Understanding Online Political Engagement Among Young Adolescents in 21 Countries

The Internet and social media provide opportunities for political engagement, especially attractive for younger generations. Research on online political engagement remains inconclusive on who participates and what drives these activities. Studies are often limited to a single country sample and foc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPensamiento educativo Vol. 60; no. 2
Main Authors Maurissen, Lies, Claes, Ellen
Format Journal Article
LanguagePortuguese
Published Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Facultad de Educación 2023
Subjects
EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES
adolescents
International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016
adolescentes
medios sociales
Compromiso en línea
participación política
Online engagement
political participation
social media
Estudio Internacional de Educación Cívica y Ciudadana (ICCS) 2016
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Summary:The Internet and social media provide opportunities for political engagement, especially attractive for younger generations. Research on online political engagement remains inconclusive on who participates and what drives these activities. Studies are often limited to a single country sample and focus on a specific group of citizens (i.e., college students). To overcome these limitations, using high-quality survey data from 21 countries, this study shows that already at the age of 14, adolescents frequently engage in online political activities. Multilevel analyses show that parents, as well as schools, are important socialization agents that stimulate young people to engage politically online. In addition, young people’s political interest, political efficacy, and duty-based citizenship norms are strong predictors of online political engagement. Although the effect of sociodemographic characteristics is limited, online engagement has the potential to mobilize immigrant youth and adolescents with less civic knowledge into the political sphere.
ISSN:0719-0409
DOI:10.7764/pel.60.2.2023.7