AI Summary & Key Takeaways
AI InsightThe findings revealed significant differences in political socialization levels according to gender, age, place of residence, employment status, and income level.
📌 3 Key Takeaways
Abstract
This study aims to determine the levels of political socialization among young people in Türkiye and to examine differences in political socialization according to selected sociodemographic characteristics. The research was conducted within the framework of a quantitative research design and included 536 participants aged 15–29 recruited through voluntary online non-probability sampling. Data were collected using the Political Socialization Scale (PSS), which comprises family, friend, and media dimensions. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine the fit of the proposed factor structure in the present sample. To test the research hypotheses, independent-samples t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to examine differences in political socialization levels according to gender, age, place of residence, employment status, and income level. In addition, the Classification and Regression Trees (CART) algorithm was employed to descriptively examine how total political socialization scores were partitioned according to different combinations of the family, friend, and media subdimensions. The findings revealed significant differences in political socialization levels according to gender, age, place of residence, employment status, and income level. The CART analysis showed that the first split in the regression tree occurred according to the friend dimension, followed by subsequent partitions based on the family and media dimensions. These findings describe the classification structure of political socialization scores within the observed sample and should not be interpreted as indicating independent explanatory or causal relationships among the subdimensions. Because the study was based on voluntary online non-probability sampling and a cross-sectional research design, the findings cannot be generalized to the entire young population of Türkiye, nor do they permit causal inferences. Within these limitations, the study provides descriptive findings on political socialization levels among young people in Türkiye, differences according to selected sociodemographic characteristics, and the multidimensional structure of political socialization as reflected in the family, friend, and media dimensions.