New article published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

The article “Political Participation and the Civic Voluntarism Model: How Do Resources, Psychological Engagement, and Recruitment Shape Willingness to Participate During Adolescence?” by Pascal Alscher, Elisabeth Graf, and Nele McElvany examines the extent to which the Civic Voluntarism Model can be applied to adolescents’ willingness to engage in political and civic life. While the model has received extensive support in numerous cross-sectional studies with adults, little is known about its explanatory power for adolescents. This study investigates to what extent resources (e.g., political knowledge, socioeconomic background), psychological engagement (interest, political efficacy), and recruitment (peers’ political attitudes, political discussions, school track) influence students’ willingness to participate in civic engagement, activism, and voting. The cross-sectional analyses showed positive associations between predictors from all three domains and willingness to participate. Political interest, in particular, emerged as a central factor for all three forms of participation. In contrast, the longitudinal analyses identified socioeconomic background—not political interest—as the strongest predictor over time. The findings underline the importance of longitudinal data for understanding political socialization processes and show that social inequalities in political participation begin to emerge during adolescence.

To the paper: Article in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General