Identifying the Antecedents of Political Engagement Behavior among Young Adult College Students

Maurice Y Mongkuo,Melissa L Lyon

doi:10.4172/2332-0761.1000121

Abstract

Aim: This study assesses the impact of political social motivation, trust in government, political efficacy, and personal motivation on political engagement behavior among young adult college students. Study design: Quasi-experimental One-shot Case Study Design. Methodology: Survey data of indicators of the five latent constructs was collected from college students. Exploratory principal component factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha test were performed to identify the factorial structure of the each of the political engagement scales. Structural equation modeling analysis was performed to estimate the overall model fit indices and the magnitude of effects of political social motivation, trust in government, political efficacy, and personal motivation on political engagement behavior among the young adult college students. Results: The analysis found that internal political efficacy had a large significant negative impact of political engagement behavior. External political efficacy had a large significant positive influence on political engagement behavior. Trust in government had a small positive insignificant effect on political engagement behavior. Political social motivation and personal motivation had no meaningful impact on political engagement behavior of the young adult college students. Conclusion: Collectively, these findings suggest that to sustain American democracy, proponents should focus on promoting internal and external political efficacy, and to a less extent trust in government, not on political motivation of young adult college students.

Highlights

The sustenance of American democracy depends on active engagement of all citizens in the political process
Collectively, these findings suggest that to sustain American democracy, proponents should focus on promoting internal and external political efficacy, and to a less extent trust in government, not on political motivation of young adult college students
The level of internal political efficacy was slightly high with 51.2% of the students having low internal political efficacy

Summary

Introduction

The sustenance of American democracy depends on active engagement of all citizens in the political process. The lack of political engagement has been more pronounced among young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 years old [2,7,8,9]. In the 2012 Presidential election, young adult voting declined to 41 percent, which ranked lowest among all the other age groups [12]. This decline of young adult political engagement is troublesome for two reasons. Research has shown early political participation to be a strong predictor of future electoral involvement, which helps to sustain democracy [13,14]. Other research has found a strong correlation between political engagement and the distribution of government benefit in democratic societies [15]

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Conclusion