Journal of Youth and Adolescence

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01581-w

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

Adolescents’ Political Socialization at School, Citizenship

Self-efficacy, and Expected Electoral Participation
Eunjung Myoung1 Pey-Yan Liou
●
1

Received: 18 January 2022 / Accepted: 21 January 2022

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022

Abstract
Adolescents’ political socialization is crucial for their future political participation. Little research has examined this
relationship and the importance of citizenship self-efficacy in an Asian context. This study focused on the effectiveness of
Korean adolescents’ political socialization and self-efficacy on their expected electoral participation. Data from Korean 8th
graders participating in the 2016 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study were examined (N = 2601; Mage =
14.02; 46% female). Political socialization included open classroom discussion, active learning strategies, and formal
citizenship education. The result showed that citizenship self-efficacy is the most important predictor for Korean
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adolescents’ future engagement, but open classroom discussion is not significant. It indicates that citizenship education needs
to consider countries’ social and cultural contexts.
Keywords Political socialization Citizenship self-efficacy Expected electoral participation Korean adolescents ICCS
● ● ● ●

Introduction (e.g., Deimel et al., 2020; Manganelli et al., 2015). How-

Political socialization at school nurtures adolescents to
understand the political system governing their society and
to hone skills to adjust to it. By participating in various
activities at school, adolescents learn how to adapt to
society and make judgments in situations that they might
encounter in society (Kennedy & Lijuan, 2016). Adoles-
cents who are in the stage of exploration undergo a devel-
opmental process that includes identity formation, goal
setting, and gaining agentic belief in themselves. This
agentic belief encourages individuals to strive toward
future-oriented goals and to make more active decisions.
Among behavioral decisions, political participation has long
been regarded as an essential element in democratic socie-
ties. In democratic societies, therefore, it is crucial to
enhance the participation of citizens and encourage them to
become active agents. Adolescents’ political socialization at
school and their citizenship self-efficacy have shown posi-
tive associations with their expected electoral participation
* Pey-Yan Liou
pyliou@korea.ac.kr
1
Department of Education, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro,
Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, South Korea
ever, the overall connection between education in school,
individual self-efficacy, and behavioral intention has been
examined primarily among European countries. Fewer stu-
dies have focused on the Asian context to investigate how
different forms of learning opportunities serve as determi-
nants for predicting adolescents’ expected civic involve-
ment. To fill this research gap, this study sought to
investigate the relationship between adolescents’ political
socialization experiences at school and their expectations
for participation in elections, with a focus on Korean ado-
lescents. The current study also aimed to confirm the effect
of adolescents’ citizenship self-efficacy aligning with three
dimensions of learning opportunities at school on their
expected electoral participation.
Importance of Electoral Participation in Democratic
Societies
Obtaining information about candidates and participating in
elections are considered important civic activities along
other types of civic engagement in democratic societies
(Feitosa, 2020). As a minimum definition, a democracy
requires “a regime in which some governmental offices are
filled as a consequence of contested elections” (Alvarez
et al., 1996, p. 4). A democratic regime at least must
regularly hold competitive and irreversible elections.

