Is Political Engagement On Digital Media A Valid Indicator Of The Youth’s Political Engagement?

Résumé 0

Research has indicated that young people show limited interest in traditional political spheres and exhibit low levels of political participation. Drawing on extensive literature, we intend to display more contemporary ways of dealing with questions regarding young people’s political participation. This study revisited existing methodologies by integrating contemporary digital phenomena such as memes, social networks, and online petitions, which have been commonly overlooked in mainstream research on youth political engagement. Recognizing young people as digital natives requires redefining political participation within a digital infrastructure. We used the ICCS data for the Balkans (Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia) to determine whether: (1) digital media engagement (DME) correlates with conventional political participation; (2) DME correlates with civic knowledge (ICCS test achievement); and (3) one factor underlies all political participation variables (including DME). The correlation analysis showed positive relationships between DME and conventional political participation indicators with coefficients ranging from r = 0.02 to r = 0.46. However, DME correlated negatively with ICCS test achievement (r = -0.15). This finding suggests that while digital media use may encourage engagement, it may not enhance civic knowledge. We also conducted a factor analysis on all the variables regarding political participation. The factor analysis was valid (KMO = .877; χ2 = 2241045, p < .000). Three factors were extracted and DME was a part of the Latent Political Participation factor. We conclude that DME is essential to understanding modern youth political participation.