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Political knowledge, attitudes and values among Palestinian and Jewish youthin Israel: The role of nationality, gender and religiosity

Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz, Asher Ben-Arieh ⁎School of Social Work and Social Welfare, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel

a b s t r a c ta r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 28 September 2011Received in revised form 16 December 2011Accepted 16 December 2011Available online 4 January 2012

Keywords:Political attitudesYouth participationEthnic affiliationGender

This study explored political attitudes, awareness and values among 1753 Israeli-Jewish and Israeli-Palestinianadolescents aged 15 to 17 from different localities. The findings show that Palestinian adolescents reportedmore trust in the political system, were more aware and had a more formulated opinion of the political systemthan their Jewish colleagues. In addition, it was found that more religious adolescents showed more politicalawareness and involvement. In general, gender gaps in political participation measures were larger amongArab adolescents compared with Jewish adolescents. The researchers suggest that some of the findings can beexplained by the potential role of participation in political activities byminority adolescents in the developmentof adolescents' political perception and attitudes.

© 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The political participation of young people has received growingattention in recent years. That growing attention is partly a conse-quence of diminishing levels of conventional political participation,such as declining rates of voting and party attachment, as well as ofgrowing political disinterest among young people (Torney-Purta,2002). In many Western countries in particular there is a growingconcern about the decline of citizenship norms and political partici-pation among adolescents and young adults (Dejaeghere & Hooghe,2009; Flanagan, 2003; O'Toole, Lister, Marsh, Jones, & McDonagh,2003).

Scholars are finding that, compared to previous generations, ado-lescents today are less interested in political issues. They are less like-ly to participate in politics as adults, say, by voting in politicalelections, or to become involved in political parties (Astin, Parrott,Korn, & Sax, 1997; Bennett & Bennett, 1990; Blais, Gidengil, &Nevitte, 2004; Franklin, 2004; Kimberlee, 2002; Norris, 1999). Thisis especially remarkable as other studies show that today's youth con-tinues to show interest and participate in voluntary associations, so-cial movements and other civic groups (Cohen, 2005; O'Toole et al.,2003; Zukin, Keeter, Andolina, Jenkins, & Delli Carpini, 2006).

The growing interest in young people's political knowledge andparticipation also emerges from a new perception of adolescents aspolitical agents in their own right, rather than as citizens-in-the-makingwho only later in adulthood develop into engaged citizens and political

actors (Ben-Arieh, 2008; Gordon, 2008). This growing conception ofyoung people as legitimate political actors, which reframes democracybeyond adult concerns into an ongoing and joint process between thegenerations, is rapidly gaining support in the literature (Flanagan &Faison, 2001; Ginwright, Noguera, & Cammarota, 2006; Yates &Youniss, 1999; Youniss et al., 2002).

Young people's political participation is often regarded today as asocial necessity as well as a policy objective (Acharya et al., 2009).However, most of the studies focus on actual political activity andparticipation and not on young people's general approach — their at-titudes and knowledge. Less attention has been paid to the develop-ment of their understanding of politics, their attitudes towardpoliticians and the political process, the importance they attributeto the political system and the degree of trust they have in it. Thesestudies also tend to focus on Western and especially Christian socie-ties, such as Europe and the US, and generally examine the differencesbetween nations rather than variances in ethnicity, religion, and reli-giosity between communities in a single nation. Yet, studies thatlooked at democratic attitudes found similar levels in the West andthe Middle East (Inglehart & Norris, 2002), and suggested little rela-tionship between Islam and democratic attitudes (Tessler, 2002).

This study aims to fill some of these gaps. It was set to investigate po-litical attitudes, awareness and values among Israeli-Jewish and Israeli-Palestinian youth (both Christian and Muslim) in a country with pro-found ethnic, religious and majority–minority conflicts. It was devisedto enable a closer look at the political attitudes of Palestinian adoles-cents living in Israel, who belong to a national minority and a generallymore collectivistic, patriarchal and conservative society (Abu Baker &Dwairy, 2003; Al-Haj, 1995; Badran, 1996; Haj-Yahia, 2002), as wellas at the attitudes of their Jewish peers, who belong to a national

Children and Youth Services Review 34 (2012) 704–712

⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +972 2 5882236; fax: +972 2 5823587.E-mail address: benarieh@cc.huji.ac.il (A. Ben-Arieh).

