The Influence of Students' Citizenship Competences on Their Political and Civic Participation in Early Adulthood

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Democratic Citizenship in Education Paper Discussion Session 2

Abstract

Past decades show a decline in political activities among young adults. As a consequence, many Western countries encourage schools to promote active citizenship. The idea is that better citizenship competences lead to more political active citizens. The current study assesses the long-term effect of students’ civic competences on their political and civic participation in young adulthood.
The citizenship competences are derived from the International Civic and Citizenship Study 2009 (8th grade). In a follow-up in 2016 the participation was measured by interviewing 134 young adults. Analysis showed that students’ citizenship competences explain participation in young adulthood to a limited degree. These findings will be discussed in light of previous research on the link between civic competences and participation in society.

Author

• Edwin Slijkhuis, University of Groningen