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Moreover, the chief executive office and the seats in the
effective legislative body are regularly elected through these
contested elections. Therefore, considering the minimal
definition, voting is the most fundamental and accessible
political participation that citizens can perform in a demo-
cratic society.
As adolescents are not legally entitled to vote in most
elections, assessing the actual voting behavior of adoles-
cents is implausible. However, research has suggested that
adolescents’ political engagement is highly correlated with
their actual political engagement when they reach adulthood
(Chan et al., 2014). Since adolescents have little opportunity
to participate in actual political activities, studies have
examined their expectations for participating in activities
such as voting, protests, or social movements (e.g., Torney-
Purta et al., 2007; Zhu et al., 2018). Individuals’ attitudes
toward political engagement and willingness to participate
in politics become stable during the adolescent years
(Eckstein et al., 2012). Longitudinal studies also support
that adolescents’ civic engagements in school are positively
associated with their actual engagement when they become
adults (Jennings & Stoker, 2004). In particular, research
indicates that adolescents’ intentions to vote are an ante-
cedent of their actual voting behavior; nevertheless, it is
impossible to evaluate their actual voting behavior since
they are not yet qualified to vote (Granberg & Holmberg,
1990). Adolescents frequently learn about and experience
elections within schools. For example, when adolescents in
a classroom have something to decide, they frequently
participate in a decision-making process similar to elections
and follow the decision made by the majority. In most
democratic societies, adolescents could experience becom-
ing a candidate for class president or voting for a favorable
candidate for such a position (Saha & Print, 2010). Given
that experiences of school activities are positively asso-
ciated with adolescents’ future political engagement, their
willingness to participate in future elections would be pre-
dictable in the adolescent years.
Despite the importance of elections, voter turnout has
decreased in several advanced democracies (Gray & Caul,
2000). Declining electoral participation serves as a warning
that citizens are not interested in politics and are disengaged
from the community. This declining participation in elec-
tions is particularly distinctive in younger cohorts (Field-
house et al., 2007). It indicates that the government may not
be sufficiently viewed as reflecting actual citizens’ pre-
ferences, and such a decline could threaten the democratic
consolidation (Schedler, 1998). Research has started to
investigate the factors that explain the decline in citizens’
electoral participation to help increase voter turnouts
(Bowler & Donovan, 2013).
In Korea, particularly, voter turnout has continually
decreased since the presidential election of 2007 (Kim, 2008).
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Journal of Youth and Adolescence
To increase voter turnout, Korea changed its election law in
2019 to lower the voting age from 19 to 18, which increased
voter participation (Korean Law Translation Center, 2021).
Prior to 2019, Korea was the only country that kept the age
of voting as 19 among 36 Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development countries (OECD, 2016).
Increasing the voting population by lowering the voting age
is based on the expectation that elected officials could do
more to attend to the needs of all generations (Glasford,
2008). Based on the 2019 Korean amendment, about
500,000 adolescents voted in the 2020 governmental offi-
cial elections—about 50,000 of whom were in high school.
Besides the importance of representing larger segments of
the population, whether adolescents are prepared to perform
as civic actors has been debated (Hart & Atkins, 2011). No
empirical studies have been conducted on Korean adoles-
cents’ expected electoral participation.
Conceptualization of Political Socialization at School
and Its Relationship to Expected Electoral
Participation
Political socialization at school is a complex phenomenon.
Scholars have discussed the impact of the school environ-
ment on adolescents’ political participation through formal
citizenship learning in regular courses (Torney-Purta et al.,
2007), their participation in extracurricular activities (Hart
et al., 2007), their relationships with their teachers (Sam-
permans et al., 2018), and the openness of the classroom
climate (Campbell, 2008). Political socialization can be
shaped by both formal and informal learning experiences
(Reichert & Print, 2018). Formal citizenship learning con-
nects to teaching cognitive knowledge, such as the defini-
tion of democracy or voting methods. Meanwhile, students
experience informal citizenship socialization through
extracurricular activities such as participating in school
parliaments or arguments and collaborations with peers
during class. Considering the interaction between formal
and informal citizenship learning, scholars have investi-
gated citizenship education using three concepts, namely,
adolescents’ perception of the classroom climate, their
participation in school activities, and civic courses studied
at school (e.g., Deimel et al., 2020; Feitosa, 2020; Maur-
issen, 2020). This makes it important to incorporate political
socialization at school with these three dimensions.
First, an open classroom climate encourages adolescents
to freely participate and express their opinions in a sup-
portive environment (Ichilov, 2003). A liberal environment
is where controversial issues can be discussed considering
individuals’ different opinions and is regarded as a core
element of learning about democracy at school. Adolescents
in an open classroom climate value opportunities for dis-
cussion during regular class and learn to respect different
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
viewpoints (McAvoy & Hess, 2013). A positive relation-
ship between an open classroom climate and adolescents’
expected future engagement has been reported (Knowles
et al., 2018). Second, active learning strategies offer ado-
lescents opportunities to engage with extracurricular activ-
ities during their school life. Joining school councils or
participating in volunteering provides adolescents with
hands-on practice (Homana, 2018). Such practical experi-
ences play important roles in their lives and in the persis-
tence of such behaviors in the future (McFarland &
Thomas, 2006). The positive effects of engagement in
school-based civic activities on their actual participation
have also been verified with longitudinal data (Keating &
Janmaat, 2016). Meanwhile, formal citizenship education
enhances adolescents’ civic knowledge through a structured
curriculum. By learning the norms and principles that
govern a society through a formal school curriculum, ado-
lescents gain basic knowledge and political competence. To
enhance adolescents’ actual performance in political parti-
cipation (e.g., voting during elections), they must be sup-
plied with sufficient base knowledge before they engage in
such activities (Dudley & Gitelson, 2002).
Among the three dimensions, open classroom discussion
has been more frequently discussed as the important pre-
dictor for adolescents’ behavioral intentions as well as
cognitive understanding of democracy. Adolescents’ civic
knowledge (Castillo et al., 2015), attitudes toward equal
rights (Torney-Purta et al., 2007), and expected civic
engagement (Maurissen, 2020) were adequately explained
by adolescents’ perception of the classroom climate. In
particular, adolescents’ perception of classroom openness
was indicated as a positive predictor of their future electoral
participation in European countries (e.g., Deimel et al.,
2020; Hooghe & Dassonneville, 2013). Therefore, this
makes it important to focus on the effectiveness of an open
classroom climate in predicting adolescents’ expected
electoral participation together with active learning strate-
gies and formal citizenship education.
Considering the three dimensions of political socializa-
tion in the Korean educational system, formal citizenship
education is held in lower and higher secondary education
curricula, but it is not a mandatory subject. It is rather part
of the school’s cross-curricular objectives that basic
knowledge and political principles are taught in various
subjects. Civic education currently has been implemented in
higher secondary education curricula as an elective course
and has not yet been implemented in lower secondary
education. Related to the Korean classroom climate,
achieving high scores in cognitive examinations has been
considered an important element of school learning (Kwon
et al., 2017). Therefore, fewer discussions have been held
regarding whether classrooms provide adolescents with
sufficient experiences to develop their knowledge and skills
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to vote as citizens. Korean schools have been embedded in a
general social atmosphere that emphasizes teachers’ roles
and authority (Chae, 2018). Accordingly, compared with
other European countries, the positive effects of open
classroom discussion for Korean adolescents are expected
to be weaker. Moreover, within a relatively hierarchical
atmosphere and the strong emphasis on adolescents’ aca-
demic achievements, participation in school activities in
Korea is relatively moderate compared with that of other
countries.
Crucial Role of Citizenship Self-Efficacy on Electoral
Participation
Self-efficacy, one’s perceived capabilities to learn or per-
form actions at a designated level, is one of the key moti-
vations which facilitate individual behavior. Self-efficacy
affects choice of activities, effort, and persistence of beha-
vior (Schunk & Pajares, 2009). The development of ado-
lescents’ agentic beliefs largely impacts their willingness to
act later in life (Bandura, 1997). Adolescents’ self-efficacy
should be a robust predictor of their behavior. Electoral
participation is also one of the activities in a democratic
society where citizens choose to participate or not. If citi-
zens lack a sufficient belief or competence that they can
make a difference through their actions, they will tend to not
participate in political activities. Citizenship self-efficacy, a
domain-specific motivation process, represents one’s con-
viction regarding the political ability to exercise actions
required to deal with certain situations and produce desired
outcomes in specific political systems (Schulz et al., 2018).
Rather than asking students’ general capacity to act politi-
cally, citizenship self-efficacy represents adolescents’ self-
confidence in undertaking specific political tasks.
As mentioned in a previous section, adolescents’
experiences at school are expected to have positive rela-
tionships with their future behavioral intentions. However,
social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) posits that humans’
thoughts and actions are not just the sum of experiences.
Instead, humans have cognitive processes of forming
expectations to make the future predictable. Having a strong
sense of citizenship self-efficacy promotes individuals’
active political involvement (Knowles & McCafferty-
Wright, 2015). Therefore, to explain future political parti-
cipation of adolescents in particular, not only learning or
experiences at school but also citizenship self-efficacy and
perceived competency in political domains should be
examined as possible influential antecedents. Previous
research has shown that citizenship self-efficacy has a sig-
nificant positive relationship with adolescents’ future poli-
tical participation (Reichert & Print, 2018).
Self-efficacy among Korean adolescents usually has been
examined in academic settings; the concept represents the

