Longitudinal survey of 14-year-old students from the Saguenay and Lac-Saint-Jean region in 2002 (ELESJ‑14), 2002‑2023
In 2002, ÉCOBES began monitoring a cohort of several hundred 14-year-old students attending a secondary school in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean. This longitudinal study, in progress for more than a decade, makes it possible to follow the evolution of the lifestyles, behaviours as well as the values and aspirations of these youths. It also provides unpublished data on their educational and professional backgrounds, as well as on their mental and psychosocial health. In addition, monitoring the same cohort of youths promotes understanding of the development of new behaviours and allows the identification of risk or protective factors present in early adolescence. The cohort is planned to be maintained until 2023, i.e., until the participants have reached the age of 35.
To date, six cycles of information collection through self-administered questionnaires have taken place (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014) and have reached, at one time or another, more than 500 young people. This valuable data has made it possible to carry out a dozen studies focusing on, among other things, the employment integration of participants, their educational paths, the combination of studies and work, self-esteem and body image satisfaction.
New funding for this 2020-2022 project
Psychosocial adaptation of young millennials
This research project funded by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Société et Culture (FRQSC) the program “Équipe de Recherche en Milieu Collégial” aims to better understand the various ways in which a group of millennials have adapted to their adult life. The planned methodology consists of a mixed estimate combining quantitative analyzes of longitudinal data, followed by individual interviews allowing to deepen the conclusions obtained with the quantitative analysis. Initially, the data from the study underway since 2002, namely the Enquête auprès des Élèves Saguenéens et Jeannois aged 14 in 2002 (ELESJ), will be analyzed in order to identify different paths of psychosocial adaptation encountered by youths aged 14 to 24. Secondly, a questionnaire will be sent to all survey participants who are now between 32 and 33 years old and thirdly, about fifty ELESJ respondents will be invited to take part in an individual interview in order to better understand the key moments in their life course and to identify the psychosocial adaptation mechanisms used in the various transitions experienced during the passage to their adult life. By questioning them on the factual data of their responses to questionnaires completed at different times in their lives, they will be invited to “re-interpret” the events to which they had then witnessed.
