How Are Political Conversations with Teachers Linked to Adolescents’ Political Interest?: The Moderating Role of Students’ Perceived Teacher Support for Open Classroom Discussion

Key Points

• This research aims to analyze how interactions with teachers impact adolescents' political interest during political socialization and how this is moderated by perceived teacher support for open discussions.
• Utilized survey data from 8,654 students across national elementary, middle, and high schools in South Korea.
• Conducted multilevel modeling analysis to examine relationships between variables.
• Assessed frequency of political conversations with teachers versus parents and peers.
• Frequency of political conversations with parents and friends showed a positive relationship with adolescents' political interest.
• Frequency of political conversations with teachers demonstrated a negative relationship with political interest.
• High levels of perceived open classroom discussion weakened the negative relationship between teacher conversations and political interest, even reversing it to positive in some cases.