2008-2016

1. Aim of the program and any changes in that objective during the period of activity
The program originated from eight theoretically defined challenges facing research into political socialization, and is formulated based on developmental psychology, media and communication studies, and political science. It was on this multidisciplinary basis that we sought to develop the concepts and measurements that would be used to build up an internationally unique longitudinal database.
That objective has now been achieved for all essential purposes. The database is in place. It maintains an extremely high quality as a consequence of our comprehensive and rigorous efforts over eight years of work. We have performed analyses that contribute in various ways to new knowledge related to those eight challenges in numerous studies spanning multiple academic disciplines. Our research has, through studies published in leading international journals, had an impact on a number of ongoing discussions of how citizenship and civil involvement develop in young people over time.

2. The program's most important results and related discussion
In one sense, the database that we have developed undoubtedly constitutes our primary result. It is being noted and utilized more and more by outside researchers. It is considered to be unique from an international perspective for several reasons: a) it was developed on a multidisciplinary theoretical basis and encompasses unusually rich variation in terms of issues of vital importance for political socialization; b) it contains five cohorts covering an age range extending from 13 to 30; c) the respondents were followed over six years; d) peers and parents are included; e) the response rate was unusually high.
With regard to the most important results from a content standpoint, we would focus on several that are linked in various ways to the aforementioned theoretical starting points:
a) Conceptualizing young people as active agents
In contrast to traditional political socialization research, we have shown that young people are active - through self-initiated activities and communication at home, school and online - and that they drive their own political development to a significant extent.
b) Integrating various contexts of daily life
Our studies have made important contributions to research into the importance of communication and political discourse to the development of democratic values, citizen identities, and political participation, based on studies of communication in various contexts - that is, family, school, among peers, and in various media. For example, our studies show that conversations within peer groups have a strong independent impact on political socialization.
c) Taking changes in media and communication technology seriously
The richness of the database in terms of different types of media use has made it possible to contribute to key discussions in relevant research, such as that news consumption increases political participation among young people, particularly through positive effects on both offline and online discussions. In addition, the Internet and social media are creating new opportunities for expressive, creative and network-based activities that promote more action-oriented political participation; these activities, however, complement rather than replace traditional forms, and tend to intensify rather than modify the differences between those who participate and those who do not. Furthermore, Internet-based platforms are creating, in some respects, lower thresholds for political involvement, but the proportion of those young people who are active in social media and who also participate in political activities online is still very small.
d) Understanding political participation in a broad sense
Many studies have demonstrated the explanatory power of political interest. One of our most cited articles to date has laid the groundwork for the creation of a new typology for various forms of political participation, ranging from the most radical (and uncommon) anti-political behavior to the most conventional (and common) election participation. Consistent with the logic of our typology, we have argued that even what appears to be political passivity may be viewed as potential political participation. Many youths are in what we have termed "standby mode"; that is, they report strong political interest without being constantly participatory.
e) Adopting a longitudinal perspective
The access to longitudinal data in connection with the preceding point has made it possible for us to see how participation varies and evolves over time, thereby making an important contribution to research on political participation. The longitudinal analyses have also made it possible to draw conclusions concerning causal effects in the conducted studies, on the strength of a significantly better empirical base.
f) Focusing on mechanisms and processes rather than just correlations
During their development from adolescence to adulthood, young people are influenced by media and by communication with others. We asked young people of various ages whether they had been involved in events that had increased their social interest. We were able to show that such events do, in fact, lead to increased political interest over time. We were surprised to find that many of these events were "negative", in the sense that they described social phenomena that are perceived as threatening. Nevertheless, they served as eye-openers for those young people. In light of the program's focus on agency among young people, we have shown that those who had experienced such eye-opening events had distinguished themselves from other young people several years previously. They were more politically interested, initiated political discussions with others, and believed themselves to possess strong political competence. They were "prepared" several years earlier to be aware of events that increased their social interest.
g) Differentiating between general socialization and specifically political socialization
In one ongoing study we refer back to and place considerable emphasis on the preconception that political socialization should primarily constitute one dimension of the general maturation process that occurs during the teenage years. We show that it is not a favorable general family climate involving open discussions of various issues that is of importance in the development of political interest, but rather it is the explicitly political discussions that stimulate such interest. In other words, political socialization cannot be viewed as just one variant or aspect of general socialization, but rather it follows its own "political" logic.
h) Contributing to the development of theories regarding political socialization
Our studies have contributed to theory development in many areas. In relation to theories on the importance of the media in the development of various norms of citizenship and forms of political participation, we have contributed empirical analyses that provide support for but also further develop the theory of "Actualizing citizens" and "Dutiful citizens" (AC/DC) originally formulated by Lance Bennett and his colleagues. When it comes to theories concerning the implications of altered forms of collective action, of porous boundaries between the private and public spheres, and of digital network media, we have contributed to the process of theory development through critical analyses and empirical studies of media use among young people. We also have qualified theories concerning the key role of communication in political socialization as well as the theories concerning the specific mechanisms through which media-based activities can affect values and forms of political participation.
It is often assumed that it is during their teenage years that young people most often discuss politics with their parents. They are living under the same roof, and have opportunities for daily communication. We have shown this to be an erroneous assumption. Young adults discuss political issues with their parents more often than youngsters do and events such as moving away from home, getting married or having children have little effect on the political discourse with one's parents. From an agency standpoint, we see an increase in interest in politics among young people from their teenage years to adulthood, and this interest results in their discussing political issues with their parents to an ever-increasing degree.

