Editorial: Adolescence, Political Socialisation and Early Citizenship
DEBATE: A Look at Adolescence from Three Perspectives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.166Keywords:
political socialization, adolescence, early citizenry, youth participation, socialization agentsAbstract
This editorial introduces the two articles that form the discussion section. It approaches political socialisation in adolescence from a sociological perspective, reviewing the significance of citizenship through past research alongside recent studies published in social sciences journals indexed in SCOPUS and Web of Science between 2021 and 2026. The findings point to both change and continuity. The family remains central to political socialisation, alongside the school, the peer group and digital environments. While the family continues to be the primary site for the transmission of values and civic customs, the peer group and the school reinforce civic learning, and social media offers unprecedented opportunities for political engagement – though with significant inequalities of access. Adolescence is understood here as a stage of active rather than passive agency in the formation of citizenship, in which participation is conceived broadly and multidimensionally, and socialisation processes interact with emotions, identity and social structures.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Aarab, M., Benedicto, J., Betancor, G., García-Espín, P., Gil, J., Gómez Nicolau, E. y Revilla, J. C. (2025). Activismos juveniles en una sociedad individualizada: Reflexiones prácticas. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades.
Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J. y Sanford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. Harper & Brothers.
Alarcón, F. J. (2022). Qué sabemos de la participación política de los jóvenes en democracia. Una revisión de las problemáticas sobre los jóvenes, la participación política y la democracia. Revista Internacional de Pensamiento Político, 17(1), 13-30.
Apple, M. W. y Beane, J. A. (1995). Democratic schools. ASCD.
Arceneaux, K., Dunaway, J., Nickerson, D., Settle, J. y Goidel, S. (2025). Popularity or partisanship? Cue taking on social media among teens and adults. American Politics Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X251343035
Bähr, C. y Taylor, L. K. (2023). Growing up amid conflict: Implications of the Developmental Peacebuilding Model. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 65, 199-234. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2023.05.001
Baumrind, D. (1966). Effects of authoritative parental control on child behavior. Child Development, 37(4), 887-907. https://doi.org/10.2307/1126611
Benedicto, J. y Morán, M. L. (2002). La construcción de una ciudadanía activa entre los jóvenes. Instituto de la Juventud (INJUVE).
Carballo-Losada, M., Collado, S. y Evans, G. W. (2025). Young children’s global climate change salience and comprehension: The effect of parental perception and communication. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 105, 102174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102174
Elsayed, W. (2024). Building a better society: The vital role of family’s social values in creating a culture of giving in young children’s minds. Heliyon, 10(7), e29208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e29208
Epstein, J. L. (1992). School and family partnerships (Report No. 6). Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children’s Learning, Johns Hopkins University.
Garcia-Albacete, G. y Hoskins, B. (2024). The gender gap in political efficacy: The accelerating effect of classroom discussions. Social Forces, 103(3), 1167-1185. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soae100
García-Espín, P. (2025). Conversaciones con mi abuela: Socialización política y crisis de la familia extensa. En J. Benedicto Millán y J. Gutiérrez Barroso (Eds.), Jóvenes comprometidos, jóvenes activistas: ¿Cómo y por qué se movilizan los jóvenes hoy? (pp. 55-75). Catarata.
Garreta, J. (2008). La participación de las familias en la escuela pública: Las asociaciones de madres y padres del alumnado. CIDE & CEAPA.
Jaime-Castillo, A. M. (2000). Socialización política. Revista Internacional de Sociología, 58 (25), 153-175.
Jaime-Castillo, A. M. (2010). Familia y socialización política: la transmisión intergeneracional de las preferencias políticas. Documentos de trabajo (Centro de Estudios Andaluces), 2.3.
