The Role of Parents, Social Media and Materialism in Teenage Activism

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the role of parents, social media and materialism in teenage activism. We surveyed 13-16 year olds (N = 177). We measured teenagers’ activist “identity and involvement” and activist behavior, parents’ activist behavior, as perceived by their offspring, media use frequency and the purpose of social media use. The results indicate that both teenage activist “identity and involvement” and activist behavior are positively related to both the mother and father’s activist behavior but are negatively related to hedonic use of media. Hedonic use of media and gender are predictors of youth activist “identity and involvement” while mother’s activism, hedonic use of media and the teenager’s age are predictors of youth activist behavior. To sum up, the study indicates that mother’s activism and the purpose of media use are related to teenage activism. It also shows that materialism and media use frequency are not significantly linked to teenage activism.