Methodology

Study design

A cross-cultural, multi-site, cross-sectional school-based survey was first conducted between 2011-17 in thirteen countries in Europe and Asia. They repeated the survey in 2023-23. The second survey was conducted in additional 19 countries.

Procedure and data collection

Each country applied for approvals from local school authorities and ethic committees and sought for participant and/or parental consent or ascent in accordance with local regulations.

School selection varied across countries but we aimed at selecting a regionally representative sample of private and public schools. In some countries, all schools within a school district of a selected geographical area were included. The aimed  sample size was 1000-3000 students.

All students in the schools participating in the study were invited to participate in the survey and respond to the self-administered paper or electronic questionnaire. Teachers distributed the questionnaires to students during school class and collected the completed questionnaires in order to deliver them to researchers.

Questionnaires

The same self-report student questionnaire was used in both surveys. It was based on a Finnish time-trend study (Koskelainen, 2001; Koskelainen et al., 2001; Mishina et al., 2018; Mishina, Kronström, et al., 2024, 2024; Sourander et al., 1999, 2012) but for the second survey some new items were added, for example to assess students’ perceived threats of the contemporary global threats, including climate change, natural disasters, wars and pandemics. Questionnaire was largely the identical in all countries but where necessary distinctive cultural adaptations were made to ensure contextually relevant and ethically appropriate research. Typically this meant omitting or rephrasing certain culturally sensitive questions.