3. New research questions that have been generated via the program
a. How can we at various levels explain that political interest does (not) translate into political participation?
b. Why do, relatively speaking, so few young people become involved in political activities online and in social media despite the thresholds being characterized as low and the boundaries as porous?
c. In what ways does social inequality affect forms of social involvement and political participation among the young?

4. The program's international roots
The program was launched in consultation with an Advisory Board, which also assisted us throughout the entire program period, as well as intermediating between key contacts and offering recommendations regarding research networks and conferences. We have conducted joint meetings, but the bulk of the cooperative effort has consisted of bilateral contacts. In 2011 a number of these contacts collaborated on our international conference "Changing styles of citizenship: Communication, media and youth engagement", and on the 2014 workshop on "political interest".
We have disseminated our research through posters and papers at scientific conferences arranged by the European Consortium for Political Research, Midwestern Political Science Association, American Political Science Association, International Society for Political Psychology (ISPP), Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA), Processes Influencing Democratic Ownership and Participation (EU PROJECT PIDOP), International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD), The European Association for Research on Adolescence (EARA), International Communication Association (ICA), Lund University, ECREA Communication and Democracy Conference, and Aarhus University.
We have also been invited to give keynote addresses at foreign universities (Odense, UCL London, Amsterdam, Royal Holloway London, Santiago de Chile, and Athens). We will be working together with the research groups LLAKES at UCL and AMCIS in Amsterdam to put on the "Promoting Tolerance: Can education do the job?" conference at Örebro University in June 2016.
Foreign researchers have visited us to give lectures and familiarize themselves with our research and the database. They include Jennifer L. Fitzgerald (Boulder, Colorado), Frank Wanders (Amsterdam), Illaria Pitti (Bologna), Behzad Fallazadeh (Heidelberg), Ariadne Vromen (Sydney), Mike Xenos (Wisconsin) and Adelina Franca (São Paulo).
We have prepared EU research applications with a number of other European research groups, three of which have been granted: EU FP 7: PIDOP (coordinated by Surrey), Horizon 2020: Catch-EyoU (Bologna), and Marie Sk?odowska-Curie: YOUTHBLOCKS (coordinated by us). We are awaiting word on two additional applications within the framework of Horizon 2020, namely PLEDGE (Roehampton) and iNDY (York).