0190-7409/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2011.12.017

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majority and a generally more modern and individualistic society (Haj-Yahia, 2000; Lavee & Katz, 2003). It also enables a closer look at the roleof gender and religiosity within this complex context (Golan, Kiousis, &Spiro, 2010; Kucinskas, 2010).

2. Theoretical framework and existing knowledge

Political socialization theories argue that youth's political aware-ness, attitudes and values are shaped through interactions with thefamily, social institutions and society as a whole. These interactionsinfluence the adolescent through everyday face-to-face contacts, var-ious media channels and interactions with institutions, processes andvalues in domains such as politics, education and economics. Youngpeople do not simply develop and grow up as individuals but asmembers of groups, such as national, religious or gender-basedgroups, and their normative beliefs reflect their perceptions of howthe social contract works for people “like them” (Flanagan, 2003).Thus, youth's political perception is influenced by the position of theadolescent's ethnic group and nation within its region and theworld in general (Torney-Purta, 2002).

Research has brought to the forefront of our understanding fourmajor contextual factors that influence the development of young peo-ple's political knowledge, attitudes and values. These include national/ethnic group (Bowes, Flanagan, & Taylor, 2001; Flanagan, 2003;Flanagan et al., 1999; Torney-Purta, 2002; Yates & Youniss, 1999) andits degree of conservatism, majority–minority relations (Bogard &Sherrod, 2008), gender (Eliasoph, 1998; Fridkin & Kenney, 2007;Gordon, 2008; Hooghe & Stolle, 2004; Sotelo, 1999) and religiosity(Gibson, 2008; Welzel, Inglehart, & Klingemann, 2003).

3. National and ethnic group

Studies found differences in political attitudes among youth fromdiverse nationalities, showing that adolescents' attitudes towards po-litical participation depend on the political environment they are em-bedded in (Amadeo, Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Husfeldt, & Nikolova,2002; Baldi, Perie, Skidmore, Greenberg, & Hahn, 2001; Bowes et al.,2001; Flanagan et al., 1999; Torney-Purta & Amadeo, 2003; Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Oswald, & Schulz, 2001). These studies and othersclearly point towards nationally based differences in youth's politicalattitudes. They also indicate that diverse governmental structures andformal socializing institutions affect youth's construction of politicalidentities differently across nations. They show that youth from mod-ern, democratic societies tend to express more belief in the need forand importance of the political system, even if not necessarily moretrust in it (Yates & Youniss, 1999). For example, monarchical statestypically expose adolescents to closed, hierarchical governmentaland political structures (Eickelman & Anderson, 1999) whileWestern-type democracies expose them to the growing demograph-ic, cultural, and economic challenges that are incorporated into thatpolitical system (Fussell, 2002; Youniss et al., 2002). Each of thesecontextual circumstances is likely to have its own impact on youth'spolitical approach.

4. Majority–minority differences

Cultural differences exist not only between nations but also acrossnational/ethnic groups in the same country. Bogard and Sherrod(2008) found consistent differences in political and civic valuesamong American adolescents of Asian, European and Hispanic origin,suggesting that immigration status and ethnicity are significant fac-tors in adolescents' political socialization. Other studies show that im-migrant youth and youth from ethnic minorities develop a uniquepolitical socialization (Fuligni, Tseng, & Lam, 1999; Larson, Richards,Sims, & Dworkin, 2001; Sherrod, Flanagan, & Youniss, 2002; Tseng,2004). Kelly (2009), for instance, found lower levels of political

knowledge and political participation among minority youth in theUS. Other studies found lower political participation rates amongyouth from distressed communities, together with higher crimerates, drug abuse and other indicators of diminished quality of life(Fogel, 2004; Hardina, 2003; Jaret, Reid, & Adelman, 2003; Jennings,2001; Kleiner & Chapman, 2000; Mechanic, 2002; O'Donnell,Michalak, & Ames, 1997; Pan, Littlefield, Valladolid, Tapping, &West, 2005; Watts, Griffith, & Abdul-Adil, 1999).

The existing research supports the assumption that youth's politi-cal awareness, attitudes and values are related to the environmentand context in which they are embedded, thus laying a foundationfor the assumption that nationality/ethnicity (e.g., being part of a mi-nority group) also influence youth's political awareness, knowledgeand values. For example, the literature indicates the possibility thatyouth from minority groups, especially those from more culturallyconservative groups, tend to be less politically aware, less politicallyknowledgeable and express less trust in the political process(Bogard & Sherrod, 2008).

5. Gender

Gender also plays a role in political awareness, attitudes andvalues. While women have made substantial gains in wielding politi-cal influence (Githens, Norris, & Lovenduski, 1994; Waring,Greenwood, & Pintat, 2000) especially in the Western world, theystill participate less than men in politics, even in Western nations(Atkeson & Rapoport, 2003; Norris, 2002; Parry, Moyser, & Day,1992; Schlozman, Burns, & Verba, 1999; Verba, Burns, & Schlozman,1997). Studies have indicated that women generally show less inter-est in politics than men do, and are less willing to be directly involvedin politics (Bernstein, 2005). While women tend to be less involved,however, they have also been found to show higher levels of trustin governmental institutions than men, both in adolescence(Hooghe & Stolle, 2004) and adulthood (Johnson, 2005; Studlar,McAllister, & Hayes, 1998).

Gender differences in political attitudes and participation beginearly in life (Fridkin & Kenney, 2007; Hooghe & Stolle, 2004) and con-tinue over the course of life (Alwin, Cohen, & Newcomb, 1991; Coffé &Bolzendahl, 2010). Girls are often socialized away from politics,which is perceived as a man's affair (Alozie, Simon, & Merrill, 2003;Lips, 1995). They tend to be socialized towards a gender role that ismore passive, private, rule-abiding, and compassionate, while mentend to be steered towards leadership, public roles, autonomy andself-reliance (Fox & Lawless, 2004; West & Zimmerman, 1987). Edu-cational, institutional, and political contexts that individuals experi-ence during infancy and adolescence confirm and consolidateseparate gender roles, contributing to differences in the social and po-litical participation of males and females (De Piccoli & Rollero, 2010;Owen & Dennis, 1992).

It seems safe to conclude that gender plays a major role in the de-velopment of adolescents' political awareness, attitudes and values.Yet most of the research concerning this issue has been conductedin modern, Western, predominantly Christian and more liberal cul-tures. Very few studies have explored the role of gender-based polit-ical differences among adolescents in more culturally conservative,non-Western and non-Christian societies— for example in certain so-cieties in which gender plays a particularly significant role in deter-mining one's status. One exception is the International EducationAssociation's (IEA) study of civic education and values among upperhigh school students in 16 countries including Israel. The study's find-ings indicate that boys are more politically involved than girls, thatthey have stronger political views and show more interest in politics.Girls on the other hand showmore support for gender politics and aremore likely to vote (Amadeo et al., 2002). Other studies that look intogender differences in adolescents' views of political rights in lessWestern societies found larger gaps between boys and girls from

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more culturally conservative and patriarchal societies, such as theIsraeli Arab society, than between boys and girls from more modern-ized societies, such as the Israeli Jewish society (Khoury-Kassabri &Ben-Arieh, 2009).

6. Religion and religiosity

Some studies have found that religious affiliation contributes tothe civic lives of people of all ages (Wald & Wilcox, 2006). Being amember of a religious congregation has been found to be positivelyassociated with volunteering for community service activities(Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995), as well as with political participa-tion (Gibson, 2008; Greenberg, 2000; Peterson, 1992; Schlozman etal., 1999). Research indicates that participation in religious activitiesis positively related to an increased interest in students' civic values,as religious institutions tend to emphasize cooperation and commit-ment, which are conducive to greater engagement in society (Smith,1999).

