A walk in the woods: the effects of ethnicity, social class, and gender among urban Norwegian adolescents

Objectives:  The main objective was to study the influences of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors on a popular Norwegian outdoor activity: walking in the woods. Design: Data from the large Young in Oslo 2006 (YiO 2006) youth survey is used to investigate the relationship between ethnic...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tore Bjerke, Olve Krange
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Scandinavian University Press/Universitetsforlaget 2011-12-01
Series:Nordic Journal of Social Research
Online Access:https://journals.hioa.no/index.php/njsr/article/view/2056
_version_ 1827802260752564224
author Tore Bjerke
Olve Krange
author_facet Tore Bjerke
Olve Krange
author_sort Tore Bjerke
collection DOAJ
description Objectives:  The main objective was to study the influences of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors on a popular Norwegian outdoor activity: walking in the woods. Design: Data from the large Young in Oslo 2006 (YiO 2006) youth survey is used to investigate the relationship between ethnic and class background and gender in relation to hiking in the woods. In the representative survey sample, 11 529 adolescent respondents aged 16 to 19 were asked how often they participated in hiking in the woods during the season.  Results: Analyses show that more girls than boys are active hikers and that fewer descendents from non-western immigrants and working-class youngsters are active compared to ethnic Norwegian and middle-class adolescents, respectively. Furthermore, cultural aspects of class seem to be more important than economic ones. A logistic regression analysis shows that the relationship between country of origin and hiking is significantly reduced when class measures are introduced into the model, which implies that the initial difference between ethnic minorities and ethnic Norwegians to some extent can be considered to be a class phenomenon.    Conclusion: Norwegian authorities express great concern over health issues among the large group of non-western descendents in Norway, pointing to the Nordic tradition of outdoor recreation as one means of being physically active. This paper concludes that in the effort to recruit ‘immigrant' youngsters to outdoor activities, one should keep in mind that a large proportion of the minority population also belongs to the working classes.
first_indexed 2024-03-11T20:37:20Z
format Article
id doaj.art-6d1a5e5ab73b4cf4ae3b00f0af9a5f77
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1892-2783
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-11T20:37:20Z
publishDate 2011-12-01
publisher Scandinavian University Press/Universitetsforlaget
record_format Article
series Nordic Journal of Social Research
spelling doaj.art-6d1a5e5ab73b4cf4ae3b00f0af9a5f772023-10-02T05:26:08ZengScandinavian University Press/UniversitetsforlagetNordic Journal of Social Research1892-27832011-12-01210.7577/njsr.20561235A walk in the woods: the effects of ethnicity, social class, and gender among urban Norwegian adolescentsTore Bjerke0Olve Krange1Lillehammer University CollegeNINA - The Norwegian Institute for Nature ResearchObjectives:  The main objective was to study the influences of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors on a popular Norwegian outdoor activity: walking in the woods. Design: Data from the large Young in Oslo 2006 (YiO 2006) youth survey is used to investigate the relationship between ethnic and class background and gender in relation to hiking in the woods. In the representative survey sample, 11 529 adolescent respondents aged 16 to 19 were asked how often they participated in hiking in the woods during the season.  Results: Analyses show that more girls than boys are active hikers and that fewer descendents from non-western immigrants and working-class youngsters are active compared to ethnic Norwegian and middle-class adolescents, respectively. Furthermore, cultural aspects of class seem to be more important than economic ones. A logistic regression analysis shows that the relationship between country of origin and hiking is significantly reduced when class measures are introduced into the model, which implies that the initial difference between ethnic minorities and ethnic Norwegians to some extent can be considered to be a class phenomenon.    Conclusion: Norwegian authorities express great concern over health issues among the large group of non-western descendents in Norway, pointing to the Nordic tradition of outdoor recreation as one means of being physically active. This paper concludes that in the effort to recruit ‘immigrant' youngsters to outdoor activities, one should keep in mind that a large proportion of the minority population also belongs to the working classes.https://journals.hioa.no/index.php/njsr/article/view/2056
spellingShingle Tore Bjerke
Olve Krange
A walk in the woods: the effects of ethnicity, social class, and gender among urban Norwegian adolescents
Nordic Journal of Social Research
title A walk in the woods: the effects of ethnicity, social class, and gender among urban Norwegian adolescents
title_full A walk in the woods: the effects of ethnicity, social class, and gender among urban Norwegian adolescents
title_fullStr A walk in the woods: the effects of ethnicity, social class, and gender among urban Norwegian adolescents
title_full_unstemmed A walk in the woods: the effects of ethnicity, social class, and gender among urban Norwegian adolescents
title_short A walk in the woods: the effects of ethnicity, social class, and gender among urban Norwegian adolescents
title_sort walk in the woods the effects of ethnicity social class and gender among urban norwegian adolescents
url https://journals.hioa.no/index.php/njsr/article/view/2056
work_keys_str_mv AT torebjerke awalkinthewoodstheeffectsofethnicitysocialclassandgenderamongurbannorwegianadolescents
AT olvekrange awalkinthewoodstheeffectsofethnicitysocialclassandgenderamongurbannorwegianadolescents
AT torebjerke walkinthewoodstheeffectsofethnicitysocialclassandgenderamongurbannorwegianadolescents
AT olvekrange walkinthewoodstheeffectsofethnicitysocialclassandgenderamongurbannorwegianadolescents