5. Initiatives to disseminate research outside the scientific community
Our participation in conferences and the media provides us with opportunities to educate the public about our research. Commissions from national and municipal agencies, government studies, and other organizations have also provided us with opportunities to reach out with our research results and create impetus for new studies. These include the Swedish parliament, the 2014 Ntl Government Commission on Democracy, the Swedish Government Report on a Strong Civil Society, the Forum for Living History, the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society, the National Council of Swedish Youth Organizations, Daniel Sachs Fundation, the Swedish Sports Confederation, Almedalen, Axfoundation, Swedish Radio, SVT, Aftonbladet, Expressen and Dagens Nyheter. By newsletter and open lectures participating teachers and students as well as policymakers have received feedback on their collaborative efforts. We have also been members of the EU and Council of Europe's joint European Pool of Youth Researchers. We have presented our research at conferences arranged by the Slovenian Ministry of Education and the EU, at the Council of Europe's Conference on Youth Involvement in Democracy in Rabat, and at a seminar about the Nordic model in Tunis.

6. The program's most important publications and a discussion of their focus
Ekström and Östman (2013) makes a key contribution to research into how Internet use by young people affects their democratic involvement. The study qualitatively differentiates various activities on the Internet and a number of specific mechanisms associated with them.
Shehata, Ekström and Olsson (in press) is the first study to empirically test the influential theory of "Actualizing citizens" in an investigation of how social involvement among young people develops over time.
Interest in politics among young people fluctuates over time (Russo and Stattin, 2016). But we do see definite stabilization as early as age 16-18, with very small changes from the age of 20 onward. This means that young adults who are not interested in political issues tend to maintain that lack of interest to a very great extent, while those who are highly interested maintain their interest over time. It is rare to find young adults who lack interest at a given age to have developed a strong interest in political issues one or two years later. We show unambiguously that the "window for change" occurs in the early teenage years.
Early on in the project we developed a typology for civic engagement and political participation (Ekman and Amnå 2012), in which we drew a distinction between latent and manifest participation by combining the political science concepts of "political participation" and "political interest". The article has got a major international attention. We also conducted an empirical study (Amnå and Ekman 2014) showing that the proportion of standby citizens is very high, and we now work on both a longitudinal and country-comparative analysis to determine how volatile the actual level of participation is, and to explain what temporarily causes interest to turn into participation.

7. The program's publication strategy and comments on same
We have published mainly in leading international journals. The more extensive the database has become and the more waves it has come to include, the more influential the journals to which we have chosen to submit our manuscripts. The doctoral candidates have written article-based cumulative dissertations. We have also consented to collaborate on two, likely important, handbooks.

8. Website
https://www.oru.se/english/research/research-environments/hs/yes/

Publications

2016 (incl. forthcoming)
Amnå, Erik. (2016). ”Tidlösa dygder”, i Amnå, E. (red.) För det allmänna bästa. Ett kungligt sällskap mellan stat och marknad under 250 år. Stockholm: Atlantis.
Dahl, Viktor., & Stattin, Håkan. (2016). Beyond the limits: involvement in illegal political activities. European Political Science Review, 8(01), 125-145.
Ekström, Mats. (2016). Young people’s everyday political talk: a social achievement of democratic engagement. Journal of Youth Studies, 19(1), 1-19.
Glatz, Terese., & Dahl, Viktor. (2016). The role of family experiences for adolescents’ readiness to use and participate in illegal political activity. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 40(1), 11-20.
Kim, YunHwan., Russo, Silvia., and Amnå, Erik. (2016): The longitudinal relation between online and offline political participation among youth at two different developmental stages. New Media & Society.
Kruikemeier, Sanne. & Shehata, Adam. (forthcoming) “News Media Use and Political Engagement Among Adolescents: An Analysis of Virtuous Circles Using Panel Data”, Political Communication.
Miklikowska, Marta. (forthcoming) Av samma skrot och korn? In E. Lundberg (Ed.) Antologi om tolerans. Forum för  levande historia.
Russo, Silvia, and Håkan Stattin. "Stability and Change in Youths’ Political Interest." Social Indicators Research (2016): 1-16.
Wölfer, Ralf. & Van Zalk, Maarten H.W., Schmid, K., & Hewstone, M. (in press-b). Developmental Dynamics of Intergroup Contact and Intergroup Attitudes: Long-Term Effects in Adolescence and Early Adulthood. Child Development.

