Gerais : Revista Interinstitucional de Psicologia
On-line version ISSN 1983-8220
Abstract
RIQUE, Júlio et al. Social issues and youth's political participation. Gerais, Rev. Interinst. Psicol. [online]. 2009, vol.2, n.2, pp.141-150. ISSN 1983-8220.
This study aimed at validating two scales designed to assess the relationship between the importance attached to contemporary social issues and political engagement of youth in society. Citizenship was defined as heterogeneous and motivated by various interests to suit a tripartite model: voting, helps the community and to be heard. 200 young people of both sexes with an average age of 18 years, high school students in public schools and private and a public university responded to three objective scales: Socio-demographic Information, Importance of Social Issues and Social Engagement. The results showed strong internal consistency for the scales of importance of social issues (α = 94) and political engagement (α = 96) and a good model fit of three factors of citizenship to the data obtained. Public school students showed a greater engagement in society than students from private schools or universities. In general, young people showed greater interest in the Help in the Community than by Being Heard. The Vote has received the lowest average importance by the young.
Keywords : Youth; Ethics; Political Socialization.