Schools that run voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote campaigns usually have a straightforward goal鈥攔aise the number of students who exercise their rights to the franchise in the next election.
But a new study suggests that getting more young people to vote could increase their parents鈥� political participation, too, paying dividends across generations.
The was published by the Sandra Day O鈥機onnor Institute for American Democracy, a nonprofit that promotes civic education and civil discourse. The study found evidence of a trickle-down relationship in civic engagement: Most teenagers who voted in their first eligible presidential election had a mother who also voted.
These findings are in line with previous research, which has established that .
But the researchers also found evidence of what they called a 鈥渢rickle-up鈥� relationship. Mothers of young people who voted in their first age-eligible election were more likely to vote in the next presidential election. This relationship was stronger among children of color, and children who qualified for free and reduced-price lunch.
鈥淲e have always thought of political influence as being modeled by parents and passing down to kids, but there is really great potential for kids to be models for their parents,鈥� said Kirsten Slungaard Mumma, an assistant professor in economics and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the author of the study.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a two-way model, and the fact that it鈥檚 two-way is really exciting,鈥� she said, noting that these findings could inform how schools target voter participation efforts.
The research also invites further thinking about the ways in which children鈥檚 civic engagement more broadly could influence the behavior or perspectives of the adults in their lives, said Elizabeth Clay Roy, the CEO of Generation Citizen, a national nonprofit that promotes civics education and youth civic engagement.
鈥淸This research] attends to the fact that young people are not simply empty vessels to be poured into as it relates to civic life,鈥� said Clay Roy, who was not involved with the report. 鈥淵oung people are also civic actors, not just subjects.鈥�
Is 鈥榩assing the torch鈥� the wrong paradigm?
Slungaard Mumma analyzed voting records from about 580,000 Indiana students, who were 18 at the time of the 2012, 2016, or 2020 presidential elections. She also analyzed the voting records of their mothers, as identified by the children鈥檚 birth records.
Overall, just under a third of students voted in their first eligible presidential election. Young people whose mothers had voted in the previous presidential election were 20.3 percentage points more likely to be in this group of voters than young people whose mothers had not voted.
These numbers differed by race and socioeconomic status. The 鈥渢rickle-down鈥� effects were strongest for white students and students who did not qualify for free and reduced-price lunch.
The 鈥渢rickle-up鈥� effects were smaller, but still statistically significant鈥攁nd 鈥渟ubstantial,鈥� said Slungaard Mumma. When students participated in their first age-eligible presidential election, their mothers were 5.3 percentage points more likely to vote in the next presidential election.
These results also varied by race and income, but in the opposite direction from the trickle-down effects. They were larger for students of color and students who qualified for free and reduced-price lunch.
Slungaard Mumma emphasized that these results are not causal. The data only show a relationship between these voting behaviors, but can鈥檛 prove that it was children鈥檚 voting that caused parental voting, or vice versa. They suggest, however, that school-based efforts to increase students鈥� civic participation could have far-reaching effects, she said.
The differences by race and income invite future study, she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really interesting puzzle, and I think it鈥檚 something where we鈥檙e starting to understand how little we understand the ecosystem that creates future voters.鈥�
It could be particularly meaningful to engage organizations of Black voters, to hear from mothers in focus groups about what these intergenerational relationships mean to them, Clay Roy said.
Generation Citizen has published resources for harnessing age diversity in civic life. Earlier this year, in partnership with civic organizations CoGenerate and the Millennial Action Project, the group with recommendations for intergenerational civic collaboration.
Discussions about civic participation are often focused on one generation 鈥減assing the torch to the next,鈥� said Clay Roy.
鈥淏ut what we recommend, with our research with lots of civic organizations working with folks across different age spectrums, is that this is not actually the right paradigm for focusing on how we make positive social change in our community,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e all have to be running the race at the same time.鈥�
