Time-related perspectives on youth and the experiences of young people during times of COVID-19

This paper in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) addresses the experiences of young people in Germany during the corona pandemic from a time-related perspective. For this, it draws on conceptualisations of time through which biographies can be understood as socially ordered structural patterns. First, theoretical reflections on youth are presented, focusing on psychological, educational and sociological perspectives with regards to characteristics that mark youth as a time of specific biographical changes. This is centred on somatic changes, the growing importance of peer relations and group experiences, as well as the implications of youth as a socially pre-structured time for education. These considerations provide the framework for the second part of the article. Results from the "JuCo" studies, undertaken by the research group "childhood-youth-family during times of COVID-19" at the Universities of Hildesheim and Frankfurt a. M., are presented. The data used are comments that respondents made at the end of an online questionnaire. The quotations indicate experiences of frustration about missed opportunities, increased performance pressure, and fears about the future among young people. Implications of these observations are discussed against the backdrop of needs and requirements for the time after the pandemic. The article closes with a summary, outlining the demand for creating open social spaces that foster opportunities for intergenerational and peer-related encounters among young people.