Who do you talk to about what you care about? The importance of adolescents’ issue-based discussion networks for political socialization

• In Event: The Landscape of Youth Political Engagement: Lessons and Implications for Educational Research and Practice

Proposal

This paper explores the utility of social network analysis (SNA) in studying political socialization, particularly among adolescents. While SNA has been successfully employed to examine adult political networks (Carlson et al. 2020; Huckfeldt & Sprague, 1987, 1995; Huckfeldt et al., 2004; Lazer et al., 2010; Mutz, 2002), its application to adolescent populations has been relatively limited. Notably, research on adolescents often defines networks based on kinship or group membership but overlooks networks formed through actions. This gap, the paper argues, presents a missed opportunity for understanding how adolescents engage with political ideas and develop civic identities.

The paper reviews common approaches to studying adolescent networks, where participants typically identify close friends or peers within structured settings like schools (Ajilore & Alberda, 2017; Quintelier et al., 2012; Settle et al. 2011; Wegemer, 2022). These studies provide valuable insights on how adolescents’ peers influence political behaviors, attitudes, or perceptions, but offer only a partial view of adolescents' civic and citizenship learning. For example, studies of adult political networks often ask questions about interactions—such as with whom one discusses important matters or politics—enabling more nuanced analyses that span different social groups. This methodological difference has also generated a richer understanding of how social networks shape political behaviors and attitudes.

A challenge in studying adolescents’ political discussion networks is that what is ‘political’ may be narrowly defined by participants. The study of adult political discussion networks relies on name generators that ask respondents to list who they regularly talk to about politics (Klofstad et al., 2009). If adolescents identify politics with a narrow set of institutions, figures, or practices, this data collection approach may miss the networks of interest. To overcome this difficulty, this paper proposes a novel approach: studying adolescents' issue-based discussion networks. Instead of using traditional standard survey items, this method elicits topics that matter most to adolescents (e.g., climate change, racism; social inequality) and examines whom they discuss these issues with. This approach not only mitigates a data collection challenge but also opens up new lines of inquiry.

One such inquiry involves understanding the nature of conversations within these issue-based networks and why they matter for political socialization. In adult studies, the conversations happening in political discussion networks have been conceptualized as “civic talk” (Klofstad, 2011). Civic talk is informal, often unintentional, and part of daily life. It is distinct from dialogue and deliberation, that is typically conceived as more structured and formal (Barabas, 2004; Delli Carpini et al., 2004). Civic talk among adults matters because it is a source of relevant information, increases political interest, increases the sense of political efficacy, and offers opportunities for recruitment and mobilization that result in various forms of political engagement. This paper explores considerations for defining and understanding the “civic talk” happening within adolescents’ issue-based discussion networks.

The paper concludes by outlining a research design for a mixed-methods study of issue-based discussion networks among a sample of 15- and 16-year-olds in Bogotá, Colombia, to be conducted in the spring of 2025.

Author

• Nicolas Riveros Medelius, Harvard Graduate School of Education