In Israel there are threemajor religions: Judaism— the religion of theJewish majority; Islam — the religion of the majority of the Palestinianminority; and Christianity — the religion of a smaller portion of the Pal-estinian minority. Within the three major religious groups we find awide range of degree of religiosity, from secular through traditionaland orthodox to ultra-orthodox (Van Praag, Romanov, & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, 2010). The Arab population (both Muslim and Christian) isgenerally characterized by traditional patriarchal and authoritarian fam-ily values (Haj-Yahia, 2000, 2002). The Jewish population is generallymore liberal and democratic, with the exception of the Ultra-OrthodoxJews (Benbenishty, Zeira, Astor, & Khoury-Kassabri, 2002; Herold, 2001).

To sum up, the current knowledge lays the basis for exploring var-ious factors that contribute to adolescents' political approaches. Stud-ies have regularly found that belonging to a more liberal, westernizedethnic group is likely to have a positive effect on adolescents' politicalawareness, activity and values. Studies have also established that mi-nority youth tends to be less politically aware and active than theirmajority counterparts. Gender is also found to be another importantcontextual factor in shaping young people's political socialization.Studies repeatedly show boys to be more politically aware and activethan girls. This leads us to hypothesize that these gender differenceswill be greater among youth from more culturally conservative, lesswesternized cultures than more modernized, individualistic cultures.We also hypothesize that adolescents' degree of religiosity will affecttheir political approach. Religiosity is often higher in conservative andless modernized societies, thus we assume that higher religiositymight be associated with less political awareness and activity.

Israel presents an ideal opportunity to study these contextual fac-tors and their contribution to the political attitudes and political par-ticipation of adolescents. Israel is a multi-cultural society withprofound national, ethnic, religious and other social rifts (Al-Haj,2002). Its mix of majority, modern, westernized Jewish society andminority, mostly Muslim, more traditional Arab society (Dor &Cohen-Fridel, 2010; El-Haj', 1984; Lavee & Katz, 2003) provides aunique ground for examining differences and similarities betweenvarious societal factors among disparate groups living in close prox-imity. These comparisons can help shed light on the interplay be-tween various contextual factors and adolescents' approach topolitical rights and participation.

7. The study's goals

This study examines the contribution of a number of contextualand personal factors and the interactions between them to adoles-cents' political awareness, political attitudes and political values.Through a large-scale survey of Jewish and Palestinian girls andboys (15–17 years old) living in Israel, the study was set to test the

following four hypotheses, which are based on the literature pre-sented above.

1. Israeli-Jewish adolescents, as part of the majority and as morewesternized than their Arab counterparts, will have more politicalknowledge, show more positive political attitudes, attribute moreimportance to politics and show more trust in the political systemthan Israeli-Palestinian adolescents.

2. Boys will have more political knowledge, show more positive po-litical attitudes, attribute more importance to politics, and showless trust in the political process than girls.

3. The gap between boys and girls regarding political knowledge, po-litical attitude, and belief in the importance of politics and trust inthe political process will be smaller among Israeli-Jewish adoles-cents than among Israeli-Palestinian youth.

4. Degree of religiosity will be positively correlated with politicalknowledge, political attitude, belief in the importance of politicsand trust in the political process.

8. Methodology

The study is based on a sample of 1753 adolescents, aged 15 to 17,who completed anonymous questionnaires in a classroom setting.School principals were sent consent forms and letters for the parentsinforming them of the study's goals and asking them to return theform if they did not want their children to participate in the study.Students' assent was active, and they were free to withdraw fromthe study at any time for any reason. The surveyors clarified that astudent's refusal to take part in the study would not have any nega-tive consequences. Confidentiality was ensured for all participants.The questionnaires, procedures and consent forms were approvedby the Hebrew University Ethics Internal Review Board and by theIsraeli Ministry of Education.

