Predictors and correlates of youth political knowledge in Serbia

Abstract

It is considered that political knowledge is one of the most prominent features of democratic citizenship, which makes its analysis especially relevant in a democratising society. This paper explores the predictors and correlates of youth political knowledge in Serbia. Political knowledge was measured by 12 multiple-choice questions pertaining to three areas: everyday politics, the rules of political game and foreign politics. Research participants were 788 fourth-grade students from 25 Belgrade secondary schools. The results show that the level of youth political knowledge is generally low and unevenly distributed among students. Its main predictors are interest in politics, academic achievement, gender and father's interest in politics. Other predictors that are usually regarded as very important (e.g. socioeconomic status, civic education) proved to be non-significant. Although political knowledge is positively correlated with political tolerance, political activism and diffuse political support, the coefficients are very low. The concluding part discusses possible causes of the obtained results. © 2012 by the Serbian Psychological Association.