Jungkunz, S. y Weiss, J. (2024). Populist attitudes among teenagers: How negative relationships with socialization agents are linked to populist attitudes. Perspectives on Politics, 22(4), 1140-1156. https://doi.org/10.1017/S153759272400012X
Karkdijk, E. M., ten Dam, G. y Dijkstra, A. B. (2025). On the same page? Examining adolescents’ civic attitudes and the role of congruence in civic attitudes of parents, friends, and classmates. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10443894241304912
Kestilä-Kekkonen, E., Sipinen, J. y Söderlund, P. (2025). Family beats school? Adolescents’ turnout intention on different educational tracks. Scandinavian Political Studies, 48(1), e12345. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9477.12265
Kubi, G., Byrd, C. M. y Diemer, M. A. (2022). School ethnic-racial socialization and critical action among Black youth. Frontiers in Education, 7, 924930. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.924930
Kudrnáč, A., Bohman, A. y Hjerm, M. (2026). The Role of Siblings and Family Environment in the Development of Anti-immigrant Attitudes in Adolescence. J Child Fam Stud, 35, 15-34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-025-03196-8
Li, J. C. M., Zhang, S. Y., Sun, I. Y. y Ho, A. S. K. (2024). Police legitimacy and procedural justice for children and youth: A scoping review of definitions, determinants, and consequences. Frontiers in Sociology, 9, 1409080. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1409080
Martin, N. S., Scott, R. y Kappe, R. (2025). School subject choices in adolescence affect political party support. West European Politics, 49(3), 697-725.
Maurissen, L. y Claes, E. (2023). Understanding online political engagement among young adolescents in 21 countries. Pensamiento Educativo: Revista de Investigación Educacional Latinoamericana, 60(2), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.7764/pel.60.2.2023.7
Murillo, F. (1963). La participación y las nuevas formas de organización política. Revista de Estudios Políticos, 129, 157-176.
Novo, A. y Lozano-Cabedo, C. (2021). La dimensión política de la alimentación. ¿Consumidores, activistas o ciudadanos? En C. Díaz-Méndez e I. García-Espejo (Coords.), El descontento con la alimentación. Los problemas del consumo alimentario en las sociedades contemporáneas (pp. 71-84). Ediciones Trea.
Paz-Rebollo, M. A., Feijoo, B. y Rivera-Guerrero, A. (2026). Political polarization, political hate speech and social media: The experience of Spanish teenagers. Young. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/11033088251414549
Sanmartín Ortí, A., Kuric Kardelis, S., Orgaz, C. y Blanco Campos, M. (2025). El impacto de las TRIC en la convivencia en las familias andaluzas: desafíos y oportunidades. Revista CENTRA de Ciencias Sociales, 4(1), 59-81. https://doi.org/10.54790/rccs.96
Schwarzenthal, M., Juang, L. P., Moffitt, U. y Schachner, M. K. (2022). Critical consciousness socialization at school: Classroom climate, perceived societal Islamophobia, and critical action among adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 32(4), 1452-1469. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12713
Sobczyk, R., García de Diego, J. M. y Barros Rodríguez, F. (2022). Protagonistas de su participación política: formas actuales de participación convencional, no convencional y activismo online de la juventud en Europa. Revista Internacional de Pensamiento Político, 17, 201-230.
Sun, L. N. (2023). Agency in growing up in troubled times: Re-presenting the Chinese Cultural Revolution in contemporary international youth literature. Neohelicon, 50(1), 363-382. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-023-00685-1
Sun, R. y Janmaat, J. G. (2025). The lasting influence of an open climate of classroom discussion on political trust: Results from a seven-year panel study among English youth. British Educational Research Journal, 51(2), 629-645. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4091
Tamariz, M., Walker, B., Bennett, M., Segovia-Martin, J. y Fay, N. (2026). Cultural transmission of attitudes and behaviours from parents, peers and grandparents. PLOS ONE, 21(1), e0341433. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0341433
Weiss, J. (2023). Intergenerational transmission of left-right ideology: A question of gender and parenting style? Frontiers in Political Science, 5, 1085002. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2023.1085002
Wiseman, A. (2025). How does formal mass education influence the political socialization of youth into national, supranational, or global citizens? En Research Handbook on Education and Democracy (pp. 273-299). Edward Elgar. 10.4337/9781803928111.00024.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 María Dolores Martín-Lagos López
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
