Is love politically blind? The role that the romantic partner plays for young adults’ socio-political interest

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examined the political interest of young adults who over two years moved in or out of a romantic relationship or had a romantic partner at both ages. The sample comprised young adults in Sweden (n = 1335; Mage = 22.75, SD = 3.01). Among those who entered a romantic relationship, the partners seemed to adjust to each other’s political interest, but when separations occurred, the influence of the former partner vanished. Attending to similarities and dissimilarities in both partners’ levels of political interest, we hypothesized that in relations where both partners had high political interest, their political discussions would occur frequently, and they were likely to reinforce each other’s search for information about society more than in other romantic relationships. This hypothesis was confirmed. We also examined if partners with different political interest had lower partner commitments and later become singles more often than couples with similar political interests. We found few differences. Overall, both variable- and person-oriented analyses showed that romantic partners can both thwart and increase the political interest of young adults. Apparently, young adults’ romantic partners play a significant role for their political interest.