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Emel Altın & Murat Kasımoğlu
Table 3: Political Participation of Youth: Education Field-Gender -Membership-Age
Active Civil
Participation Motivation Communication
Channels
Personal
Characteristics
Education
Field
Equal
weighted
2.881
3.392
2.855
2.980
Quantitative
2.638
3.246
2.633
2.745
Gender
Female
2.183
2.959
2.385
2.489
Male
3.407
3.760
3.157
3.316
Membership Having no
membership
2.416
2.976
2.405
2.570
Have a
membership
3.492
4.054
3.426
3.498
Age Range 14-15
1.825
2.287
1.981
2.061
16-17
2.725
3.326
2.646
2.753
18-19
3.463
4.038
3.400
3.594
When the political participations of young people were evaluated according to the educa-
tion fields, it was seen that the young people who were educated on the ‘equal weighted
field’ their political participation because of taking Democracy and Human Rights course
showed higher than the young people who were educated on the ‘mathematics and sci-
ence field’. When the political participation of young people was compared according to
their sex, it was seen that the tendency of boys to political participation is higher than that
of girls. The membership of young people to organizations engaged in activities related
to youth seemed to increase their tendency to political participation. It was observed that
the tendency of political participation of young people aged between 14 and 15 years
was low and the tendency of political participation increased as young people grew older.
3. Discussion and Suggestions
The results of the study are basically parallel to the literature in terms of many dimensions.
First, although youth education policies and strategies are crucial, it seems that young
people do not make the desired contribution towards participation and pro-activeness. In
particular, there is a need to develop educational content in a framework that promotes
the development and leadership characteristics of young people. Secondly, in particular,
girls need to be supported in this framework and a training regarding their accession pro-
cess. It is necessary that young people are supported by civil society organizations that
develop humanistic and social responsibility awareness for the public and make it a part of