2015
Abdelzadeh, Ali & Dahl, Viktor (2015). En utvärdering av Skolval 2010. I Öva och ta ställning: En utvärdering av arbetet med skolvalen 2014. Myndigheten för ungdoms- och civilsamhällesfrågor. http://www.mucf.se/sites/default/files/publikationer_uploads/ova-och-ta-stallning.pdf
Abdelzadeh, Ali (forthcoming). Den missnöjda demokraten: ungas politiska missnöje och politiska engagemang i en förändrad era. 2014 års Demokratiutredning, Justitiedepartementet.
Abdelzadeh, Ali., Özdemir, Metin & Van Zalk, Maarten (2015). Dissatisfied Citizens: An Asset to or a Liability on the Democratic Functioning of Society? Scandinavian Political Studies, Volume 38, Issue 4, pp. 410-436.
Amnå, Erik & Ekman, Joakim (2015). Standby Citizens: Understanding Non-Participation in Contemporary Democracies, in Barrett, M. & Zani, B (Eds.) Political and Civic Engagement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (pp. 96-108)Abingdon: Routledge.
Dahl, Viktor (forthcoming). The Origins of Adolescents' Involvement in Illegal Political Activities: a Function of Demographic Background, Political Dissatisfaction, Affective Commitment, or Political Communication? Politics, Culture and Socialization.
Ekström, Mats & Östman, Johan (2015). Information, Interaction, and Creative Production: The Effects of Three Forms of Internet Use on Youth Democratic Engagement. Communication Research, 42:796-818.
Kim, YunHwan & Amnå, Erik (2015). Civic engagement among minority immigrant youth groups in Sweden: Civic engagement among migrant youths in Sweden: Do parental norms or immigration generation matter? In: M. Barrett & B. Zani (Ed.), Political and Civic Engagement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (pp. 248-267)London: Routledge.
Kim, YunHwan & Amnå, Erik (2015). Internet use and political engagement in youth, in Coleman, J. & Freelon, D. (Eds): Handbook of Digital Politics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar
Miklikowska, Marta (2015). Like parent, like child? Development of prejudice and tolerance towards immigrants. British Journal of Psychology. doi: 10.1111/bjop.1212
Ojala, Maria (2015). Climate change skepticism among adolescents. Journal of Youth Studies. In press.
Russo, Silvia. & Amnå, Erik (forthcoming): The personality divide: Do personality traits differentially predict online political engagement? Social Science Computer Review.
Russo, Silvia & Amnå, Erik (forthcoming): When political talks translate into political action: The role of personality traits. Personality and Individual Differences.
Shehata, Adam., Ekström, Mats., Olsson, Tobias. Developing Self-Actualizing and Dutiful Citizens: Testing the AC-DC Model Using Panel Data Among Adolescents. Communication Research. DOI:10.1080/17512786.2015.1071675