learner’s subjective confidence to perform at a designated
level for academic tasks (Schunk, 1991). Several cross-
cultural studies generally have found that Korean adoles-
cents tend to show lower academic self-efficacy compared
to other Western countries despite Korean adolescents’
superior performance (e.g., Ahn et al., 2016; Lee, 2009).
Few studies have focused on Korean adolescents’ self-
efficacy outside of academic domains. Moreover, the con-
nection between adolescents’ citizenship self-efficacy and
their political participation has been primarily investigated
in Western countries (e.g., Manganelli et al., 2015; Maur-
issen, 2020). Not only examining the role of schools in
shaping adolescents’ political socialization but also focus-
ing on Korean adolescents’ citizenship self-efficacy for
anticipating their electoral participation is crucial.
Current Study
For a better understanding of Korean adolescents’ expected
electoral participation that facilitates their actual political
action in a democratic society, this study examined the role
of adolescents’ experience of political socialization at
school and their citizenship self-efficacy in expected elec-
toral participation. Recent change in Korea’s policy that
lowered the voting age from 19 to 18 necessitated an ana-
lysis of adolescents’ expected behavior and the antecedents
of that behavior to predict their actual participation. Aligned
with previous research conducted in Western contexts, it is
expected that political socialization at school and citizen-
ship self-efficacy will be positively related to adolescents’
expected electoral participation in the Korean context. As
one dimension of political socialization at school, open
classroom discussion is expected to be positively associated
with adolescents’ expected electoral participation (Hypoth-
esis 1). Another dimension, active learning strategies, is
supposed to have positive association (Hypothesis 2). As
the last dimension, formal citizenship education is also
expected to have positive effectiveness on expected elec-
toral participation (Hypothesis 3). Lastly, citizenship self-
efficacy is expected to have positive relationship with
expected electoral participation (Hypothesis 4).
Methods
Samples
This study used data from the Korean sample of the Inter-
national Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS)
2016 database. ICCS coordinated by International Asso-
ciation for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement
(IEA) aims to assess the extent to which teenagers from
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Journal of Youth and Adolescence
each country are able to enact their roles as citizens. The
target population of the ICCS consists of all students
enrolled in the eighth year of schooling. The database
includes a sample of 24 countries and measures eighth
graders’ political knowledge, attitudes, civic engagement at
school, and future behavioral intentions. The study focused
on the Korean sample from the IEA ICCS 2016 database
because civic engagement at school and adolescents’ future
behavioral intentions has special relevance in the current
Korean context. Schools were sampled with a probability
proportional to their size, and one class in each school was
randomly selected for participation (Schulz et al., 2018).
The resulting sample included a total of 2601 students from
93 Korean schools. The total student participation rate was
98%. The average age of the participants was 14.02 years
(SD = 0.3), and 54% of participating students were male
(n = 1414).
Measures
A total of eight variables were included in the analyses.
Three types of political socialization at schools and citi-
zenship self-efficacy comprise the four predictors.
Expected electoral participation is the outcome variable.
Gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and political interest
were included as covariates. All the variables in the study
were derived from the ICCS student questionnaire. All
scale indices were derived through scaling developed by
IEA. Utilizing Item Response Theory (IRT) scaling
methodology, Weighted Likelihood Estimates (WLE)
scores were calculated using a mean of 50 and a standard
deviation of 10 to equally weight the 24 participating
countries (Schulz et al., 2018).
Political socialization at school was measured using 19
items from the ICCS student questionnaire. Open classroom
discussion, active learning strategies, and formal citizenship
education were the three dimensions of political socializa-
tion at school, which were defaulted in the ICCS frame-
work. Open classroom discussion was composed of six
items that ask how often teachers encourage students to
make up their own minds, express their opinions, and dis-
cuss issues with people having different opinions, and how
often adolescents bring up current political events for dis-
cussion in class, express opinions in class when their opi-
nions are different from other students, and how often
teachers present several sides of the issues. Response
choices were presented in a 4-point Likert-type scale (1 =
never, 4 = often), with higher values indicating greater
frequency. Active learning strategies was measured by six
items asking whether adolescents have experienced active
participation in an organized debate, voted for class repre-
sentative or school parliament, took part in decision-making
about how the school is run, participated in discussion at a
Journal of Youth and Adolescence

