The Effect of Social Movement Participation on Gender Differences in Political Efficacy Among Young Adults

• In Event: Factors Shaping Participation and Outcomes of Participation From Childhood Through Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

Research has repeatedly found higher levels of political efficacy and participation in more traditional forms of politics among men than women. These differences appear to be relatively persistent across time and place. However, women have also been found to be more interested in issues and activism pertaining to social justice. This paper analyzes the longitudinal effects of social movement political activism on political efficacy among male and female youth in Hong Kong. Highly educated youth were particularly active in protests against an extradition bill that quickly turned into an anti-government movement in 2019. Therefore, an analysis of longitudinal data from undergraduate students over four years is particularly insightful.
In 2019, more than 1,000 first-year students from two local universities (which together enrolled over 30% of the undergraduate student population at public universities in Hong Kong) completed an online survey before the mass protests against the extradition bill started. Over half of these students were repeatedly surveyed in 2020, 2021, and/or 2022. Manifest and latent repeated variable models examined stability and change in political efficacy among these young people. In addition, gender differences across time were analyzed, and the moderating role of social movement participation was scrutinized. Comparisons of the four cross-sections of data showed no significant gender difference in the levels of internal political efficacy from 2020 onwards, even though female study participants had reported lower efficacy than male respondents in 2019. Longitudinal data analyses further demonstrated how a significant gender difference in political efficacy that was found in 2019 (before the social movement) turned nonsignificant in subsequent years (during and after the social movement).
The analysis indicates that participation in the anti-extradition bill social movement raised female participants’ political efficacy to levels similar to those of male students. In contrast, social movement participation appears to have had no effect on male respondents’ political efficacy. These results beg the question of whether active participation in social movements can offset differences in political efficacy between male and female youth across cultural and geographic contexts. These findings are relevant for those aiming to involve youth voices in community and political decision-making processes and suggest that the development of political efficacy in emerging adulthood may differ for male and female individuals, which is relevant for educational efforts to promote youth civic development.

Author

• Frank Reichert, University of Hong Kong