Psychological Antecedents of Adolescent Political Involvement: Personal Competence and Political Behavior

Carmines, Edward G.

doi:10.1080/02673843.1991.9747695

Cited by 21 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Who participates and why are questions that continue to intrigue social scientists from various disciplines, including political science, communication, and sociology (for overviews, see Rosenstone & Hansen, 1993;Scheufele & Ostman, 2003;Verba & Nie, 1972;Verba et al, 1995). Past research has demonstrated numerous correlates and determinants of political activity including demographic variables such as education, income, and gender, as well as involvement in a particular issue, general political interest, a sense of power over the actions of government (political efficacy), media use, interpersonal discussion, and levels of political information (e.g., Carmines, 1991;Cohen, Vigoda, & Samorty, 2001;McLeod, Scheufele, & Moy, 1999;McLeod et al, 1996;Scheufele & Eveland, 2001;Ulbig & Funk, 1999;Verba et al, 1995).…”

Section: Participation As a Publicly Observable Social Processmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Key variables in this group include political interest (i.e., Verba et al, 1995), political ideology and ideological extremity (i.e., Scheufele, Nisbet, & Brossard, 2003), and political efficacy (McLeod et al, 1999). Of these variables, political efficacy is a particularly important control because there is evidence that both are correlated with general self-esteem (Carmines, 1991;Cohen et al, 2001;Hayes et al, 2005a) and thus likely share a common cause that could produce a spurious association. We also include informational channels as controls.…”

Section: Nonparticipation As a Form Of Self-censorshipmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Nonparticipation as Self-Censorship: Publicly Observable Political Activity in a Polarized Opinion Climate

2006

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In a polarized opinion climate, people may refrain from participating in publicly observable political activities that make them vulnerable to scrutiny and criticism by others who hold opinions that differ from their own. We took a dispositional approach to testing this claim by determining whether people who are relatively more influenced by the climate of opinion when choosing whether or not to voice an opinion, measured with the Willingness to Self-Censor scale [Hayes et al. International Journal of Public Opinion Research 17 (2005) 298], are also relatively less likely to engage in public political activities. In a poll of residents of the United States, we found that even after controlling for interest in politics, political ideology, ideological extremity, political efficacy, attention to political news, dispositional shyness, frequency of political discussion, and demographics, dispositional self-censors reported having engaged in relatively fewer public political activities over the prior 2 years compared to those less willing to censor their own opinion expression. These results are consistent with our interpretation of political participation as a social process that is governed in part by the social psychological implications of participation to the person. At a larger theoretical level, our findings

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Section: Participation As a Publicly Observable Social Processmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Nonparticipation As a Form Of Self-censorshipmentioning

confidence: 97%

Nonparticipation as Self-Censorship: Publicly Observable Political Activity in a Polarized Opinion Climate

2006

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“…A person with high self-esteem will feel more secure and confident in dealing with problems in his or her personal life and in the environment. Carlson and Hyde (1980) and Carmines (1992) offered two competing explanations for the effect of self-esteem on political participation. According to the actualization hypothesis, people with high self-esteem will strive for higher levels of political participation because they feel more secure and confident regarding their capabilities in participating in politics.…”

Section: Mediating Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The findings yielded by this approach have shown that political participation is significantly higher among citizens with high SES than among those with low SES (e.g., Milbrath & Goel, 1977;Peterson, 1990;Verba & Nie, 1972;Verba et al, 1995). The second approach is psychological, and concentrates on personal attitudinal variables such as locus of control and political efficacy as determinants of political participation (e.g., Carmines, 1992;Krampen, 1991;Sabucedo & Cramer, 1991;Sears, 1987).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of the Mediating Effect of Personal‐Psychological Variables on the Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status and Political Participation: A Structural Equations Framework