Table 1 Exploratory factor

analysis for the political
socialization at school items
Item Factor loading
Factor 1: Open classroom discussion
Teachers encourage students to make up their own minds. 0.78 0.24 0.26
Teachers encourage students to express their opinions. 0.76 0.24 0.26
Students bring up current political events for discussion in class. 0.72 0.14 0.23
Students express opinions in class even when their opinions are different from most of 0.78 0.28 0.26
the other students.
Teachers encourage students to discuss the issues with people having different opinions. 0.81 0.20 0.26
Teachers present several sides of the issues when explaining them in class. 0.82 0.22 0.29
Factor 2: Active learning strategies
Active participation in an organized debate 0.23 0.68 0.22
Voting for <class representative> or <school parliament> 0.14 0.55 0.20
Taking part in decision-making about how the school is run 0.24 0.80 0.26
Taking part in discussions at a <student assembly> 0.19 0.76 0.19
Becoming a candidate for <class representative> or <school parliament> 0.17 0.66 0.17
Participating in an activity to make the school more <environmentally friendly > (e.g., 0.21 0.56 0.18
through water-saving or recycling)
Factor 3: Formal citizenship education
How citizens can vote in local or national elections 0.24 0.23 0.74
How laws are introduced and changed in <country of test> 0.24 0.22 0.75
How to protect the environment (e.g., through energy-saving or recycling) 0.17 0.22 0.53
How to contribute to solving problems in the <local community> 0.27 0.27 0.81
How citizen rights are protected in <country of test> 0.26 0.22 0.83
Political issues and events in other countries 0.31 0.24 0.74
How the economy works 0.27 0.19 0.75
Note: The bold values represented the factor loading of selected variables.