8.1. Sample

The study used a quota samplingmethod, in which the sample is se-lected by dividing the population into categories or strata and selectinga predetermined number of participants from each category. Three cat-egorieswere used in our study: Jewish public schools, Palestinian publicschools (which are attended mostly by Muslim children), and privateChristian schools (attended by both Muslim and Christian children).We approached 24 high school principals in different localities in Israel(three Jewish localities and eight Palestinian localities) and asked themto participate in the study. Of the 24 schools contacted, 16 (10 Palestin-ian and 6 Jewish) agreed to participate— a response rate of about 67% ofthe contacted schools. Very few students did not participate due to theirparents' refusal. A very small number also chose not to participate orsimply did not fill out the questionnaire. Overall, fewer than 3% of thestudents who attended class during the survey did not turn in a com-pleted questionnaire.

As noted above, the sample was designed to include studentsfrom Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths. In the Jewish subsamplewe included both observant and secular adolescents (ultra-Ortho-dox Jews were excluded due to access limitations). Overall, the sam-pling procedure yielded responses from 1753 adolescent, of whom53.9% were girls and the rest were boys. Of the 1753, 838 (47.8%)were Jewish and 915 (52.2%) were Palestinian. Among the Palestin-ian teens, 777 (85%) wereMuslim and 138 (15%) were Christian. Themean age was 16.54 (SD=0.59). Regarding their level of religiosity,almost half (47.8%) of the students defined themselves as “sensitiveto religion”, 22.6% as “religious” and 20.6% as “secular”. The rest ofthe students defined themselves as “very religious” (6.8%) and“atheist” (2.3%).

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8.2. Measurement

Students' reports of their political knowledge, attitudes andvalues were obtained with a self-reported structured questionnairecompleted by the adolescents in a classroom setting. English-language questions and scales were translated into Hebrew forJewish students and into Arabic for Arab students. Experts familiarwith both languages performed common procedures of back-translations and held discussions to enhance the compatibility ofthe Hebrew and Arabic versions. The research team comprised Ar-abic and Hebrew native speakers who critically examined thetranslation and suggested changes based on their experience andon students' and experts' comments. In the pilot phase of thestudy, responses were obtained from a small group of Jewish andPalestinian students and the questionnaire was modified accordingto their comments.

The study utilized existing and original research protocols adaptedto the different nationalities and religions. Research items were basedon an earlier study of Israeli children's understanding of their rights(Ben-Arieh & Khoury-Kassabri, 2008) and on adapted measuresfrom the International Education Association (IEA) civic educationstudy (Torney-Purta, 2002) — a small fraction of that massive study'squestionnaire. All items were adapted to the appropriate age group,national and ethnic group, religion and culture.

8.3. Dependent variables

8.3.1. Attributed importance of political activityThis measure includes five items addressing an adolescent's sense

of the importance of involvement in political activities in the citizenryin general and of youth in particular, based on items used in the IEAstudy. Participants were asked to rate their level of agreement withfive items regarding the importance of different political activities(e.g., “to what extent do you agree that taking part in political deci-sion making is important?”). A 4-point Likert-type scale was used,ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). The AttributedImportance of Political Activity index was created using the averagescore of the five items (α=0.73).

8.3.2. Adolescents' perceived knowledge of the political systemThis measure includes four items based on measures used in the

IEA study. Participants were asked to rate their level of knowledgeof different components of the political system (e.g., “to what extentdo you have information about the existing parliament parties?”),on a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (no knowledge) to 4 (alot of knowledge). The Adolescents' Knowledge of the Political Systemindex was created using the average score of the four items(α=0.83).

8.3.3. Adolescents' views of and attitudes towards the political systemThis scale, which includes 11 items, was based on measures used

in the IEA study, slightly modified by the authors to make it culturallyrelevant to the Israeli situation. Participants were asked to rate theirlevel of agreement with a series of statements on their beliefs regard-ing the political system and its various components on a scale rangingfrom 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). Exploratory Factoranalysis using Varimax Rotation yielded two factors: (a) Adolescents'trust in the political system and political leaders: this subscale includesseven statements about trust in politics and the good will of politi-cians (e.g., “politicians are worth trusting”) (α=0.77); (b) Adoles-cents' awareness of the political system: this subscale includes fouritems that address the extent to which adolescents are interested inand aware of the political system and political issues (e.g., “I am inter-ested in politics”) (α=0.75). These subscales were created using theaverage score of the items in each.

