A study on the social service needs types of young adult and influencing factors

Abstract

This study aimed to categorize the social service needs of young adults, identify their characteristics, and identify the influencing factors that distinguish the types of needs. To this end, latent class analysis(LCA), basic analysis, and multiple regression analysis were conducted on the 2021 Youth Socio-Economic Survey data. The analyses classified the youth’s needs for social services into four groups: employment, health, and housing needs-intensive(26.7%), high even level in all needs (27.7%), low-level needs(23.1%), and culture and leisure needsoriented( 22.5%). In addition, this study confirmed that the types of social service needs of young people differ between groups depending on demographic characteristics such as age, residence area, and household type. Finally, by the multinomial logistic analysis, it was examined that among the types of social service need of young people, common predictive factors for distinguishing between groups with two or more complex needs based on low-level need were household type and residential area. In addition, young people with physical and mental health difficulties tended to pursue high-level, complex needs, while those who are job seekers, unemployed, or irregular workers showed a tendency to place their needs on employment, health, and housing. The results of this analysis suggest that the design and implementation of social service policies for young people should take into account the heterogeneity within the youth group as well as their social service needs.