Youth and Social Capital: A Three Country Comparison of Social Capital Measurements Among 16 year Olds.

In this paper, we explore the results of a comparative survey on political attitudes and behaviors among adolescents in Belgium, Canada and Romania. The results show that while political interest and trust is highest among Canadian adolescents, it is lowest among Romanian respondents. A preliminary analysis suggest that the impact of parents and of schools remains overwhelming. Despite the rise of a new and more autonomous youth culture, therefore, most of the findings from the older literature of the 1970s still is confirmed. The study also points to the possible effects of civic education in schools.Multivariate models prove to be most performative for Canada and for Belgium and least for Romania. This might be due to the fact that political trust and engagement levels are lowest in Romania. This hints at the fact that, even 17 years after the end of the authoritarian regime in Romania, political socialization of young adolescents is still being influenced by the impact of a previous political era.We close with a number of suggestions for further and more stringent analyses of the current data. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]