2014
Abdelzadeh, Ali (2014). The Impact of Political Conviction on the Relation Between Winning or Losing and Political Dissatisfaction: Findings From Sweden.  Sage Open, 4(2) DOI: 10.1177/2158244014535787.
Abdelzadeh, Ali (2014). Transcending Dichotomies: The Many Faces of Youth Dissatisfaction in Democracy. Örebro: Örebro Studies in Political Science 35.
Abdelzadeh, Ali., Zetterberg, Per., & Ekman, Joakim. (2014). Procedural fairness and political trust among young people: Evidence from a panel study on Swedish high school students. Acta Politica nr 8. DOI10.1057//ap.2014.2
Amnå, Erik & Ekman, Joakim (2014). Standby Citizens. Faces of Political Passivity. European Political Science Review, volume 6, issue 02, pp. 261-281. http://journals.cambridge.org/repo_A92hyT61
Dahl, Viktor & van Zalk, Maarten (2014). Peer Networks and the Development of Illegal Political Behavior Among Adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence. doi: 10.1111/jora.1207
Dahl, Viktor (2014). Breaking the Law: Adolescents' Involvement in Illegal Political Activity. Örebro: Örebro Studies in Political Science 34
Dahl, Viktor (2014). The Origins of Adolescents' Involvement in Illegal Political Activities: a Function of Demographic Background, Political Dissatisfaction, Affective Commitments, or Political Communication? Politics, Culture and Socialization, 4(2), 201-225.
Ekström, Mats., Olsson, Tobias., & Shehata, Adam (2014). Spaces for public orientation?: Longitudinal effects of Internet use in adolescence. In B. D. Loader, A. Vromer, & M. A. Xenos (Eds.), The networked young citizen : Social media, political participation and civic engagement. (Vol. 17, pp. 39-59 ). Routledge. (Information, Communication and Society). 10.1080/1369118X.2013.862288
Ekström, Mats., Olsson, Tobias., & Shehata, Adam. (2014). Spaces for public orientation? Longitudinal effects of Internet use in adolescence. Information, Communication & Society, 17(2), 168-183
Sohl, Sofia & Arensmeier, Cecilia (2014). The school's role in youths' political efficacy: can school provide a compensatory boost to students' political efficacy?. Research Papers in Education, (ahead-of-print), 1-31.
Sohl, Sofia (2014): Youths' Political Efficacy: Sources, Effects and Potentials for Political Equality. Örebro: Örebro University, Örebro Studies in Political Science 37
Van Zalk, Maarten H.W. & Kerr, Margaret (2014). Developmental trajectories of prejudice and tolerance toward immigrants from early to late adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43, 1658-1671.
Östman, Johan (2014). The influence of media use on environmental engagement: A political socialization approach. Environmental Communication, 8(1), 92-109

2013
Ekström, Mats & Östman, Johan (2013). Family talk, peer talk and young people's civic orientation. European Journal of Communication. 28(3) 294-308.
Ojala, Maria (2013). Coping with climate change among adolescents: Implications for subjective well-being and environmental engagement. Sustainability. Special issue on Psychological and Behavioral Aspects of Sustainability, 5(5): 2191-2209.
2012
Abdelzadeh, Ali & Ekman, Joakim (2012). Understanding Critical Citizenship and Other Forms of Public Dissatisfaction: An Alternative Framework. Politics, Culture and Socialization, 3. Vol., No. 1-2/2012, pp. 177-194
Abdelzadeh, Ali & Ekman, Joakim (2012). Understanding Critical Citizenship and Other Forms of Public Dissatisfaction: An Alternative Framework. Politics, Culture and Socialization, 3. Vol., No. 1-2/2012, pp. 177-194 http://www.politicalsocialization.org/jtoc12012ab.php
Amnå, Erik (2012). Active, passive and standby citizens. Oslo: The European Wergeland Centre Statement Series. http://www.theewc.org/content/ewc.statement.series
Amnå, Erik, (2012). How is civic engagement developed over time? Emerging answers from a multidisciplinary field. Journal of Adolescence Volume 35, Issue 3, Pages 611–627.
Arensmeier, Cecilia (2012). Medborgarkunskaper i sikte. Nordisk jämförelse och fördjupad analys av svenska elevers svårigheter i ICCS 2009. Stockholm: Skolverket
Ekman, Joakim & Amnå, Erik (2012). Political participation and civic engagement: towards a new typology. Human Affairs, vol 22, no 3, pp. 283-300.
Ojala, Maria (2012). How do children cope with global climate change? Coping strategies, engagement, and well-being. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 32(3), pp. 225-233.
Ojala, Maria (2012). Regulating worry, promoting hope: How do children, adolescents, and young adults cope with climate change? International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 7(4), Forthcoming.
Östman, Johan (2012). "When private talk becomes public political expression: Examining a practice-field hypothesis of youth political development". Political Communication (London: Taylor & Francis / Routledge).
Östman, Johan (2012). Information, expression, participation: How involvement in user-generated content relates to democratic engagement among young people. New Media & Society, Vol. 14.

