A wide social gap in political engagement emerges during adolescence

The chances of a teenager getting involved in politics is linked to how much education their parents had, according to UCL and University of Roehampton researchers. Additionally, while parental education has no effect on the political interest of children at age 11 it has a strong positive effect by the time they are 16. As parental education is an important indicator of social background, the growing influence of parental education during adolescence suggests that a social gap in political engagement occurs in this life stage. The peer-reviewed study, published today in Social Forces and funded by the Nuffield Foundation , analyses data from 1664 participants to assess the impact of family background on young people's political engagement between the ages of 11 and 25. Data was obtained from the British Household Panel Study* and Understanding Society** cohorts. The researchers explored the effect of socio-economic status, determined by parents' education levels, on levels of political interest and voting intentions. The study found that in a relatively short space of time parental education develops from an irrelevant factor at the age of 11 to a strong predictor of political engagement and becomes a stable influence by age 16.