Party People and Party Identification: A Theory of Youth Independence and Political Opinions

Unsupervised, early adulthood behaviours affect young people's preference for a political party. Quantitative analysis was conducted on a nationally representative survey with high school students in Israel. Data were collected following the 2009 legislative elections. Ordinal logistic regressions reveal how gender and religiosity, along with their interactions with objective social activities and substance use, impact party identification on a dovish-hawkish scale. A theory of youth independence and political opinions is outlined and tested. Religious students who refrain from extracurricular socializing are shown to be more apt to develop radical hawkish political opinions, while secular students who engage in more substance use are shown to be more apt to develop dovish political opinions. Discussion is provided for the multiparty political context of Israel. The results provide an understanding for the way that youth subcultures develop political ideologies that continue into adulthood.