Trust in Government-Related Institutions and Civic Engagement among Adolescents: Analysis of Five Countries from the IEA Civic Education Study. CIRCLE Working Paper 17.

The purpose of this paper is to examine different facets of trust in the political system or civic realm and how they are correlated to the expected civic or political engagement of young people. The nature and effects of trust in social and political institutions have been studied in adults, distinguishing between various types of trust (in institutions compared with more generalized trust in people). Few studies have focused on how trust affects the political socialization of children and adolescents, who are in the process of developing their attitudes towards government and other social institutions. Our analysis uses data collected in 1999 from the IEA Civic Education Study of 14-year-olds to examine trust at three levels—trust in institutions with which individuals have little or no daily contact (those delegated as representatives in institutions such as the national legislature), trust in institutions with whose representatives individuals interact frequently (schools), and trust in other people. First in this analysis, levels of these three types of trust are compared in five democracies whose levels of political stability vary (Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, England and the United States). Second, correlates of individuals’ levels of trust (including school climate and experiences with family) are examined. Third, trust, civic knowledge, school experiences, and family variables are used to predict levels of three types of civic or political engagement (voting, conventional political participation that goes beyond voting, and community participation). Levels of trust relate to the stability of democracy in the countries examined and to participation, suggesting a “threshold” of trustworthiness which a political system needs to establish in order to foster civic and political participation in young people. Additionally, different types of civic engagement are influenced differentially by trust and by other aspects of experience in schools. Civic knowledge is a predictor of the expectation of voting (and obtaining information about candidates), but it is not related to the expectation of civic participation in the community (through volunteering or collecting for charity). Service learning experiences show small positive effects on expectations of voting and larger effects on expectations of civic participation in the community (especially in the United States). Additional funding support from the German Science Foundation (DFG), William T. Grant Foundation and the University of Maryland (Department of Human Development and the Graduate School) is gratefully acknowledged. The collaboration of Jo-Ann Amadeo and Celeste Lay in these analyses is gratefully acknowledged. An outline of the preliminary steps in developing the ideas found in this paper and associated presentations and publications is found in Appendix A. Beginning in mid-2004 (with funding from CIRCLE) the CEDARS Center (standing for Civic Education Data and Researcher Services) in the Department of Human Development at the University of Maryland will provide facilitated access to the IEA Civic Education Study’s Database so that others may explore questions related to this or other areas.