student assembly, became a candidate for class representa-
tive or school parliament, or participated in an activity to
make the school more environmentally friendly. Responses
were rated on a 3-point Likert-type scale (1 = No, I have
never done this and 3 = Yes, I have done this within the last
twelve months). Lastly, formal citizenship education was
measured with seven items that asked to what extent ado-
lescents have learned about how citizens can vote in local or
national elections, how laws are introduced and changed,
how citizen rights are protected in the country of the test,
how the economy works, efforts to protect the environment,
approaches to solving problems in the local community, and
political issues and events in other countries. Response
choices indicated the extent of learning on a 4-point Likert-
type scale (1 = not at all, and 4 = to a large extent).
The three dimensions and corresponding items described
above are considered a good fit for the dataset composed of
24 countries (Schulz et al., 2018). Previous studies utilized
those three dimensions to indicate the political socialization
at school with adolescents’ future political engagement in
European countries (e.g., Manganelli et al., 2015; Maur-
issen, 2020). However, whether this international pattern fits
the Korean setting needs further investigation. Prior to
conducting the major statistical analyses, the factor structure
of the forms of political socialization at school of the ICCS
2016 Korean data was examined. Thus, exploratory factor
analysis (EFA) was conducted on the 19 items using only
Korean data considering the design effect. The factors that
emerged based on EFA could be considered as indicative of
the types of political socialization in the Korean context. The
empirical results indicated that the Korean pattern is iden-
tical to the international pattern. The factor loadings of each
item on the three factors are shown in Table 1. Cronbach’s
alphas for the three variables are 0.90, 0.83, and 0.89.
Citizenship self-efficacy measured adolescents’ con-
fidence in their ability to perform various citizenship
participation-related activities inside and outside school.
Seven items measured students’ perceived capability to
perform their citizenship roles. These assessed adolescents’
beliefs about how well they perform discussing a newspaper
article about a conflict between countries, arguing their
point of view about a controversial political or social issue,
running as a candidate in a school election, organizing a
group of students in order to achieve changes at school,
following a television debate about controversial issues,
writing a letter or email to a newspaper expressing their
view on a current issue, and speaking in front of class about
a social or political issue (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.91).

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 Journal of Youth and Adolescence

Table 2 Descriptive statistics

N M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
and correlations
1 Gender 2601 0.46 0.50 –
2 SES 2589 2.84 1.15 −0.00 –
3 Interest 2585 1.50 0.78 −0.01 0.10***
4 OCD 2571 41.63 12.89 −0.03 0.08*** 0.18*** –
5 ALS 2579 52.54 12.29 0.09 ***
0.26 ***
0.20*** 0.25*** –
6 FCE 2578 47.49 11.63 −0.04 0.13*** 0.28*** 0.28*** 0.28*** –
7 CSE 2584 58.72 10.07 −0.04 **
0.15 ***
0.17 ***
0.18 ***
0.28 ***
0.28*** –
8 EEP 2581 50.65 9.19 0.07 ***
0.20 ***
0.24 ***
0.15 ***
0.28 ***
0.27*** 0.35*** –
OCD Open classroom discussion, ALS Active learning strategies, FCE Formal citizenship education,
CSE Citizenship self-efficacy, EEP Expected electoral participation
**p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001

Table 3 Hierarchical regression

Expected electoral participation
analysis of predictors of
expected electoral participation Independent variable M1 M2 M3
(N = 2601)
*** ***
Gender (0, male; 1, female) 0.07 (0.02) 0.06 (0.02) 0.08 (0.02)***
SES 0.13 (0.02)*** 0.11 (0.02)*** 0.10 (0.02)***
*** *** ***
Adolescents’ political interest 0.22 (0.02) 0.15 (0.03) 0.13 (0.03)
Open classroom discussion 0.02 (0.02) 0.01 (0.02)
Active learning strategies 0.19 (0.02)*** 0.14 (0.02)***
Formal citizenship education 0.15 (0.03)*** 0.10 (0.03)***
Citizenship self-efficacy 0.26 (0.03)***
2 *** ***
R 0.09 0.16 0.21***
ΔR 2
0.07 ***
0.06***
All standardized regression coefficients are presented
The number in paratheses represents the standard error
***p < 0.001

Response choices followed a 4-point Likert-type which
represented how well the responder thought they would
perform several listed activities from not at all to very well.
Expected electoral participation measured adolescents’
future behavioral intention particularly related to elections.
It was composed of three items, including the likelihood of
whether adolescents will participate in three activities:
voting in local elections, voting in national elections, and
getting information about candidates before voting in an
election. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.86. Response choices
indicated perception of behavior along a 4-point Likert-type
scale (1 = I would certainly not do this and 4 = I would
certainly do this).
Demographic measures assessed differences between
students: gender, SES, and individual political interest.
Gender was coded as 1 for females and 0 for males. Ado-
lescents with a higher SES have been shown to have
stronger civic attitudes and political participation (Camp-
bell, 2008). However, questioning students about family
income is challenging because 14-years-olds often lack
knowledge of this indicator. Therefore, the number of books
at home, often used as a proxy for SES (Maurissen, 2020),
was included in this study. Finally, to analyze the influence
of political socialization at school, individual political
interest was included as a covariate. Response choices
followed a 4-point Likert-type scale with higher values
representing higher interest.
Data Analytic Strategy
Descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression were con-
ducted by utilizing Mplus 7 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998–
2015). The hierarchical regression was performed through
three models: (1) a null model with covariates that included
demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, SES, and interest);
(2) a second model adding three concepts of political
socialization (i.e., open classroom discussion, active learn-
ing strategies, and formal citizenship education); and (3) a
third model adding adolescents’ citizenship self-efficacy.
This study considered the complex nature of the sampling
design implemented in the ICCS using the TYPE =
COMPLEX syntax in Mplus. To deal with missing data, the
full information maximum likelihood method was imple-
mented; in particular, the robust maximum likelihood

