Puzzling parents? The perception and adoption of parental political orientations in the Dutch multiparty setting

Abstract

Recent studies investigating the role of children in parental socialization propose a model where children first perceive the political orientations of their parents (correctly or incorrectly) before deciding whether to adopt those perceived orientations. The current paper extends this model tested in two-party contexts to the intergenerational transmission of party preferences and left-right orientations in the Dutch multiparty context. It demonstrates that parental left-right orientations are more difficult for adolescents to correctly perceive than parental party preferences, but that both perceived parental party preferences and left-right orientations are adopted at similar rates. Discussing politics with their parents increases adolescents' likelihood of correctly perceiving parental party preferences and left-right orientations. However, parental political engagement, and adolescent political engagement, knowledge, and educational level only increase adolescents' likelihood of correctly perceiving parental left-right orientations. Lastly, the more importance adolescents place on their parents’ opinions, the likelier they are to adopt their political orientations.