Risk of social exclusion among young men after civil non-military service interruption or post-ponement
Keywords:
prevention, education, civil service, social exclusionAbstract
All young Finnish men are legally required to participate in military conscriptions. Based on the civil service law, young men may be assigned to non-military service according to their conviction. Some 1,5% of Finnish men are assigned to non-military service, but some men also transfer from military service to non-military service. Little is known, however, about those youth who interrupt or postpone their non-military service. The aim of this study was to assess factors associated with incomplete civil non-military service both before and after service interruption.
We combined data on men from two national birth cohorts, 1987 (n = 28816) and 1997 (n = 29025), and the registry of the Siviilipalveluskeskus (“Centre for Non-Military Service”) for the same cohorts. Data on the childhood family and academic achievement of the 1997 birth cohort were compared with interrupted civil non-military service. In the 1987 birth cohort, data on interrupted or postponed civil non-military service was compared with data on later educational attainment and work force participation.
Youth with interrupted civil non-military service more frequently came from low-income families (30,5% vs. 17,1%) and had experienced parental separation or death (41,7% vs. 25,5%) than youth who completed their service. After service interruption until the age of 28, youth acquired fewer years in the work force (3,96 vs. 5,37 years) than youth who completed their service. Youth with interrupted service also were more inclined to rely on labor market support than their peers.
The current service system fails to consider sufficiently the background and life circumstances of youth when organizing support and preventing social exclusion.