Cohen

Vigoda

Samorly

2001

Political Psychology

137

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The goal of this research was to test whether the relationship between socioeconomic status and political participation is direct or mediated by personal variables such as self-esteem, locus of control, and political efficacy, and to detect how such a mediating process might operate if it exists. Two forms of participation, namely active political participation and the more passive psychological involvement of citizens in the democratic process, were treated as separate but related facets of participation. Four competing models were advanced and tested. The data were collected from 434 citizens in the north of Israel who were interviewed by questionnaire. The analysis was performed by structural equations modeling with LISREL VIII. The findings show that the relationship between socioeconomic status and political participation can be better understood as being mediated by personal variables rather than direct. This is demonstrated by the many nonsignificant paths in the direct model. The findings also reveal that active political participation and psychological involvement are distinct but related constructs, where involvement leads to active participation. In addition, all research variables were related more strongly to psychological involvement than to active political participation. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for future research on political participation.

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“…These variables derive not only from social-cognitive personality theories (e.g., Bandura, 1986;Mischel, 1973Mischel, , 1982Rotter, 1955Rotter, , 1982 and the action theory model of personality (Krampen, 1988(Krampen, , 1991a, but also from empirical political socialization research (summarized, e.g., by Niemi, 1973;Sears, 1983Sears, , 1987. These empirical results point toward the significance of the self-concept of one's own (political) competence (see, e.g., Carmines, 1991;Mengering, 1992) and its domain-specific differentiation, especially in adolescence (see, e.g., Adams, 1985;Byrne & Shavelson, 1996); internal locus of control (see, e.g., Majete, 1987;Peterson & Maiden, 1992-93); political knowledge (see, e.g., Hyman, 1973;Lanoue, 1992;Prester, Rohrmann, & Schellhammer, 1987); and trust in politics (see, e.g., Marsh, 1977;Sabucedo & Cramer, 1991) for political participation as well as well-being of adolescents and adults. Satisfaction with politics and politicians was added in the present study because of its relevance for political participation research (see, e.g., Sears, 1983Sears, , 1987 and because it is an indicator of individuals' subjective perceptions of the current political life domain.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

Transition of Adolescent Political Action Orientations to Voting Behavior in Early Adulthood in View of a Social‐Cognitive Action Theory Model of Personality

Krampen

2000

Political Psychology

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The political activity and voting behavior of 136 young German adults in 1994 were predicted by their political action orientations measured 7 years before. Respondents belonging to cohorts born in 1971Respondents belonging to cohorts born in , 1972Respondents belonging to cohorts born in , and 1973Respondents belonging to cohorts born in were surveyed in 1987Respondents belonging to cohorts born in , 1988Respondents belonging to cohorts born in , and 1994. The questionnaires measured variables relevant to the social-cognitive action theory model of personality: self-concept of political competence, beliefs about political locus of control, political knowledge, trust in politics, satisfaction with politics, and political activity in everyday life. The results are interpreted with respect to the correlative and absolute stability versus plasticity of the variables from 1987 to 1994, as well as the predictive value of the action theory personality variables for political activities and for voting behavior measured 7 years later. Longitudinal results indicate a high predictive value of self-concept of political competence and political knowledge for political activity and voting in early adulthood. Because only these two personality variables showed relatively high positional stability coefficients from adolescence to early adulthood, the discussion refers to the necessity of early developmental interventions to prevent extreme types of politically uninterested and passive adults. Therefore, the social-cognitive action theory personality model of political participation is extended to a social-cognitive action theory personality model of political socialization in the life span.

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Psychological Antecedents of Adolescent Political Involvement: Personal Competence and Political Behavior

Cited by 21 publications

References 4 publications

Nonparticipation as Self-Censorship: Publicly Observable Political Activity in a Polarized Opinion Climate

Nonparticipation as Self-Censorship: Publicly Observable Political Activity in a Polarized Opinion Climate

Analysis of the Mediating Effect of Personal‐Psychological Variables on the Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status and Political Participation: A Structural Equations Framework

Transition of Adolescent Political Action Orientations to Voting Behavior in Early Adulthood in View of a Social‐Cognitive Action Theory Model of Personality

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