How Do Mexican Young Perceive Their Well-Being?

The purpose of this proposal is to approach the well-being conditions of Mexican youth from the perspective of their own point of view, that is, taking into account what young by themselves report to feel, perceive and evaluate about different aspects of their lives, mainly in the areas of education, family and work. We look to answer questions like: Which is the evaluation that young with different socioeconomic characteristics and life backgrounds make about educational opportunities they have had and the level of education they have achieved? How much are they satisfied with their job and labor activity? How do they feel about their family life? What about making their own decisions? and, more generally, How do they perceive their present and future life chances and life conditions?

The contribution is conceptually and methodologically guided by the notion of subjective well-being, which assumes that well-being depends not only on objective and material elements, but also on the assessment of them made by individuals over the base of their personal circumstances and experience. Accordingly, the interest topics will be analyzed and compared taking into account issues such as sex, age group, education, occupation, marital status and urban/rural residence.

Data comes from a survey applied in 2012 by the Mexican National Statistical Institute (INEGI) to a representative sample of individuals 18 years and over. In that survey, called Self-reported Welfare Module (BIARE) respondents were asked to evaluate by themselves different aspects of their own lives. For the purposes of this paper we focus on young aged 18-29 years.