8.3.4. Formulated opinion of the political systemThis measure includes five items based on measures used in the

IEA study. Participants were asked to rate their level of agreementwith a series of five statements on the formulation of their politicalopinion (e.g., “I have a clear opinion about the current political situa-tion in Israel”) on a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (stronglydisagree) to 4 (strongly agree). The subscale score was based on theaverage score of the five items (α=0.83).

8.4. Independent variables — background characteristics

8.4.1. Socio-demographic characteristicsStudentswere asked to report on their gender (0=male, 1= female),

their nationality (0= Palestinian, 1= Jewish) and their level of religiosity(1= very religious, 2= religious, 3= sensitive to religion, 4= secular, 5=atheist).

8.5. Data analysis

First we examined the descriptive statistics of the perceived po-litical knowledge, attitudes and values variables for the varioussub-groups of respondents in our study (boys and girls, Palestinianand Jewish adolescents, and adolescents with different levels of reli-giosity), as presented in Tables 1 and 2. Bivariate analyses were thenconducted to examine the links between adolescents' politicalknowledge, attitudes and values and the independent socio-demographic variables. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MAN-OVA) was conducted in order to examine the links between genderand nationality to the political knowledge, attitudes and values vari-ables. It was also used to examine differences in the political knowl-edge, attitudes and values variables between respondents with

Table 1Descriptive statistics and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA): the relationship between political knowledge, attitudes and values indices, national affiliation and gender.

Political participation dimension National affiliation Gender National affiliation×Gender

Arabs(n=731)

Jewish(n=666)

F Boys(n=627)

Girls(n=770)

F F

Mean (SD) Mean (SD)

Attributed importance to political activities 3.16 (0.60) 3.28 (0.43) F(1, 1388)=25.08,pb .001

3.15 (0.58) 3.28 (0.52) F(1, 1388)=22.68,pb .001

F(1, 1388)=12.49, pb .001

Adolescents' knowledge of the political system 2.59 (0.80) 2.61 (0.87) F(1, 1388)=0.22,p>.05

2.72 (0.88) 2.50 (0.83) F(1, 1388)=23.05,pb .001

F(1, 1388)=4.48, pb .01

Adolescents' trust in the political system andpolitical leaders

2.38 (0.61) 2.18 (0.51) F(1, 1388)=52.69,pb .001

2.32 (0.58) 2.26 (0.56) F(1, 1388)=10.10,pb .01

F(1, 1388)=2.68, p>.05

Adolescents' awareness of the political system 2.54 (0.74) 2.49 (0.72) F(1, 1388)=4.18,pb .05

2.63 (0.72) 2.42 (0.73) F(1, 1388)=30.53,pb .001

F(1, 1388)=0.88, p>.05

Formulated opinion of the political system 3.00 (0.66) 2.85 (0.69) F(1, 1388)=19.98,pb .001

2.99 (0.65) 2.88 (0.70) F(1, 1388)=14.84,pb .001

F(1, 1388)=7.65, pb .01

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different levels of religiosity. The interaction between gender andnationality with regards to the dependent variables was also exam-ined, as was the question of whether the gender gaps are differentamong Palestinian and Jewish students.

9. Results

9.1. Descriptive statistics: political knowledge, attitudes and values

The participants reported an average of 2.63 (SD=0.911) regard-ing their perceived political knowledge, on a 4-point scale rangingfrom 1 = no knowledge to 4 = a lot of knowledge. The average scoreof attributed importance of the political system, on a scale rangingfrom 1 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree, was 3.19(SD=0.58). The average score of trust in the political system and po-litical leaders, on the same scale as above, was 2.28 (SD=0.59). Theparticipants' average score of awareness of the political system, alsoon the same scale as above, was 2.50 (SD=0.74) and the averagescore of their reported formulated opinion of the political system onthe same scale was 2.91 (SD=0.69).

