Suchergebnisse

This study examines the conditions that make adolescents open to their parents' attempts at political socialization. Based on a reformulation of the perceptual accuracy argument, that parents' messages are filtered through correct perceptions of these messages by adolescents, the study suggests that adolescents who accurately recognize their parents' high political sophistication are particularly likely to attend to and be open to their parents' political communication. This proposition was tested using cluster analysis of a sample of 505 Swedish upper-secondary students and their parents (51% girls;Mage = 16.56, SD = 0.67). The analysis yielded two clusters where adolescents correctly identified (26%) and failed to correctly identify (22%) their parents' high political sophistication, and three clusters where both parents and adolescents reported low or medium parental political sophistication (10%, 11%, and 32%). In confirmation of the hypothesis, members of the cluster group of adolescents who correctly recognized their parents' high political sophistication were particularly aware of parents' political socialization attempts and receptive to parents' political communication. Moreover, these youth considered their parents' political views as important and, accordingly, seemed to perceive their parents as political role models.

Although schools have been described as an important socialization context for the development of intergroup attitudes, longitudinal multilevel studies are still rare within this field. This 3-wave study (with annual assessments) of German adolescents (N = 1292; M(age) = 13.86; 51.8% female) examined the role of school experiences (perceived multicultural education, supportive peer relations in class, democratic classroom climate) in the development of youth's negative attitudes toward immigrants. Longitudinal multilevel analyses revealed that a democratic classroom climate predicted youth's attitudes at the individual level. At the classroom level class-average perceptions of a democratic classroom climate, supportive peer relations in class, and multicultural education (the latter solely among male, higher track students) were associated with less negative attitudes toward immigrants. In addition, age moderated the effect of school experiences on attitudes, showing that perceptions of a democratic climate at the classroom level mattered in particular among older adolescents. The findings suggest that school experiences are related to youth's negative attitudes toward immigrants and can therefore help to reduce the risk of prejudice development.

Although schools have been described as an important socialization context for the development of intergroup attitudes, longitudinal multilevel studies are still rare within this field. This 3-wave study (with annual assessments) of German adolescents (N = 1292; Mage = 13.86; 51.8% female) examined the role of school experiences (perceived multicultural education, supportive peer relations in class, democratic classroom climate) in the development of youth's negative attitudes toward immigrants. Longitudinal multilevel analyses revealed that a democratic classroom climate predicted youth's attitudes at the individual level. At the classroom level class-average perceptions of a democratic classroom climate, supportive peer relations in class, and multicultural education (the latter solely among male, higher track students) were associated with less negative attitudes toward immigrants. In addition, age moderated the effect of school experiences on attitudes, showing that perceptions of a democratic climate at the classroom level mattered in particular among older adolescents. The findings suggest that school experiences are related to youth's negative attitudes toward immigrants and can therefore help to reduce the risk of prejudice development.

Considering the importance of active citizenship, the goal of the present research was to identify meaningful predictors of intentions to participate in politics in adolescence (Study 1) and young adulthood (Study 2). Based on the assumptions of the civic voluntarism model, three main predictors were examined: Resources (educational level), experiences in social networks (club membership, important others' attitudes toward political behaviors, political discussions), and individual characteristics (attitudes toward political behaviors, internal political efficacy). Despite the differences in age, both studies identified a strikingly similar pattern of results: Especially experiences in social networks predicted changes in young people's intentions to participate in politics. These effects, however, were mediated by the examined individual characteristics. While the effect of political discussions was largely mediated by the young people's sense of internal political efficacy, the effect of important others' attitudes was mediated by their own attitudes toward political behaviors

Although the effects of elections and measures of direct democracy on policy outcomes have been well researched, their indirect "educative value" has received less attention, particularly in relation to political engagement of young people. This study examined the activating effect of the national elections in Germany (2009), Czech Republic (2010), and Sweden (2014) on young voters' political engagement. Young voters (Germany: N = 388; Czech Republic: N = 196, and Sweden: N = 246) were surveyed several months before (T1), shortly after (T2), and several months after (T3) the respective national elections. For all three countries, the results revealed significant increases in political engagement during the election period, followed by significant declines after the election. The post-election declines were smaller compared to the election increases, suggesting a persistence of elections' activating effects. With the exception of German young adults who were less engaged or first-time voters and showed higher increases in engagement during the election period, there were few interindividual differences. The findings suggest that major political events such as national elections can have activating effects on youth's political engagement. They support the idea of the socializing value of election participation and of late adolescence and young adulthood as a window of opportunity for reaching young voters during politicized times.

AbstractThis study aims to tackle positive and negative intergroup contact in school and out‐of‐school contexts to test whether a spillover effect (i.e., the extent to which experiences that individuals have in one context spill over into another) applies to intergroup contact. Participants were 984 adolescents (Mage = 14.66; 62.7% female; 24.8% ethnic minority). Results indicated that positive contact in school was related over time to higher positive contact in out‐of‐school contexts and vice versa (i.e., valence consistent spillover effect). Positive contact in school was linked over time to lower negative contact in out‐of‐school contexts (i.e., valence inconsistent spillover effect). Overall, this study provides novel insights into the transmission of adolescents' intergroup contact across socialization contexts by emphasizing the leading role of positive contact in schools.

Mit Blick auf die Zukunft der Europäischen Union (EU) stehen vor allem Jugendliche als ihre zukünftigen Gestalter/-innen im Fokus. Diese befinden sich in einer sensiblen Phase der politischen Sozialisation, in welcher Schule unterstützend eingreifen kann. Im vorliegenden Beitrag untersuchen wir die Rolle von Schule als Sozialisationsort für politische Einstellungen zu EU und Europa mittels einer qualitativen und einer quantitativen Studie. Ergebnisse beider Studien deuten darauf hin, dass Jugendliche tendenziell positiv gegenüber der EU eingestellt sind, aber durchaus hohe Erwartungen an die EU haben. Schule als Sozialisationsort spielt für Schüler/-innen eine geringe Rolle. EU und Europa würden nur selten thematisiert werden und die Thematisierung hänge großteils von engagierten Lehrkräften ab. Die Wichtigkeit dieser und weiterer nicht-curricularer Merkmale wird durch die Ergebnisse beider Studien gestützt. Für den Schulkontext ergeben sich verschiedene Implikationen: Wissen über EU und Europa an Schüler/-innen sollte möglichst hierarchiefrei vermittelt, Interessen von Schüler/-innen sollten berücksichtigt und Europabildung sollte nicht als reine Institutionslehre gestaltet werden.

It is a well-established fact that forming a mature and coherent political identity is one developmental task in adolescence and young adulthood. However, given different degrees of commitment on the regional, national, and European level, the question remains whether young people's identification varies among those spheres? Drawing on data from the European Catch-EyoU-project, it was the goal of this study to examine whether young people can be classified according to their identification toward their home country and Europe and how these types are associated with age, gender, country as well as political interest, tolerance, and political participation. The study is based on adolescents and young adults from the Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Estonia, Italy, Portugal, and Sweden (N= 9,339; Mage=19.62; 59.1% female). Cluster analysis revealed five types of young people's identification with country and Europe which showed significant associations between group membership and tolerance, political interest, and participation. The implications of distinguishing types of identification and their associations with political outcomes are discussed.