Political Socialisation in Changing Times? Connection Between Family Structures and Civic Engagement

Functioning democracies depend on interested, active and informed citizens. However, interest in politics and civic involvement have declined significantly. At the same time, a change in family life forms can be observed: they have become more fragile and diverse, and often short-lived. Is there a connection between these two phenomena? Do children who have not grown up with both parents become less involved in civic matters later in adulthood because insufficient social capital has been formed in non-intact family relationships? This question was examined using data from 26 instalments of the German Socio-Economic Panel from 1984 to 2009. The data provide information on family status in childhood. As a measure of civic engagement, an index was formed from data on the following four components: political interest, party identification, participation in organisations and voluntary activities. The results show that growing up in a non-intact family leads to a significant decline of civic engagement in adulthood.