Political Apathy and Youth

Political apathy among youth refers to a lack of interest or engagement in political processes, which can hinder the development of democratic societies. Many eligible young voters abstain from voting or participate irregularly, making their engagement crucial for political parties and democratic health. Factors influencing youth political apathy include social modeling from older generations, particularly parents, who can shape their children’s attitudes toward civic involvement. Research suggests that when parents model apathy or express negative views about political engagement, youth are less likely to participate actively. Conversely, exposure to positive role models, including engaged parents and influential celebrities, can enhance young people's political self-efficacy and interest in civic matters.

Additionally, theories such as social-cognitive and expectancy-value theories highlight the significance of youth valuing civic education and feeling capable of effecting change. Events, such as the rise in youth voter turnout during the 2020 U.S. elections, indicate that issues like climate change and social justice can motivate young people to overcome apathy. Ultimately, fostering a supportive environment that encourages youth to see the value and potential impact of their political engagement is key to reducing apathy and promoting active citizenship.

Published in: 2021

By: Froiland, John Mark

Subject Terms

Political Apathy and Youth

Abstract

Gaining the support of young voters is extremely important to political parties in many countries, especially because a relatively high rate of eligible young voters do not vote or vote irregularly. Developing a civically and politically engaged generation of youth is important to the future development of democratic nations. Certain key social psychological theories are important for understanding the development of youth political apathy versus political engagement.

Overview

Social-cognitive theory has been used to examine political apathy versus engagement among youth. Older voters (or non-voters) model political engagement for youth. Parents, for instance, convey expectations to youth about their likelihood for success in various domains of life when they are young, which often influence youth's own expectations for many years to come (Froiland, Peterson & Davison, 2013; Froiland & Davison, 2014). Youth expectations, in turn, predict their long-term effort and skill development (Froiland, Peterson & Davison, 2013). If parents convey the belief that political involvement is a waste of time and that such involvement is unlikely to lead to improved community or societal conditions, youth are unlikely to get actively involved in politics, unless other powerful role models influence them.

Although celebrities do not usually have the opportunity to engage in rich interactions with many youth, they are attractive targets for political engagement interventions, because they have the potential to reach so many youth at once, at least the many youth that identify with a particular celebrity. Austin, Vord, Pinkleton, and Epstein (2008) found that youth who were involved in upcoming elections were much less likely to be politically apathetic, which is in accordance with numerous past studies. However, they also found that youth with higher political self-efficacy were less complacent than other youth and more involved in the upcoming elections. These were both moderate associations, suggesting that developing political self-efficacy is an important component for stimulating involvement and overcoming any cohort tendencies toward complacency. Being receptive to celebrities was mildly positively associated with self-efficacy, meaning that youth who were happy to hear what celebrities had to say about politics were somewhat more likely to have higher self-efficacy. This suggests that celebrities may be able to affect youth political self-efficacy, but the effects of parents and mentors on self-efficacy are likely to be much greater.

Highly related to social-cognitive theory, expectancy-value theory also has important implications and research pertaining to developing civic and political involvement. Social-cognitive theory goes into great depth on the expectancy side, but delving into the value side of motivation for politics is also important. In fact, Liem and Chua (2013) found that valuing civic education was a stronger predictor than having strong expectations for success in class in terms of predicting Indonesian students' desire to contribute to society throughout their life, civic self-efficacy (a measure that fits exceedingly well with social-cognitive theory), and patriotism. The researchers measured valuing civic education in terms of high school students rating it as interesting, important, and useful (Liem & Chua, 2013). This research indicates that both social-cognitive theory and expectancy-value theory are important for understanding what motivates students to contribute to society and engage in civic life (Froiland, 2014).

Further Insights

Social-cognitive theory posits that youth's self-efficacy, the belief that their efforts will lead to success, is influenced by adult and peer role models (Bandura, 2001). If role models, such as parents, teachers, celebrities, mentors, and older siblings, are civically engaged and convey that this engagement is fairly satisfying and beneficial, then youth are more likely to follow suit. It is especially valuable for role models to take the time to explain how they developed their positive attitudes toward civic engagement and how they have seen this engagement lead to positive outcomes locally or nationally. However, if adults express hopelessness and apathy about political engagement, and this stance appears to work reasonably well for them, youth are more likely to internalize these attitudes and exhibit limited political involvement.

In accordance with the findings of Austin et al. (2008), Wen and Cui (2014) found that college students in Macau, China, had higher self-efficacy for political involvement when they were influenced by cherished celebrities who were politically involved. Higher self-efficacy, in turn, led to greater levels of civic engagement. Collective efficacy is the shared belief among a large group of people that they can make a difference if they make a concerted effort (Bandura, 2001). Collective efficacy is important in the political realm because it takes so many supporters to strongly impact an election and promote long-term changes at a city, state, provincial, or national level.

Another important theory for understanding the political and civic engagement of youth is self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Self-determination theory posits that youth will be intrinsically motivated to participate in activities that meet inherent psychological needs, such as the desire to feel close or connected to others, the desire to develop their competence in areas that interest them, and the desire to be more autonomous and free (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Just as in other areas of life, controlling messages (such as, "You must vote or else terrible things will happen") are likely to decrease intrinsic motivation for political participation, even if they lead to some youth voting out of a sense of guilt or fear (Froiland, 2014).

