Publication Cover
Politikon
South African Journal of Political Studies
Volume 46, 2019 - Issue 1
907
Views
7
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

Family Political Socialisation and its Effect on Youth Trust in Government: A South African Perspective

, & ORCID Icon
Pages 122-137 | Published online: 12 Oct 2018
 

ABSTRACT

Current debates on citizenship and democracy highlight the salience of cooperative relations between government and its citizens. Scholars observe that governments and its institutions function better where there is cooperation and trust. However, evidence suggests that political interest is waning and trust in government, dwindling. More especially, concerns about the effects of youth disengaging from political life are increasing. This phenomenon is more worrying in young democracies, where democratic traditions and principles are still evolving. This study examines the effect of family politicisation on youth trust in government. This quantitative study used a cross-sectional correlational research design. A two-level approach was adopted. At the first level we examined the prevalence of political discussions in the home and the trust attitudes of the family (as indicators of family politicisation) and youth towards government. At a second level we conducted a regression analysis to determine relationships between parent-adolescent communication and youth trust in government; family trust in government and youth trust in government; and finally, parent-adolescent communication and family trust on youth trust in government. The results suggest that a combination of parent- adolescent communication and family trust in government in a model, significantly positively predicts youth trust in government.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the seed funding provided by the University of the Western Cape that enabled the data collection at the various schools under study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Nicolette Vanessa Roman http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4506-437X

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University of the Western Cape: [Grant Number 15/7/216].

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 387.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.