Norwegian version

Youth Research

This research group is a department of Norwegian Social Research – NOVA and its main goal is to enhance the development of youth research in Norway.

This group is multi-disciplinary, comprising mostly sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists. Empirical research on adolescents is based on local and regional qualitative and quantitative studies, as well as national representative surveys. Main research topics are youth culture and leisure activities, school adjustment, transitions from school to employment, alcohol and drug use, delinquency and conduct problems, intergenerational relations and issues concerning ethnicity and the multi-cultural society.

Head of research group

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  • Members

  • Publications

    • Stefansen, K.; Solstad, G.M. & Tokle, R. (2023). What Happened to Me? Ambiguity and Surety in Narratives of Intoxicated Sexual Assault. Sociology
    • Eriksen, I.M. & Andersen, P.L. (2023). The gendered district effect: psychosocial reasons why girls wish to leave their rural communities. Journal of Youth Studies
    • Kozák, M.; Bakken, A.; von Soest, T. (2023). Psychosocial well-being before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: a nationwide study of more than half a million Norwegian adolescents. Nature Mental Health
    • Eriksen, I.M.; Stefansen, K.; Langnes, T.F. & Walseth, K. (2023). The formation of classed health lifestyles during youth: A two-generational, longitudinal approach. Sociology of Health and Illness
    • Paaske, N. m.fl. (2023). Challenges for European teachers when assessing student learning to promote democratic citizenship competences. Journal of Social Science Education
    • Tokle, R.; Buvik, K.; Stefansen, K. & Solstad, G.M. (2023). Safety strategies, status positioning and gendered double standards: adolescents’ narratives of sexualised risk in alcohol intoxication contexts. Journal of Youth Studies
    • Rogstad, J. (2023). Loyalty and Integration Among Young Adults with Minority Backgrounds in Norway. In Lerpold, L. et al. (Ed.). Migration and Integration in a Post-Pandemic World: Socioeconomic Opportunities and Challenges. Palgrave Macmillan
    • Scheffels, J. et al. (2023). Ambivalence in Adolescents’ Alcohol Expectancies: A Longitudinal Mixed Methods Study Among 12-to-18-Year-Olds. Journal of Adolescent Research

    You will find more publications on the researchers' employee pages

  • Projects

    • Evaluation of "Sport for all in Oslo"

      In this research, NOVA at OsloMet, in collaboration with the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, evaluate the program «Sport for all in Oslo» from its inception in 2018 until 2024.

    • Sexual Culture in Youth

      The project will investigate how young people negotiate, experience and handle issues related to sexuality, sexual health and risk - in light of both contemporary youth culture, and other social and societal conditions.

    • The Future of Nordic Youth in Rural Regions

      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.

    Find more research projects at NOVA

  • Large data-sets

    Large-scale ongoing data collections – both quantitative and qualitative – with young people as informants constitute a focal point of NOVA's youth research.

    • Ungdata

      Ungdata is a cross-national data collection scheme, designed to conduct youth surveys at the municipal level in Norway. NOVA administers the national database which is used as a basis for many research projects.

    • Ungdata plus

      Ungdata plus will collect data on what children and young people in Vestfold and Telemark (Norway) do in their leisure time and examine how this is related to their health and quality of life, and important life outcomes as adults – such as education, work and family life.

    • Young in Norway

      Young in Norway is Norway's first major longitudinal study of youth. It follows people from adolescence to adulthood. The last data collection was carried out in autumn 2020 and spring 2021.

    • Young in Oslo 2023

      Young in Oslo is the City of Oslo’s Ungdata survey – a unique study that has been conducted since the mid-1990s. The 2023 survey will provide answers to what it’s like for children and young people to grow up in Oslo – after living with a pandemic for almost two years.

Featured research

The centre of Oslo seen from the Ekeberg hillside with Bjørvika and Barcode in the foreground.
Oslo, the divided city

A deep socioeconomic divide splits Oslo from east to west. It will continue to deepen unless it is more widely acknowledged and addressed.

Young girl sitting on a couch looking down on a tablet on her lap.
Screen quality matters more than screen time

How much time children and teenagers spend looking at screens is on many parents’ minds. Yet researchers insist it is the quality of that time that should concern us most.

Young woman playing with a soccerball
Football for everyone—or mainly for boys?

The opportunities offered to boys and girls who play football in Norway are different, according to new research from OsloMet. ‘This can have consequences that go far beyond elite sports,’ says Marlene Persson.

A lonely man wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap, seen from behind, as he gazes towards the evening sky.
Finding community in extremism

Sometimes, youth feel like strangers in their own countries. In the face of real and perceived injustices, some find community in extremism.

An adolescent girl busy using her phone.
Norwegian youth have handled the pandemic well

In spite of the challenges that have accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic, most Norwegian teenagers report high levels of life satisfaction.

Young people drinking at a party.
Sexual assault in social settings can take many different forms

A new study provides insight into the different ways that sexual assault can occur among teenagers and young adults.

A man is sitting alone on a swing looking at the sunset.
Researchers have been following 40-somethings since their teens: Who gets left behind?

Researchers from Norwegian Social Research (NOVA) at OsloMet have been following the same people for more than 28 years. They now seek to investigate why some people have experienced marginalisation as adults.

Six teenagers relaxing together, and using their mobile phones.
Researchers seek to better understand the lives of young people in Norway

Using a variety of methods, OsloMet researchers are gaining new insights into young people's opinions, struggles and aspirations.