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Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Table 4 Summary of the four
Hypothesis
research hypotheses
H1: Open classroom discussion → Expected electoral participation
H2: Active learning strategies → Expected electoral participation
H3: Formal citizenship education → Expected electoral participation
H4: Citizenship self-efficacy → Expected electoral participation
(MLR) estimator was used for this complex sample. The
percentage of missing data ranged from 0% to 1.17%. In all
results presented, the appropriate sampling weight and
variance estimation procedures were implemented accord-
ing to the recommendations in the ICCS 2016 Users Guide
(Köhler et al., 2018).
Results
Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations are presented
in Table 2. All variables had positive correlations with
expected electoral participation, ranging from 0.07 to 0.35.
Among the main four predictors, open classroom discussion
showed the lowest correlation with expected electoral par-
ticipation (r = 0.15) and the highest correlation was with
citizenship self-efficacy (r = 0.35). The mean of open
classroom discussion is quite low, as expected (M = 41.63,
SD = 12.9), compared to the international average which
was 50. Formal citizenship education average (M = 47.49,
SD = 11.6) was also slightly lower than the international
norm. On the other hand, adolescents’ average score on
citizenship self-efficacy (M = 58.72, SD = 10.1) was higher
than the international average (M = 50, SD = 10). The
average for active learning strategies was also slightly above
the international mean (M = 52.54, SD = 12.3).
The results of hierarchical regression are shown in Table
3. It presents associations between political socialization at
school, citizenship self-efficacy, and expected electoral
participation, controlling for gender, SES, and interest.
The represented coefficients are standardized regression
weights, showing the relatively predictive effect of pre-
dictors on the outcome. The demographic characteristics
and political interest were statistically significant in all three
models. In Model 2, all variables showed a positive rela-
tionship with expected electoral participation except open
classroom discussion, which was not statistically significant
(β = 0.02, p = 0.31). Active learning strategies (β = 0.19,
p < 0.001) and formal citizenship education (β = 0.15, p <
0.001) showed positive associations. In Model 3, citizen-
ship self-efficacy demonstrated a positive and statistically
significant relationship with expected electoral participation
(β = 0.26, p < 0.001). However, open classroom discussion
was still not statistically significant (β = 0.01, p = 0.79).
Considering the standardized regression coefficients,
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Result
Not Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
citizenship self-efficacy showed the highest association with
expected electoral participation compared to active learning
strategies (β = 0.14, p < 0.001) and formal citizenship edu-
cation (β = 0.10, p < 0.001). The findings support that citi-
zenship self-efficacy is positively associated with increased
levels of adolescents’ future behavioral intention, con-
sidering political socialization at school after controlling for
the covariates.
Discussion
Adolescents who are in the transition phase between
childhood and adulthood explore their personal aspirations
and seek to understand the social environments where they
live. Environmental factors surrounding them can help
those explorations and affect their citizenship self-efficacy.
Political socialization at school and citizenship self-efficacy
can shape adolescents’ future political participation, espe-
cially in elections. Such positive relationships among poli-
tical socialization at school with expected electoral
participation have been demonstrated in European contexts,
but no empirical studies with a focus on the Korean context
have been conducted to verify possible generalizations. This
study, therefore, aimed to investigate whether a positive
association exists between adolescents’ learning and
experiences at school and their future electoral intentions.
The study also focused on the effectiveness of citizenship
self-efficacy.
The Korean eighth-grade student data from ICCS
showed that active learning strategies and formal citizenship
education were significantly correlated with expected elec-
toral participation, which confirmed H2 and H3. However,
open classroom discussion did not predict expected elec-
toral participation (H1). Moreover, as the core elements
predicting adolescents’ political behavior, citizenship self-
efficacy was analyzed together with three political sociali-
zation concepts and it highly predicted expected electoral
participation, supporting H4. Summary results for each
hypothesis are presented in Table 4. Basically, the study had
two main findings. First, citizenship self-efficacy plays the
most important role in predicting Korean adolescents’
expected electoral participation. Second, in contrast with
previous research, an open classroom climate did not pre-
dict adolescents’ future behavior in the Korean context.

