Political science

Teens more interested in politics than previously thought

When Montreal teens are asked to evaluate their interest in politics on a scale of 1 to 10, many give a figure of 6 or higher. “That was already surprising, I thought. Kids are less apathetic than we tend to think based on our prejudice,” says Eugénie Dostie-Goulet, who is currently writing a Ph.D. thesis on teens and politics in the Department of Political science at the Université de Montréal.

As part of her research, Dostie-Goulet, 26, conducted a broad-based study of 760 Secondary Three (Grade 9) students to gauge their opinions on political events. Their responses were astonishing. “Kids have enlightened opinions on many topics related to national and international politics,” she says. “They’re also highly critical. Lying, corruption and false promises are what they detest the most about politicians.”

The originality of this study is that it covers a period of several years so that we can see how the kids’ relationship with politics changes. “There is very little scientific literature on the subject, and what there is goes back to the 1970s,” says the researcher. “At the time, researchers mainly studied parental influence on children’s electoral attitudes. Our research is different. The point is to survey kids’ attitudes and opinions for what they are and to follow them over a number of years.”

The teens in the survey were 14 and 15 at the time of the initial meeting. They will be asked more questions when they are in Secondary 4 and 5 (Grade 10 and 11). Then they’ll have the right to vote, which is where Dostie-Goulet’s research could prove to be extremely useful. “Fewer than one-quarter of 18-year-olds vote,” she explains. “We would like to learn more about why so many don’t bother.” The phenomenon of young people sitting at home on voting day is of great concern to political scientists. According to a study conducted by  Jon Pammett and Lawrence LeDuc in 2000, 38.2% of Canadian voters who were 18 in 1993 exercised their right to vote in the federal election of 2000. Only 27.5% of those who attained the age of majority in 1997 went to vote, and only 22.4% of those who were eligible to vote for the first time in 2000 did so. Why did they abstain if they showed an interest in politics earlier in their teens, as Dostie-Goulet’s research tends to show? “For now, we have no answer.  And I like questions without a pat answer,” she says with a smile.

Under the supervision of André Blais, a professor who specializes in analyzing voting behaviour, Dostie-Goulet will pursue her research over the next three years. Although it is much too soon to draw any conclusions, she does venture the hypothesis that there are myths surrounding young people’s involvement in public life. “I have a feeling that teens are more politicized than we think,” she says. “This research project may enable us to learn more.” This is an important issue to study, since voting habits are formed early in life. Researchers discovered in the 1990s that voting is a habit that’s formed young. So it’s essential to understand the difference between young people who don’t bother to exercise the right to vote and those who head for the polls as soon as they qualify.

When it comes to involvement, Dostie-Goulet is a true role model. The president of the political science graduate students’ association at the Université de Montréal, she has always considered her own political activities a priority. In 2001 and 2002, for example, while she was a student at the Université de Sherbrooke, she hosted a program called Politique en direct at station CFLX 95.5. She also attended a mock United Nations session and in 2005, attended a summer program in political psychology at Stanford University.