Ingunn Marie Eriksen

About

Ingunn Marie Eriksen is a Research Professor in youth studies at NOVA, OsloMet. Her work centres on how and why young people's life chances diverge through education, material resources, leisure activities and values, and on the significance of class, gender, place and time in shaping their lives. Her research interests also include school environments, parenting and mental health.

She is the founder and lead of the large-scale qualitative longitudinal study Inequality in Youth, a project she and her colleagues have developed into one of the most ambitious studies of its kind in Norway. The project follows a wide group of young people from the age of 12-13 and onwards into adulthood, generating rich, long-term insights into social inequality and everyday life. She leads the study together with a strong team of highly skilled researchers, whose collective work has made the project a central national resource on youth and inequality.

Ingunn’s research has been published in a range of high‑ranking international journals, including Sociology, Sociology of Health and Illness, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Journal of Youth Studies, Sport, Education and Society, Educational Research and Gender and Education. She is the main editor of the forthcoming Routledge volume Young People and the Welfare State: Growing up in the Egalitarian Utopia of Norway, and recently co‑edited Growing up Rural – Qualitative Longitudinal Explorations of Young People Living in the Nordic Countries (2025, Palgrave Macmillan). She is also co‑editor of the Nordic Journal for Youth Research.

Field of study

Gender Class Qualitative methods Social inequalities Youth Mobbing Qualitative methods Psykisk helse School School environment

Research groups

Youth Research

Research projects

Ongoing research projects

Inequality in Youth – A Qualitative, Longitudinal Research Database
Inequality in youth is a qualitative, longitudinal research database on youths in Norway, intended to be a parallel to the quantitative Ungdata surveys.
The Future of Nordic Youth in Rural Regions: A Cross National Qualitative Longitudinal Study in Four Nordic Countries
The research project aims to understand the experiences of rural youth, their sense of belonging and hopes for the future. It will study similarities and differences between the Nordic countries.
Tomorrow’s Inequalities in the Making: Processes of Life Chance Differentiation within and outside of Education (LIFECHANCES)
In LIFECHANCES we investigate how differences between young people may become inequalities in life chances over time.

Completed research projects

Evaluating the Ombudsman against Bullying
NOVA is responsible for a research-based evaluation of the regional ombudsman office.
Gender, Youth and Leisure
This project explores gendered patterns in youths’ leisure activities.
Leisure activities for Children and Youth in a Gender Equality Perspective
In this project, NOVA will review research from the last ten years that address children and youth’s leisure time in combination with perspectives on gender, gender equality and gender stereotypes.
Literacies for Health and Life Skills
The “Literacies for Health and Life Skills” (HLS) project aims to develop and implement a new didactic approach that will enable pre-service teachers to facilitate the development of young people´s health and life skills.
Parenting and Youth Sports: Inequality in Young People’s Leisure Time Activities?
The focus of this project is how parents influence young people's leisure activities.
Participation in Sports among Norwegian Youth
The aim of the research project is to gain new knowledge about the social position and status of sport participation among young people in Norway.
Stress among Youths
In this project, we aim to gain knowledge about how and why youths experience stress and stressors.
What Characterizes Adolescents Attending Municipal Youth Clubs in Terms of Well-being?
The purpose of the study is to investigate municipalities’ potential to actively use youth clubs to promote issues concerning adolescents’ health and well-being.
Young People’s Establishment in the Housing Market
The project aims to generate knowledge about young people’s establishment in the housing market, including moving out from their parental home, experiences in the rental market, and establishment as homeowners.
Young people’s Well-being and Civic Participation During the Norwegian Coronavirus Lockdown
This research project investigates how young people experienced the Norwegian coronavirus lockdown.

Scientific publications

Vehkalahti, Kaisa; Eriksen, Ingunn Marie ; Østergaard, Jeanette (2025). Growing Up Rural: Qualitative Longitudinal Explorations of Young People Living in the Nordic Countries. ISBN: 9789819671267. Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-7127-4

Østergaard, Jeanette; Eriksen, Ingunn Marie ; Rönnlund, Maria; Vehkalahti, Kaisa; Ristaniemi, Helena; Armila, Päivi; Tollefsen, Aina (2025). Young People’s Projective Imagination Growing Up in Rural Nordic Countries. Vehkalahti, Kaisa; Eriksen, Ingunn Marie; Østergaard, Jeanette (Ed.). Growing Up Rural: Qualitative Longitudinal Explorations of Young People Living in the Nordic Countries. p. 257-288. Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-7127-4_11

Rönnlund, Maria; Tollefsen, Aina; Eriksen, Ingunn Marie ; Ristaniemi, Helena; Vehkalahti, Kaisa; Østergaard, Jeanette; Armila, Päivi (2025). Rural Nordic Youth’s Transition to Upper Secondary School: Challenges and Dilemmas. Vehkalahti, Kaisa; Eriksen, Ingunn Marie; Østergaard, Jeanette (Ed.). Growing Up Rural: Qualitative Longitudinal Explorations of Young People Living in the Nordic Countries. p. 199-231. Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-7127-4_9

Eriksen, Ingunn Marie ; Vehkalahti, Kaisa; Ristaniemi, Helena; Rönnlund, Maria; Tollefsen, Aina; Østergaard, Jeanette; Armila, Päivi (2025). Trajectories of Belonging Among Nordic Rural Youth: Strengthening, Weakening, or Conflicting Belonging over Time. Vehkalahti, Kaisa; Eriksen, Ingunn Marie; Østergaard, Jeanette (Ed.). Growing Up Rural: Qualitative Longitudinal Explorations of Young People Living in the Nordic Countries. p. 145-170. Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-7127-4_7

Eriksen, Ingunn Marie ; Vehkalahti, Kaisa (2025). Cross-contextual Temporal Analysis: Experiences with Collaborative Analyses of Qualitative Longitudinal Data from Four Countries. Vehkalahti, Kaisa; Eriksen, Ingunn Marie; Østergaard, Jeanette (Ed.). Growing Up Rural: Qualitative Longitudinal Explorations of Young People Living in the Nordic Countries. p. 51-71. Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-7127-4_3

Rogstad, Jon ; Eriksen, Ingunn Marie ; Moberg, Karolin (2025). The Reproduction of Wealth Inequality: How Middle- and Upper-Class Parents Instil Financial Orientations in Their Children. Sociology.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385251373004

Persson, Marlene Folkestad ; Eriksen, Ingunn Marie (2025). Sports participation as a reflection of social inclusion in youth: a holistic exploration of sport within young people’s lives. Sport, Education and Society.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2025.2451354

Eriksen, Ingunn Marie ; Persson, Marlene Folkestad ; Rogstad, Jon (2025). Navigating critical phases in adversity in youth: identification and reorientation. Journal of Youth Studies.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2025.2462847

Davan, Lars Birger ; Eriksen, Ingunn Marie (2024). Ungdommers levde medborgerskap: Betydningen av klassede foreldrepraksiser under pandemien. Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift.
https://doi.org/10.18261/nost.8.4.4

Eriksen, Ingunn Marie ; Walseth, Kristin ; Standal, Øyvind Førland (2023). Bakgrunn for temaet Folkehelse og livsmestring. Walseth, Kristin; Standal, Øyvind Førland (Ed.). Folkehelse og livsmestring - med utgangspunkt i fagene. Universitetsforlaget.
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3505370

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These publications are obtained from Norwegian Research Information Repository. The list may be incomplete.