Young citizens in school: A meta-analytic examination of the relationship between experiences at school and youth’s political competencies, attitudes, and behaviors

• Applicant: Dr. Katharina Eckstein
• Subject Area: Education Systems and Educational Institutions ; Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: from 2018 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 400343919

The proposed project examines the relation between experiences at school and political competencies, attitudes, and behaviors (active citizenship) in youth. Youth is a formative period in life for political development. With young people spending much time in educational settings and schools sharing the common goal to encourage students to active citizenship, they are considered as an influential context of socialization.The relationship between experiences at school and youth’s active citizenship has been empirically confirmed. However, the school context offers a wide variety of experiences ranging from curricular (e.g. content and quantity of civic classes) to structural and climatic characteristics (e.g. opportunities for school participation, classroom climate, relationship climate). Due to the diversity of indicators it is therefore difficult to draw generalized conclusions about the extent to which generally "favorable" curricular or structural/climatic school characteristics (e.g. an overall democratic school climate) or only distinctive school characteristics (e.g. concrete opportunities for school participation) are either associated with a wide variety of political outcomes or only with certain political competencies, attitudes, and behaviors in particular. In addition, there is little systematic evidence about how persistent the effects of school experiences are over time or whether some students benefit more from certain school experiences than others.The proposed project therefore aims at a meta-analysis systematically integrating quantitative findings on the nexus of school experiences and youth active citizenship. In particular, two objectives will be addressed: First, the significance and generalizability of school effects on youth’s active citizenship will be tested at the conceptual level (i.e. considering different indicators of school experiences and active citizenship), contextual level (i.e. comparing individual and classroom level effects), and at the level of measurement time (i.e. comparing cross-sectional and longitudinal associations). Second, the relation between school experiences and active citizenship will be tested for moderations by age, gender, as well as socioeconomic, cultural, and family background (e.g. degree of familial politicization).The meta-analytic integration of empirical research findings will contribute to a more profound understanding of school’s role in youth’s political development. The consideration of inter-individual differences will furthermore provide a more differentiated picture to what extent school experiences can compensate for or accelerate initial differences (e.g. due to socio-demographic factors). This understanding, in turn, is a fundamental prerequisite for schools to raise their students’ political awareness regardless of their gender, cultural background, or educational level.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants