplace settings.Below is a summary of the key findings from the literature review.A personalised and holistic approachThis review identifies that the key ways of engaging young people aged 16 to 24 in financialcapability is to ensure that they feel that their personal circumstances are being consideredand heard through relevant and pragmatic communication. This is particularly the case whendealing with vulnerable young people. Additionally, the employment of a holistic approach isessential when attempting to engage young people in behaviour change. Financial worries areoften part of a wider set of anxieties and dealing with all of these is essential.Co-creationCo-creation leads to personalisation which is compelling when engaging young people. Nearto-peer support may be more effective than peer-to-peer in terms of financial advice usinglife-experiences. A comprehensive interactive approach that uses experiential techniquessuch as small-group discussions, role-play exercises and brainstorming works better than adidactic approach.Digital EngagementOnline engagement on multiple platforms is important and relevant to young adults’ lives,and is most likely to have a large reach. This can include self-serve support. There is4

evidence that YouTube can be more successful than other forms of social media whencommunicating with young people about financial matters.FamilyThe family is often young people’s first engagement when dealing with financial concerns.Young people stay living in the family home for longer than previous generations. Whilelower-income households are more likely to discuss money because financial pressure ishigher, wealthy parents are likely to have financial knowledge and are able to support theiryoung adult children financially.Lifestyle and AttitudeYoung people who are better at delaying gratification are more likely to make judiciousdecisions about money. Successful interventions include an emphasis on developing‘character skills’ and the notion of ‘Growth mindset’, the core belief that abilities aretractable and not fixed. These can be taught from a young age to build resilience and startingyoung is effective in preventing risky behaviour. Wellbeing is important and there is anemphasis on this in schools; financial wellbeing should be part of this.Highlighting short term consequences and non-ethical behaviour works wellFocusing on long-term behaviour damage is less effective than focusing on short-termimplications and ethical issues; young people find it difficult to project forward. Prescriptivecampaigns such as abstinence programmes and zero tolerance policies do not work and insome instances can increase risky behaviour.EvidenceThe 30 reports, reviews and sources discussed in sections 4-5 and appendices 3-10 exploreand evaluate different methods of engaging young people and where relevant assessoutcomes. Evaluations of interventions and evidence from practitioners and organisationsreveal important aspects of successful engagement techniques. Personalisation and holisticapproaches were highlighted throughout. For details on the methodology, outcomes andeffectiveness of engagement reviewed in this report, please see Appendix 11.5

1. Context1.1 IntroductionThe Financial Capability Strategy for the UK seeks to improve people’s ability to managemoney well both day to day and through significant life events including their ability to copewith times of financial difficulty. The Strategy is broken down into life stages, one of whichfocuses on Young Adults. It outlines the following key points in reference to this group: Young adults can face a difficult transition towards independent living, which beginstypically between the ages of 16 to 18 and continues to their mid-20s. The Financial Capability Survey confirms previous research that suggests youngadults typically display lower levels of financial capability than older age groups. Many providers report that they struggle to engage young adults on day-to-day moneymanagement, including on sensible credit use, or on important financial decisions thatwill have an impact on their future wellbeing. A key aim of the Strategy is to listen to and understand more fully the differingcapabilities of, and barriers faced by, young adults in order to enable more effective,sustainable and engaging financial capability approaches to be developed. Wherever possible, the involvement of young adults should be sought in the initiationand design of interventions, for example through peer-to-peer or ‘near-to-peer’support and in the use of digital technology. Young adults in the coming years will face major changes to the policy, economic andsocial landscape in which they have to manage their money day to day and takeimportant financial decisions about their future. These changes are likely to have adisproportionate impact on those who come from more marginalised backgrounds.The Money Advice Service has therefore committed to producing and publishing a literaturereview of up to date and relevant secondary data on how to engage with young adults.“Young adults” in this context are defined as aged 16-24 who have left school and are infurther or higher education, on welfare or in the workplace.This literature review examines existing research, including published papers, reports andgrey literature relating to 16-24 year olds in the UK today. The report begins by setting the6

context, providing an overview of what 16-24 year olds’ lives currently look like.Demographics and definitions of the age group can be found in Appendix 1.Alongside this literature review the Money Advice Service is also publishing a quantitativeanalysis of the data on young adults from its Financial Capability of the UK survey. This willbe available on the www.fincap.org.uk website.1.2 Participation in Education, Training and EmploymentThe Labour Force Survey shows estimates of the UK population based on the following nonmutually exclusive criteria: Employed Unemployed Economically inactive1 In full-time educationIt should be noted that not all people in full-time education are classified as economicallyinactive. For example, those in full-time education are included in employment estimates ifthey have a part-time job. In addition, people are included in the unemployment estimates ifthey are seeking part-time work.In November 2015 to January 2016, 89% of 16-17 year olds and 33% of 18-24 year oldswere in full-time education. 25% of 16-17 year olds were employed, 27% unemployed and66% were economically inactive. These figures were 63%, 12% and 29% among the 18-24year old population respectively2.Increased educational participationYoung people are spending more time in education than in the past. In the last 30 years, thenumber of people aged 16-24 in full-time education in the UK has more than doubled. In2013, there were more 16-24 year olds in full-time education than were not. The proportionof young people aged 16-17 in the UK in full-time education increased from 50% in 1984 to83% by 2013. Similarly, the proportion of 18-24 year olds in full time education in the UKhas increased from 8% to 32%3.7

Figure 1: The percentage of people aged 16 to 24 in full-time education, 1984 to 2013Source: Labour Force Survey - Office for National StatisticsParticipation rates in Higher EducationDespite this, evidence suggests that there has been a recent reversal of the long-term trend toincreased participation in higher education. The Independent Commission on Fees wasestablished in response to the government allowing universities in England to increase theirfees to 9,000 a year for undergraduate courses in 2012/13, with the objective of monitoringthe potential impact of this. Its 2015 report4 indicates that whereas the proportion of 18 yearolds taking up places at university has increased for the second year running, mature studentsenrolling on undergraduate courses noticeably declined. In 2013, numbers of students aged19 enrolling had decreased 17% for those studying full-time and 34% for part-time students(a 26 % decrease overall).8