Determinants of Online Youth Political Participation in the Netherlands

• In Event: Online Politics and Youth Political Engagement

Abstract

Online opportunities to participate in political activities may attract young individual, who are generally less politically active. An investigation of a large sample of Dutch 16-30 year olds indicates that traditional explanations of offline political participation also determine online political participation to a great extent. Especially political interest, which is stratified by education level and available time, and recruitment by the network promote online political participation. Furthermore, we find that individuals with better Internet skills are more politically active online. Moreover, online and offline political discussions with social networks promote online political participation. Based on our findings we propose an adjusted explanation model, where education level and available time indirectly influence online political participation via political interest and with Internet skills and political discussions as additional determinants for online political participation.

Authors

• Marjon Schols, Erasmus Research Centre for Media, Communication and Culture / Erasmus University Rotterdam

• Jeroen Jansz, Erasmus U Rotterdam