Significant Roles of Active Learning Strategies and
Formal Citizenship Education
School as a primary socialization agent provides sufficient
formal and informal learning for adolescents. Among three
dimensions of political socialization at school, only active
learning strategies and formal citizenship education showed
significant positive associations with adolescents’ expected
electoral participation while controlling for demographic
characteristics and political interest. As the purpose of the
study was to capture the overall influence of adolescents’
formal and informal learning at school on their expected
electoral participation, the results based on Korean adoles-
cents showed positive relationships. Consistent with pre-
vious research showing positive relationships between
school-based activities such as participation in student
councils and political participation in England (Keating &
Janmaat, 2016), Australia, and the United States (Homana,
2018), Korean adolescents also showed that hands-on
practices are positive predictors for future behavioral
intentions. Furthermore, as getting knowledge about voting
through classroom learning better predicted adolescents’
future voting in 23 out of 28 countries (Maiello et al., 2003),
the results of Korean adolescents also showed positive
relationships between formal citizenship education and
political engagement. Therefore, the results of previous
research can be generalized to Korean contexts.
The results especially indicate that Korean schools
somehow provide a pivotal environment for students to
develop democratic attitudes and behaviors. Learning
democratic norms and laws through regular curricula and
experiencing various school activities provide students with
basic knowledge and hands-on practice for political parti-
cipation. In this educational background, adolescents
showed a greater willingness to participate in elections. This
Korean adolescents’ sample especially showed that active
learning strategies have a stronger positive effect for ado-
lescents to vote when they become adults compared to
formal learning at school. Therefore, it is important for
schools to keep providing sufficient opportunities such as
participation in student government, assembly, or being a
class representative. On the other hand, compared to active
learning strategies, the average score of formal citizenship
education in Korean adolescents is lower than the interna-
tional average. Given this finding, enhancing formal citi-
zenship education in Korean educational curriculum would
be recommended.
Determinant Role of Adolescents’ Citizenship
Self-Efficacy on Expected Electoral Participation
Having confirmed the positive impact of active learning
strategies and formal citizenship education on students’
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
expected electoral participation, the research further shed
light on adolescents’ competence in political activity by
measuring citizenship self-efficacy. Self-efficacy, which
indicates individual perceived capabilities to attain desig-
nated types of performance, is an important concept that can
influence learners’ learning and behavior (Bandura, 1986).
Citizenship self-efficacy specifies individual competence to
undertake certain political tasks. It indicates adolescents’
perceived abilities to successfully conduct activities such as
arguing their point of view about a controversial political
issue or organizing a group of students to achieve changes
at school. This sense of agency encourages individual
affective processes and self-regulation that can exert a large
degree of control over one’s life. The results showed that
citizenship self-efficacy has a positive effect on expected
electoral participation. Moreover, when comparing the
standardized coefficient with other variables for political
socialization, citizenship self-efficacy showed the most
influential relationship with expected electoral participation
in the Korean context.
The results indicate that belief in one’s ability to take
political actions leads adolescents to expect to be involved
in future political engagements. Compared to the interna-
tional average, the mean of citizenship self-efficacy in
Korean adolescents was high and showed strong associa-
tions with future behavioral intentions. Previous research
has shown that self-efficacy of Korean adolescents in
academic domains (Lee, 2009) and career choices (Sovet
& Metz, 2014) was low compared to other countries. On
the other hand, for specific political activities, Korean
adolescents showed more competence and greater sig-
nificant effect on future behavioral intention. The impli-
cation is that Korean schools must focus on enhancing
adolescents’ citizenship self-efficacy as well as political
socialization to encourage their electoral engagement. The
efficacy judgments come from achievement (Williams &
Williams, 2010). Success in certain tasks enables adoles-
cents to gain self-efficacy, and subsequent performance
success strengthens the self-efficacy. If adolescents were
provided more opportunities to argue their opinions on
controversial political issues, serve as candidates in school
elections, and discuss controversial issues between coun-
tries, successful experiences could encourage adolescents’
citizenship self-efficacy. Enhanced citizenship self-
efficacy would be expected to encourage adolescents’
persistence in behavior in the future to take an active role
as citizens in a democratic society.
Reconsidering the importance of open classroom
discussion in the Korean education context
Research has shown that adolescents who perceive their
classrooms as being conducive to discussion are more
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
likely to better understand the political landscape, such as
the political process or the roles of institutions. These
experiences imbue adolescents with democratic character-
istics and foster their disposition toward civic engagement
(Treviño et al., 2017). Particularly in European countries,
adolescents’ perception of an open classroom climate was
identified as a positive predictor of future electoral parti-
cipation (e.g., Deimel et al., 2020; Hooghe & Dassonne-
ville, 2013; Manganelli et al., 2015). The present research
also focused on open classroom discussion as an important
predictor of adolescents’ expected electoral participation.
The results, however, showed that Korean adolescents’
perception of classroom openness was not associated with
their positive expectations toward voting, a departure from
previous findings.
The difference in results for open discussion might be
attributed to cultural differences between Europe and
Asia. Asian society generally has a long Confucian tra-
dition that emphasizes hierarchy and conformism
(Knowles, 2015). It tends to stress duty-based values and
adherence to social norms, which contrasts with Western
societies’ norms that focus on liberty and commu-
nitarianism (Kuang & Kennedy, 2014). The Confucian
tradition is evident in the Korean school climate wherein
teachers’ roles and authority are emphasized relative to
adolescents’ roles as followers of teachers’ norms (Chae,
2018). When teachers were asked to choose the aims of
civic education, most Korean teachers homogeneously
highlighted dutiful school participation and consensus-
building (Reichert & Torney-Purta, 2019). They attested
that knowledge acquisition and conflict resolution skill
development were important purposes of civic and citi-
zenship education as opposed to the promotion of ado-
lescents’ critical and independent thinking. This reflects
Korean teachers’ belief in the importance of social cohe-
sion as the aim of citizenship education. This indicates
that most Korean schools have similar hierarchical and
communal classroom climates and adolescents may feel
less autonomy in the classroom. In fact, the results
showed that the average score on open classroom climate
of the Korean sample was much lower than the interna-
tional average. Also, open classroom discussion has
shown nonsignificant effects on adolescents’ under-
standing of democracy across Asian societies, including
Korea (Kennedy & Kuang, 2021).
The results suggest that adolescents’ perception of the
open classroom climate may not be a good way to pro-
mote political engagement in Asian cultures compared to
other societies where such an environment has been
shown to exert a powerful influence on student engage-
ment. To analyze cultural differences embedded in
classroom discussions, future studies should examine
other causal relations between cultural background and
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
classroom discussions. Based on the current findings, to
encourage Korean adolescents’ future behavioral inten-
tion especially on elections, schools should focus more on
cultivating citizenship self-efficacy and enhancing var-
ious hands-on activities and formal civic learning in the
curriculum.
Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research
This study has a few limitations. First, the adolescents’
expected electoral participation was measured by their
current perceptions of their future behavioral intentions.
Even though such expectations were positively associated
with their actual political participation, their perceptions and
actual behaviors may be mismatched when they reach
adulthood. Hence, longitudinal designs are required to
reveal more sensitive and accurate indicators of the rela-
tionship between adolescents’ experience of political
socialization at school and their actual civic involvement
after they become adults by analyzing their actual partici-
pation. Moreover, according to social cognitive theory
(Bandura, 1986), self-efficacy could be enhanced through
experiences or by modeling others. With longitudinal data,
the causal influence of political socialization at school on
citizenship self-efficacy could be also investigated. The
causal link is difficult to confirm by using contemporary
cross-sectional data.
Second, this study exclusively focused on adolescents’
expected electoral participation and excluded other forms of
political participation. Their expected political engagement
includes both institutionalized and noninstitutionalized
participation: the former includes voting and participating in
campaigns whereas the latter includes taking part in protests
(Marien et al., 2010). While this study focused on part of
adolescents’ institutionalized participation, future research
could examine the effects of political socialization on both
institutionalized and noninstitutionalized participation.
Conclusion
Research has left important gaps in the understanding of
the effectiveness of adolescents’ political socialization at
school and citizenship self-efficacy on their expected
electoral participation in an Asian context. This investiga-
tion examined a nationally representative Korean sample to
evaluate consistency with previous studies which mainly
were conducted in European countries. Based on hier-
archical regression, citizenship self-efficacy was the most
significant antecedent predicting adolescents’ expected
electoral participation. Surprisingly, open classroom dis-
cussion did not emerge as a significant predictor. This may
reflect that while citizenship issues may be universal, the

