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ABSTRACT
Drawing on data from a large-scale international study [PIDOP – Processes Influencing Democratic Ownership and Participation. 2009–2012. Accessed August 10. http://www.fahs.surrey.ac.uk/pidop/index.htm], the present research examined psychological and demographic factors related to civic and political participation among adolescents and young adults (from 16 to 26 years of age) with a Turkish origin and residing in Belgium (n = 153), Germany (n = 204) and Turkey (n = 253). MANCOVA and one-way ANOVA were employed to address how types of civic, direct and online participation differ by socio-demographic variables. The results indicate that citizenship status was not related with the types of participation, while age, gender and country were significantly related with the type of participation in various degrees. Interaction between all the variables showed that older (20–26), foreign national, male Turkish German sample is significantly more involved in civic participation activities. Results are discussed in light of the naturalization processes of migrant groups abroad and extensive religious involvement of Turkish German sample.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Putnam (Citation2000) claims that future generation is not predicted to be politically more active than past generations due to lack of social capital and different societal values and views.
2. For a detailed account of the contemporary German Nationality Law, see http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/sid_B2C5D50B9A1BCCD37F3355A6AE2E7923/EN/EinreiseUndAufenthalt/Optionsregelung_node.html
3. For detailed information about the naturalization requirements and the test, see http://www.bmi.bund.de/EN/Topics/Migration-Integration/Naturalization/naturalization_node.html
4. PIDOP examined the processes which influence democratic ownership and participation in nine European countries – Belgium, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Italy, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey. Young people, women, minorities and migrants were examined as four specific groups at risk of political disengagement. The research explored the differences as well as the overlap between civic and political engagement, and both direct and representative participation.
5. The questionnaire involved a collaborative process between the researchers from the various teams in PIDOP, who made contributions based on existing items and scales that they have used in their own previous research; some new item/scales were also created. The final questionnaire involved an adaptation of those existing items/scales and was also based on the results from the pre-pilot studies conducted in various countries.
6. First-generation immigrant: immigrant youth who migrated to the Country X. Second generation immigrant: Country X-born children of at least one foreign-born parent. Third generation immigrant: Country X-born children of two US-born parents, where at least one grandparent is foreign-born.
7. In Turkey, mandatory education used to consist of 8 years, with the first 5 grades belonging to primary education and the 6th to 8th grades belonging to secondary education. However, the system changed in 2012 with the new Education Law which implemented a ‘4+4+4’ system, consisting of 4 years primary education, 4 years secondary education and 4 years of high school. In Germany, compulsory education continues between ages of 6–16 while it continues until the age of 18 in Belgium.
8. At the time this article is being revised, Turkey was once again subject to a military coup. Turkish Government suppressed an attempted coup by Turkish military officials, which resulted in the deaths of 265 people.