Motivating Political Participation Among Youth: An Analysis of Factors Related to Adolescents’ Political Engagement (original) (raw)
Related papers
Journal of Adolescence, 2012
Drawing on data from a longitudinal cohort-sequential project the present study examined developmental trajectories of adolescents" attitudes toward political engagement and their willingness to participate in politics from grade 7 to 11 while accounting for the influence of school track and gender. Moreover, stabilities on the dependent variables were assessed. The results revealed differential trajectories regarding adolescents" educational level. Increases were mainly shown for students attending the college-bound school track. Generally, both orientations toward political behaviors were shown to become more stable throughout the adolescent years.
Psychological Factors Linked to Youth Civic and Political Engagement
Youth Civic and Political Engagement, 2019
This chapter explores the psychological factors that are linked to young people’s civic and political engagement. These psychological factors are often better predictors of different types of civic and political activity than either social or demographic factors. They have also been found to mediate the relationship between macro, demographic and social factors and young people’s civic and political activity. This chapter reviews these psychological factors in detail. The specific factors that are examined are the following: political knowledge; political attentiveness; political interest; political efficacy; the perceived effectiveness of participatory actions; personal, social and collective identities; trust; values; and emotions.
Fostering Political Interest Among Youth During the 2012 Presidential Election
Educational Researcher, 2016
Political interest is one of the most consistent predictors of political participation, but little research has examined how it develops. This study explores adolescents’ political interest development during the 2012 U.S. presidential election. The research team collected and analyzed longitudinal data (surveys, interviews, observations) in high schools located in conservative, liberal, and centrist communities within one swing state. Findings indicate that students’ political interest increased during the election. These increases were related to greater public attention to politics and having opportunities to explore multiple sides of political issues and express political opinions. When guiding such experiences, some teachers struggled with various challenges, including one-sided political environments and students’ political cynicism. This study has numerous implications for education in democratic societies.
2011
Turits. My parents, Danna and Roger Levy, were my first teachers and have continued to support my academic and intellectual development in numerous ways. In addition, I have learned enormous amounts from the many dedicated community leaders with whom I have worked over the years in environmental action groups, social justice organizations, and community service programs. Several other individuals have assisted with the technical aspects of this work. Steve Peck and Oksana Malanchuk at the Institute for Social Research have provided guidance on survey development and factor analysis. At the University of Michigan's Center for Statistical Consulting and Research, I received helpful advice on statistical analysis from several consultants, including Joe Kazemi, Laura Klem, and Heidi Reichert. Also, I would like to thank my graduate student colleagues and friends who through formal and informal exchanges have helped me to develop my research and teaching skills throughout my time at the University of Michigan: Tamara Shreiner, v
Political and civic engagement development in adolescence
Journal of adolescence, 2012
This study explored whether discussions about the media, when positively linked to interest in the news media, were related to adolescents' current and future civic engagement. A sample of 2638 adolescents (age M ¼ 17, SD ¼ 1.2), who participated in a school-based study on positive socialization, completed self-report measures on interest in the news media and discussions about the media with parents and friends. Current civic engagement was measured by involvement in volunteering and civic commitments. Future civic engagement was measured by intentions to participate in civic activities in the future. The results showed that more interpersonal discussions about the media and higher interest in the news media both predicted higher civic engagement. Positive links between discussions about the media and current civic engagement were partly mediated by interest in the news media. In addition, interest in the news media together with current civic engagement fully mediated a positive link between discussions about the media and future civic engagement. Moderating effects of gender were observed, with discussions about the media a better predictor of boys' interest in the news media, and current civic engagement a better predictor of girls' future civic engagement. Ó
Identifying the Antecedents of Political Engagement Behavior among Young Adult College Students
Journal of Political Sciences & Public Affairs, 2013
Aim: This study assesses the impact of political social motivation, trust in government, political efficacy, and personal motivation on political engagement behavior among young adult college students. Study design: Quasi-experimental One-shot Case Study Design. Methodology: Survey data of indicators of the five latent constructs was collected from college students. Exploratory principal component factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha test were performed to identify the factorial structure of the each of the political engagement scales. Structural equation modeling analysis was performed to estimate the overall model fit indices and the magnitude of effects of political social motivation, trust in government, political efficacy, and personal motivation on political engagement behavior among the young adult college students. Results: The analysis found that internal political efficacy had a large significant negative impact of political engagement behavior. External political efficacy...
Civic and political engagement in youth: Findings and prospects
Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 2017
This paper reviews the research that has been conducted into youth civic and political engagement since 2010. We begin by noting the claim that youth are not sufficiently engaged either civically or politically. We argue that this claim is probably incorrect: rather than using conventional forms of political participation, youth today are often engaged through nonconventional and civic means instead. We also indicate at the outset some important cautions about the interpretation of research findings in this field, in particular the need to consider the kinds of political issues with which youth are involved, the moments in time at which they are involved, and the societal contexts in which their involvement occurs. We argue that these specificities mean that it might be difficult or even impossible to construct a unified model or comprehensive understanding of youth civic and political engagement. The review then considers recent research findings on the role of micro-, meso-, and macro-level factors in influencing youth engagement. Micro-level factors include political interest, efficacy, ideologies, values, and identity; meso-level factors include the family, school, peers, and the neighborhood; while macro-level factors include political, cultural, economic, legal, and institutional factors. We also review recent findings on the role of young people’s demographic positioning, the effects that social media might be playing in transforming youth engagement, and how political parties can actively mobilize youth. We conclude that young people are far from being apathetic and uninterested in politics, but that they need to find ways to be involved that are meaningful to them. We also indicate some possible future lines of research that could be profitably pursued.
International Politics Reviews, 2016
Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing interest in understanding youth political engagement. However, it has been argued that the instruments used to assess the concept often lack adequate validation, and this is important as this practice may result in biased statistical conclusions. Consequently, the main aim of the present study was to systematically review, summarize, and critique the extant research evidence on the development of psychometric instruments that assess young people's political engagement. Following a systematic review of the literature, seven instruments were identified that were both valid and reliable, but none explicitly assessed young people's political engagement. Instead, they considered broad concepts and/or dimensions related to political engagement. Emphasising the lack of statistically robust standardised measurement tools that empirically assess young people's political engagement, the available evidence confirms the pressing need to adopt a robust psychometric approach to assess political engagement in youth.