Who (will) steer democracy? Examining accumulated stratification in the development of adolescents’ political self-efficacy

While democracy is meant for all, not all citizens feel equally confident to participate in it. This sense of confidence, often referred to as political self-efficacy (Craig et al., 1990), is important since it can boost citizens’ likelihood to engage with democracy, e.g. via electoral participation (Kahne & Westheimer, 2006; Maurissen, 2020; Schulz et al., 2018). This means inequalities in political self-efficacy may relate directly to inequalities in political participation. Some research suggests that the disparities in political self-efficacy are already visible during adolescence, before individuals formally take part in democracy (e.g., Arens & Watermann, 2017; Maurissen, 2020). During this period, self-efficacy can be gained not only by personal experiences, but also by looking at experiences of others (e.g., political role models) who resemble one’s self in terms of sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., vicarious experiences, Usher & Pajares, 2008). Given stark differences in political participation across sociodemographic groups, it would therefore not be surprising that political self-efficacy among adolescents differs as a function of one’s sociodemographic characteristics. The aim of this study is to empirically examine the relevance of several sociodemographic characteristics for the development of political self-efficacy, and to what extent they mirror already existing sociodemographic inequalities in political participation and representation among adult citizens. We adopt a complex lens to research these inequalities, taking into account that they can overlap and accumulate over time (McCall, 2005): we examine whether such accumulation of different sociodemographic inequalities occur among adolescents in terms of their political self-efficacy and whether these inequalities mirror patterns among adult citizens. We focus on the Netherlands, which is often considered a relatively egalitarian country, yet with strong social stratification in terms of political office holding (Bovens & Wille, 2011; Schakel, 2020). We use data from the Dutch Adolescent Panel on Democratic Values (DAPDV), a representative panel study among adolescents in the Netherlands from age 12 to 16. Results of latent growth curve modelling show gaps in adolescents’ political self-efficacy as a function of their gender, socioeconomic background and education attainment, and to some extent their migration background. We discuss to what extent these patterns support the proposed mechanism of vicarious experiences, and what this implies in terms of boosting adolescents’ political self-efficacy and equal political participation and representation.