Optimism and pessimism
To determine whether young people are optimistic or pessimistic, they were asked: What do you think of the current state of affairs in the Netherlands? The answer options for this question were:
1. Things are clearly heading in the right direction.
2. Things are heading more or less in the right direction.
3. Things are heading more or less in the wrong direction.
4. Things are clearly heading in the wrong direction.
5. Don’t know.
Those young people who believe things are heading in the right direction are classified as having an optimistic attitude. Those who feel things are going in the wrong direction are seen as pessimists. This news release only includes figures on persons who answered this particular question.