The life satisfaction of high school graduates in Germany fell significantly during the corona crisis.
This is the result of a study published on Thursday in Nuremberg by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Agency.
The life satisfaction of students from the 2020 Abitur class fell by 0.5 points to 6.8 compared to that of the previous Abitur class.
The IAB uses a scale from zero to ten for the investigation, with ten expressing the highest level of satisfaction.
The participants were surveyed at the end of last year, several months after graduating from high school.
According to the experts, the decline was unusually strong and was far above the decline in general life satisfaction, which was measured in the general population in the corona crisis.
"This slump is atypical for young people in this phase of life," reported IAB expert Malte Sandner.
Life satisfaction was particularly low at 6.6 among young people who at the time of the survey had not yet chosen an apprenticeship or degree and were in a bridging year.
Those who missed vocational school or courses due to a pandemic also got a value of 6.6.
The satisfaction rate among high school graduates who were offered digital lessons was slightly higher at 6.9.
According to the IAB, this provides important information for the future.
"When considering future measures to protect against infection, the strong negative effects of school and university closings must be taken into account," emphasized IAB researcher Sarah Bernhard.
The IAB study is based on a survey of around 2,300 schoolchildren who passed their Abitur in summer 2020.