To promote long-term civic and political engagement, it is important for adults who are passionate about politics to honestly and genuinely convey the benefits (and perhaps even some of the disadvantages) of political participation. Fear-based advertisements and statements from leaders will likely induce introjection (motivation due to guilt and avoidance of fear), which leads to less voting and less active information-seeking than autonomous motivation for political engagement (Koestner, Losier, Vallerand & Carducci, 1996). Parents who communicate in an autonomy-supportive way (that is, give their children the freedom to develop their own political viewpoints) and show an interest in their children's political involvement are more likely to have children who find the political process meaningful and enjoyable (Perreault, Koestner & Vallerand, 2001), which predicts long-term political engagement.

According to research on self-determination theory and life goals, youth are the most likely to get deeply involved civically and politically if they see it as an authentic way of contributing to the community, developing as a person, or promoting their freedom (Gagne, 2003; Kasser, Rosenblum, Sameroff, Deci, Niemiec, Ryan, & Hawks, 2014). If the focus is on protecting financial interests, less wholehearted motivation and engagement are likely to ensue, along with lower levels of vitality and psychological well-being (Kasser et al., 2014). Importantly, when parents and other adults support youth autonomous motivation for prosocial behavior (including political involvement), youth are more likely to volunteer, give to charity, recycle, help those experiencing emergencies, and be active participants in the political process (Gagne, 2003).

Issues

Voting is often an emphasis of political engagement, but both expectancy-value and social-cognitive theory have repeatedly shown that motivation to work hard in a domain of life is significantly related to the expectation one has for success (Bandura, 2001; Froiland, Peterson & Davison, 2013; Liem & Chua, 2013; Miele & Wigfield, 2014). Some youth engage in political debate and are civically active but do not vote because they really do not believe that one vote makes a difference in states or nations with millions of voters (Banaji, 2008). Based on expectancy calculations, this may often be a reasonable assumption. Alternatively, some do not vote because they believe that there are no good choices on the ballot. Namely, they believe that none of the dominant parties represent their values, beliefs, and desires for the future (Kimberlee, 2002). According to Cammaerts, Bruter, Banaji, Harrison, and Anstead (2014), civic interest is high among European youth despite an appearance of apathy, which is due to "a combination of contextual and pychosocial factors," that is, ambivalence toward the existing institutions and discourse.

Self-determination theory and related research makes it clear that youth are more likely to be persuaded toward internalizing more civic values and actions if they feel that adults carefully listen to them when talking about politics and respect their volition (Koestner et al., 1996; Losier et al., 2001). Programs such as the National Student/Parent Mock Election seek to stimulate and validate high school students' interest in election politics as a way to counter a general trend toward nonparticipation in US voting patterns (Fulton, 2014). Youth interest, once stimulated by charismatic political figures such as Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, has been shown to manifest in enduring party loyalty (Ball, 2013), a significant indicator of lifelong engagement in US political issues.

The 2020 general election was particularly closely analyzed in respect to youth civic engagement due to the revelation, based on data such as that released by the US Census Bureau, that in addition to the overall voter turnout setting records, this election saw the highest turnout of younger voters. According to the Census Bureau, while 49 percent of Americans between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four had voted in the 2016 general election, 57 percent cast ballots in the 2020 election (Fabina, 2021). While commentators noted that some of the increased turnout, including among younger voters, might have been related to the wider availability of the mail-in voting option due to the public health concerns caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, they also speculated that the politically divisive years between 2016 and 2020 had seen more people of all ages becoming more politically and socially active. Young people surveyed around the time of the 2020 election had indicated that there were a large number of issues that had proven motivating for them to engage more, including the economic impact of the pandemic, the 2020 nationwide protests around racial justice, and increased concerns over climate change (Pike, 2020).

Terms & Concepts

Autonomy supportive communication: A way of speaking to others that involves acknowledging their perspective, helping them to see the purpose in what they are doing, and avoiding controlling language.

Civic engagement: A person's level of involvement in voting, expressing political ideals, participating in the democratic process, and various other ways of contributing to the betterment of the community, state, province, or nation.

Collective efficacy: A group of people sharing a belief that together they can make things better with concerted effort.

Expectancy-value theory: A theory of motivation that explains that people are motivated by both their expectations for success and the value they place on activities and potential outcomes. This theory has significant overlap with social-cognitive theory, but delves more deeply into the importance of valuing processes or outcomes.

Intrinsic motivation: Working because one enjoys it, sees it as purposeful, or otherwise meets core psychological needs.

Introjection: A self-determination theory term that describes a motivational and emotional state in which a person is participating because of fear, guilt, and/or pressure that he or she has internalized from adults using a controlling style.

Self-efficacy: The belief that one's efforts will likely lead to success.

Social-cognitive theory: Albert Bandura's theory that explains that youth learn and are motivated through watching and listening to role models that they hold in high esteem.

Bibliography

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Political Apathy and Youth

On this Page

Subject Terms

Political Apathy and Youth

Abstract

Overview

Further Insights

Issues

Terms & Concepts

Bibliography

Suggested Reading