Young Spaniards trust science less than older people

Research by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) that analyses how Spaniards kept themselves informed during the COVID-19 pandemic and their perception of the role of journalists, the media, the scientific community and government and health authorities during the pandemic concludes that young people trust science less than older people, among other issues. 72.6% of 18-24 year-olds agree that science seeks the truth and makes it public, while 90.2% of adults over 65 support this statement. In addition, the percentage of young people in the same age group who believe that science is a danger to humanity is almost triple those who hold this view among older people. These are some of the findings of this study, recently published by these UC3M and USC researchers in the journal Profesional de la Información. These results suggest a growing distrust in science among young people, which explains, for example, the lack of scientific vocations in this segment. "Young people don't want to go into careers in science, technology and mathematics, because they believe that science is not a method for the search for truth and even that it is dangerous for the future of human beings," says one of the study's authors, Carlos Elías, a Professor of Journalism in UC3M's Department of Communication. "It is paradoxical, and very worrying, that the generations with the greatest access to information and education, the best educated in the history of Spain, are the ones that consume the least information and are the most distrustful of science and journalism, two fields that share the search for truth.