Political Socialization among Young People: Evidence from a two-year panel study.

Abstract

Abstract

It is general knowledge that some groups of people (men, higher educated, citizens) are more likely to participate in politics than others (women, lower educated, non-citizens). On the other hand, there is not much knowledge why some groups are less likely to participate, already at a young age. Therefore, this article aims to investigate to which extent political socialization agents (parents, peers, media, voluntary associations and school) explain the differences between these groups. Using the data from the Belgian Political Panel Survey 2006-2008, it is tested to which extent political socialization effects differ. First, it is proven that political socialization agents do have a significant effect on political participation. Second, the results indicate that it is not the effect of the political socialization agents that differ between different groups of young people.

Keywords: Political participation – political socialization agents – youth – panel data