2011
Ekman, Joakim & Zetterberg, Pär (2011). Democratic Socialization: Assessing the Impact of Different Educational Settings on Swedish 14-Year Olds' Political Citizenship. Politics, Culture & Socialization, 2(2)
Ekman, Joakim (2011). Skolan och medborgarskapandet. En kunskapsöversikt (pdf). Stockholm: Skolverket
Ojala, Maria (2011). Hope and climate change: the importance of hope for environmental engagement among young people (pdf), Environmental Education Research, DOl: 10.1080/13504622.2011.637157
Ojala, Maria (2011). Ungas känslor inför klimatet. Miljöforskning, 3.
Ojala, Maria, & Lidskog, Rolf (2011). What lies beneath the surface? A case study of citizens' moral reasoning with regard to biodiversity. Environmental Values, 20, 2, 217-237.
Sohl, Sofia (2011). Pathways to political efficacy - Theoretical considerations and empirical illustrations on youths' acquisition of political efficacy, Politics, Culture and Socialization, Vol. 2, No. 4, 2011, pp. 389-414.

2010
Amnå, Erik & Zetterberg, Pär (2010). A Political Science Perspective on Socialization Research : Young Nordic Citizens in a Comparative Light. In Sherrod, Flanagan & Torney-Purta (Eds.) Handbook of Research on Civic Engagement in Youth . - New York: Wileys.
Amnå, Erik (2010). Active, Passive, or Standby Citizens? Latent and manifest political participation. In Erik Amnå (Ed.) New Forms of Citizen Participation: Normative Implications (pdf). Baden-Baden: Nomos. Pp. 191-203.
Amnå, Erik., Arensmeier, Cecilia., Ekman, Joakim., Englund, Tomas & Ljunggren, Carsten (2010). Skolornas institutionella karaktär och elevernas medborgarkompetens: en jämförelse av olika kommunala och fristående skolor över tid och rum (pdf). Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift 112 (1).
Amnå, Erik., Ekman, Joakim., Englund, Tomas., Ljunggren, Carsten., Unemar Öst, Ingrid., Zetterberg, Pär (2010). Skolor som politiska arenor. Medborgarkompetens och kontrovershantering. Stockholm: Skolverket
Arensmeier, Cecilia (2010). The democratic common sense: Young Swedes' understanding of democracy — theoretical features and educational incentives. Young 18 (2) 197-222.
Ekman, Joakim & Amnå, Erik (2010). "Politiskt deltagande och andra former av samhällsengagemang: en typologi", i Joakim Ekman & Jonas Linde, red. Politik, protest, populism - deltagande på nya villkor. Stockholm: Liber.
Ojala, Maria & Rikner, Amanda (2010). Att hantera det ambivalenta. Unga vuxnas attityder och beteende gällande energieffektivisering i hemmet. Report No. 66. Örebro, Örebro University: Centre for Urban and Regional Studies
Ojala, Maria (2010). A climate of hope? Exploring how young people cope psychologically with global climate change. In R. Zukauskiene (Ed.), Proceedings of the 12th Biennial Conference of the European Association for Research on Adolescence (pp. 15-20). Medimond International Proceedings.
Ojala, Maria (2010). Barns känslor och tankar om klimatproblematiken. Energimyndighetens rapportserie. ER 2010:31
Persson, Stefan (2010). Familjedemokrati, i /Fokus 10 - om ungas inflytande (pdf). /Stockholm: Ungdomsstyrelsen, sid. 52-75.

2009
Amnå, Erik., Ekström, Mats., Kerr, Margaret & Stattin, Håkan (2009). Political socialization and human agency. The development of civic engagement from adolescence to adulthood (pdf). Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift 2009, Volume 111 No. 1, s. 27-40