Mobilisation through early activation and school engagement – the story from Scotland

Figures & data

Table 1. Interest in politics ‘How much interest do you generally have in what is going on in politics’ – comparison between 14 and 17 year olds and adults (2014 SSA).

	14–17 year olds 2014 (%)	Adults – 2013 SSA (%)
A great deal	13	10
To some extent	46	22
Some	n/a	34
Not very much	32	21
None at all	8	12
Don't know	1	0
Total (100%)	1006	1497

Table 2. Discussing the referendum: ‘Who have you talked about Scottish independence with so far, if anyone at all?’ – multiple options possible (14–17 year olds).

	2013 (%)	2014 (%)
Parents	53	69
In class	45	68
Friends	53	65
Other	20	19
Nobody	12	7

Table 3. Voting likelihood in referendum of under 18-year old voters: change from 2013 to 2014.

	2013 (%)	2014 (%) (eligible voters only)
Very unlikely	7	6
Rather unlikely	6	6
Neither likely nor unlikely	19	15
Rather likely	26	21
Very likely	40	51
Don't know	2	2
Total (100%)	1018	725

Table 4. Voting likelihood in referendum of adults (11-point scale): change from 2013 to 2014 (SSA).

Voting likelihood	Adults – 2013 SSA (%)	Adults – 2014 SSA (%)
6–10	81	87
0–5	19	13
Total (100%)	1497	1339

Table 5. Factors affecting political interest – Logistic regression results (14–17 year olds 2014).

Dep: Political interest	1		2		3
	Odds-Ratio	Wald	Odds-Ratio	Wald	Odds-Ratio	Wald
Age: 14
(non-eligible) 15	1.00	0.00	0.96	0.29	1.03	0.01
(eligible) 15	0.69	2.14	0.74	1.42	0.77	1.02
16	1.34	1.88	1.22	0.84	1.30	1.35
17	1.54*	4.00	1.45	2.68	1.60*	4.09
Male	1.06	0.12	1.11	0.59	1.18	1.32
Parental education: None
Higher education degree	1.49	2.04	1.08	0.07	0.99	0.00
Tertiary below degree	1.65	2.80	1.41	1.21	1.23	0.43
Upper Secondary	1.03	0.01	0.78	0.66	0.67	1.63
Lower Secondary	0.79	0.74	0.63	2.49	0.50*	5.14
Discussed ref. with parents			2.39***	33.3	2.42***	32.6
Discussed ref. in class			2.01***	22.1	1.90***	18.1
Not taken Modern Studies
Taken, as mandatory					1.19	0.87
Taken, as choice					2.40***	26.7
-2 Loglikelihood	1271		1203		1172
Nagelkerke R^2	0.050		0.102		0.176

***p ≤ 0.001; **p ≤ 0.01; *p ≤ 0.05.

Table 6. Factors affecting the self-perceived understanding of politics – Ordinal regression results, using a complimentary log-log link function (14–17 year olds 2014).

Dep: Finding politics difficult	1		2		3		4
	Odds-Ratio	Wald	Odds-Ratio	Wald	Odds-Ratio	Wald	Odds-Ratio	Wald
Age: 14
(non-eligible) 15	0.95	0.12	0.97	0.06	0.97	0.07	0.98	0.01
(eligible) 15	1.33*	4.16	1.34*	4.35	1.32*	3.86	1.31	3.56
16	1.25	3.61	1.26*	3.89	1.27*	3.94	1.29*	4.54
17	1.32*	5.60	1.34*	6.23	1.36*	6.45	1.40**	7.56
Male	0.73***	17.1	0.73***	17.6	0.73***	17.4	0.73***	16.8
Parental education: None
Higher education degree	0.59**	9.85	0.61**	8.59	0.64**	6.86	0.73*	5.17
Tertiary below degree	0.70*	4.00	0.74	3.00	0.77	2.18	0.87	0.93
Upper Secondary	0.77	2.09	0.80	1.60	0.85	0.77	0.97	0.04
Lower Secondary	0.80	1.70	0.83	1.13	0.87	0.62	0.98	0.02
Discussed ref. with parents			1.05	0.36	1.04	0.19	1.06	0.44
Discussed ref. in class			0.81**	6.53	0.82*	5.77	0.80**	7.01
Not taken Modern Studies
Taken, as mandatory					1.11	1.06	1.16	2.00
Taken, as choice					0.90	1.35	0.96	0.23
Political interest: none
A great deal							0.66*	5.37
To some extent							0.74*	3.94
Not very much							0.82	1.60
Nagelkerke Pseudo R^2	0.051		0.058		0.061		0.064
Test of parallel lines (Chi^2)	36.6 (df = 27), p = 0.10		36.6 (df = 33), p = 0.10		49.7 (df = 42), p = 0.20		54.4 (df = 51), p = 0.38

***p ≤ 0.001; **p ≤ 0.01; *p ≤ 0.05.

Table 7. Factors affecting voting likelihood in the referendum – Ordinal regression results, using a complimentary log-log link function (eligible 15–17 year olds 2014).

Dep: Voting likelihood	1		2		3		4		5
	Odds-Ratio	Wald	Odds-Ratio	Wald	Odds-Ratio	Wald	Odds-Ratio	Wald	Odds-Ratio	Wald
Age: (eligible) 15
16	1.75***	15.3	1.52**	8.55	1.51**	7.91	1.70***	13.5	1.37*	4.53
17	1.80***	16.3	1.67***	12.0	1.66***	11.4	1.75***	14.2	1.39*	4.98
Male	1.04	0.13	1.08	0.54	1.12	0.97	1.08	0.48	1.04	0.14
Parental education: None
Higher education degree	1.81**	8.30	1.68*	5.69	1.67*	5.39	1.72*	5.90	1.52*	4.86
Tertiary below degree	1.07	0.10	1.09	0.14	1.07	0.09	1.01	0.00	0.90	0.30
Upper Secondary	1.00	0.00	0.97	0.02	0.94	0.08	0.93	0.11	0.94	0.10
Lower Secondary	1.19	0.63	1.20	0.72	1.15	0.40	1.11	0.23	1.16	0.63
Discussed ref. with parents			2.02***	36.4	2.06***	38.5			1.78***	24.0
Discussed ref. in class			1.18	1.87	1.18	2.00	1.37**	7.31	1.08	0.40
Not taken Modern Studies
Taken, as mandatory					0.87	0.88	0.88	0.73	0.82	1.90
Taken, as choice					1.17	1.50	1.16	1.29	0.92	0.45
Political interest: none
A great deal									6.53***	44.0
To some extent									2.73***	30.3
Not very much									1.60**	7.22
Nagelkerke Pseudo R^2	0.057		0.116		0.125		0.073		0.186
Test of parallel lines (Chi^2)	49.9 (df = 21), p < 0.01		59.2 (df = 27), p < 0.01		48.5 (df = 36), p = 0.08		59.1 (df = 33), p < 0.01		82.9 (df = 45), p < 0.01

***p ≤ 0.001; **p ≤ 0.01; *p ≤ 0.05.

Table 8. Relationship between discussing referendum with parents and in class (2014 – eligible 15–17 year olds).

		Has discussed in class
		Yes (%)	No (%)
Has discussed with parents	Yes	76	55
	No	24	45
Total (100%)		223	503