effectiveness of citizenship education is embedded within
national boundaries. The present results support the notion
that citizenship education focused on fostering students’
ability must first consider their specific societal environ-
ments. Certain political socialization activities at school
that are acknowledged as effective in one country may not
have the same effect in another country. Building a
democratic learning environment in a specific country
requires a deep understanding of its cultural, social, and
political circumstances.
Acknowledgements The first author’s study has been supported by the
Brain Korea 21 of the National Research Foundation of Korea. The
funding sources had no involvement in the study design, collection,
analysis, and interpretation of the data, the writing of this article, or the
decision to submit this report for publication. The authors thank Pro-
fessor Roger Levesque’s dedicated editorship and mentorship for this
manuscript.
Authors’ Contributions E.M. (first author) conceived of, designed, and
coordinated the study, performed the statistical analysis, interpreted the
results, and drafted and revised the manuscript; P.-Y.L. (corresponding
author) supervised the design of the study, statistical analysis of the
data, and interpretation of the results, and critically reviewed and
revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final
manuscript.
Data sharing declaration The data sets analyzed in the current study are
publicly available from https://www.iea.nl/data-tools/repository/iccs.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
Ethical Approval The study was secondary data analysis research using
open data resource from International Association for the Evaluation of
Educational Achievement. The study complied with ethical standards.
Informed Consent The current study used secondary data and, there-
fore, is not applicable for receiving informed consent.
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Eunjung Myoung is currently a graduate student in Department of
Education at Korea University. Her research interests are citizenship
education, adolescents’ motivation for political engagement, and
international large-scale assessments data analysis.
Pey-Yan Liou is an associate professor in Department of Education at
Korea University. Her research agenda has focused on examining the
contribution of multiple motivational constructs to students’
engagement and learning using international large-scale student
assessment datasets.
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