9.2. Majority–minority affiliation and political knowledge, attitudes andvalues

As shown in Table 1, MANOVA was conducted in order to examinethe main effect of minority–majority affiliation. The findings regard-ing differences in political knowledge, attitudes and values betweenPalestinian and Jewish students in Israel were mixed. On the onehand, Jewish students (M=3.28; SD=0.49) attributed more impor-tance to the political system than Palestinian students (M=3.16,SD=0.60), F(1, 1388)=25.08, pb .001. On the other hand, Palestinianstudents (M=2.38, SD=0.61) reported more trust in the politicalsystem and political leaders than Jewish students (M=2.18,SD=0.51), F(1, 1388)=52.69, pb .001. Palestinian students(M=2.54, SD=0.74) were also more aware of the political systemthan Jewish students (M=2.49, SD=0.72), F(1, 1388)=19.98,pb .001. Palestinian students (M=3.00, SD=0.66) also reported amore formulated opinion of the political system than Jewish students(M=2.85, SD=0.69), F(1, 1388)=4.18, pb0.05. No significant dif-ferences were found between the two groups regarding politicalknowledge.

9.3. Gender and political knowledge, attitudes, and values

MANOVAwas conducted in order to examine themain effects of gen-der on political knowledge, attitudes and norms, as well as the interac-tion between gender and majority–minority division (see Table 1).Boys reported more knowledge of the political system (M=2.72,SD=0.88) than girls (M=2.50, SD=0.83), F(1, 1388)=23.05, pb .001.Boys (M=2.32, SD=0.58) also reported having more trust in thepolitical system and political leaders than girls (M=2.26, SD=0.56),F(1, 1388)=10.10, pb .01. They also reportedmore awareness of the po-litical system (M=2.63, SD=0.72) andmore formulated opinions of thepolitical system (M=2.99, SD=0.65) than girls (M=2.42, SD=0.73;

M=2.88, SD=0.70, respectively) [F(1, 1388)=30.53, pb .001;F(1, 1388)=14.84, pb .001, respectively]. However, girls attribut-ed more importance to political activities (M=3.28, SD=0.52)than boys (M=3.15, SD=0.58), F(1, 1388)=22.68, pb .001.

The examination of the interaction between gender and majority–minority affiliation (Table 1) yielded some interesting findings, as il-lustrated in Figs. 1–3. First, a significant interaction-effect was foundbetween gender and nationality regarding attributed importance tothe political system [F(1, 1388)=12.49, pb .001]. Post-hoc compari-sons conducted by independent samples t-tests comparing boys andgirls in their attribution of importance to the political system withinJewish and Palestinian societies, as illustrated in Fig. 1, showed thatwhile girls (among both Jewish and Palestinians) reported more at-tributed importance of the political systems, the size of the gap be-tween boys and girls in Arab and Jewish societies was different.While the gap between Jewish boys (M=3.24, SD=0.53) and Jewishgirls (M=3.29, SD=0.48) was small (i.e., they had similar levels ofattributed importance of the political system) and statistically insig-nificant (t(752)=−1.322, p>0.05), the gap between Palestinianboys (M=2.99, SD=0.66) and Palestinian girls (M=3.23,SD=0.58) was larger and statistically significant, t(789)=−5.274,pb .001.

Similarly, as shown in Table 1, there was a significant interaction-effect between gender and nationality regarding adolescents' perceivedknowledge of the political system [F(1, 1388)=4.48, pb .01]. Post-hoccomparisons showed that while boys (among both Jewish and Palesti-nians) reported significantly more knowledge than girls, the gap be-tween Jewish boys (M=2.71, SD=0.91) and Jewish girls (M=2.58,SD=0.93), (t(764)=2.011, p=0.04) was smaller than the gap be-tween Palestinian boys (M=2.79, SD=0.85) and Palestinian girls(M=2.51, SD=0.91) in their perceived knowledge of the political sys-tem, (t(835)=4.457, pb0.001). However, both gaps were found to bestatistically insignificant.

