The Making of Democratic Citizens – How Teenage Experiences and Actions Shape their Political Engagement in Adulthood

A basic precondition for a strong and sustainable democracy is that all citizens participate equally in political life.

It is therefore of great societal concern that a gap is growing between those who have significant democratic resources and skills and those who do not engage productively in our political system.

Toward the goal of fulfilling the democratic ideals of a peaceful, participatory citizenry and equality of voice, this research stands to make significant scholarly contributions by illuminating the roots of critical forms of engagement such as voting, party attachment, protest, online political participation, and volunteering.

To answer foundational questions about political behavior, we examine how adults’ political engagement is shaped by their experiences in various everyday life contexts during adolescence.

In addition, we analyze to what extent and in what ways adolescents are active in their own political development and how this involvement shapes later patterns of political engagement.

We will fulfill these aims by following up one of the world´s largest longitudinal studies on young people’s political socialization—the Swedish Political Socialization panel—with a new wave of the survey.

The research team consists of experts on political development and on the pre-existing database that serves as an anchor for this novel project.