Does Political Socialization at Home Boost Adolescents’ Expectation of Higher Education? An Analysis of Eighth-Grade Students in 35 Countries

This study uses comparative data to examine the impact of political socialization in the home on adolescents’ expectations of university participation. The first part of the study is an international partial replication of design and findings of an earlier Norwegian study published in 2011. It examines, in socioculturally diverse countries, the association between political socialization at home and adolescents’ expectation of higher education, before and after control for educational achievement, gender, and family socioeconomic status (SES). The study uses publicly available data collected in 2009 by IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) from large nationally representative samples of eighth-grade students in 35 countries. The second part of the study examines differences among countries with regard to the strength of net association with strong home-based political socialization, using country-level indicators to explore macro conditions associated with the relationship’s relative strength.