In contrast to the findings above, a significant interaction wasfound between gender and nationality regarding adolescents' per-ceived awareness of the political system, F(1, 1388)=7.65, pb .01

Table 2Descriptive statistics and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA): the relationship between political participation indices and religiosity.

Political participation dimension Very religious(n=113)

Religious(n=370)

Sensitive to religion(n=799)

Secular(n=344)

Atheist(n=39)

Multivariate Analysisof Variance (MANOVA)

M (SD)

Attributed importance to political activities 3.15 (0.65) 3.18 (0.53) 3.22 (0.55) 3.25 (0.56) 3.18 (0.60) F(4, 1433)=0.97, p>0.05Adolescents' knowledge of the political system 2.73 (0.77) 2.55 (0.80) 2.60 (0.84) 2.60 (0.87) 2.72 (0.77) F(4, 1433)=1.19, p>0.05Adolescents' trust in the political system 2.22 (0.61) 2.24 (0.54) 2.33 (0.58) 2.24 (0.57) 2.40 (0.60) F(4, 1433)=2.37, p>0.05Adolescents' awareness of the political system 2.78 (0.20) 2.47 (0.76) 2.51 (0.69) 2.57 (0.76) 2.42 (0.83) F(4, 1433)=3.91, pb0.01Formulated opinion of the political system 3.09 (0.73) 2.89 (0.63) 2.95 (0.67) 2.89 (0.74) 2.77 (0.77) F(4, 1433)=2.39, pb0.05

2.9

2.95

3

3.05

3.1

3.15

3.2

3.25

3.3

3.35

3.4

Male Female

Att

rib

ute

d im

po

rtan

ce o

f th

e

Palestinian Jewish

po

litic

al s

yste

m

Fig. 1. Interaction between national affiliation and gender in predicting attributed im-portance of the political system.

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(see Table 1). These findings revealed a different pattern (Fig. 3).Post-hoc comparison conducted by independent samples t-testsshowed that while among both Jewish and Palestinians boysreported higher levels of formulated opinion on the political system,the gap between Jewish boys (M=2.97, SD=0.67) and Jewishgirls (M=2.72, SD=0.72) was larger and statistically significant(t(709)=4.804, pb .001) than the gap between Palestinian boys(M=3.002, SD=0.64) and Palestinian girls (M=2.96, SD=0.69)which was smaller and insignificant (t(789)=0.820, p>.05).

9.4. Religiosity and political knowledge, attitudes and values

MANOVA was conducted in order to examine the links between theadolescents' political knowledge, attitudes and values and the adoles-cents' perceived level of religiosity (Table 2). The findings revealedthat there is a significant religiosity effect for adolescents' awarenessof the political system [F(4, 1433)=3.91, pb0.05]. Post-hoc Tukey-type comparisons showed that adolescents who perceived themselvesto be very religious (M=2.78, SD=0.20) reported higher levels ofawareness of the political system than those who defined themselvesas religious (M=2.47, SD=0.76) and sensitive to religion (M=2.51,SD=0.69). There is also a religiosity significant effect for having a for-mulated opinion of the political system [F(4, 1433)=2.40, pb0.05].However, none of the post-hoc comparisons reached statistical signifi-cance, indicating a small religiosity effect. The religiosity effect on levelsof attributing importance to political activities and on adolescents'knowledge of the political system was also insignificant.

10. Discussion

This study aims to examine perceived political knowledge, atti-tudes and values among Israeli Jewish and Palestinian adolescents.It set out to investigate the four hypotheses below.

Our first hypothesis was that Israeli-Jewish adolescents wouldhave more political knowledge, show more positive political atti-tudes, attribute more importance to politics and show more trust inthe political process than their Israeli-Palestinian peers. The basisfor our hypothesis was the literature showing that adolescents frommore liberal, westernized societies were more supportive, knowl-edgeable and trusting of the political system than adolescents frommore culturally conservative, traditional and less-Western societies.The Palestinian society in Israel is generally more conservative, tradi-tional and less westernized than the Jewish society (Haj-Yahia, 1998a,1998b; Seginar & Mahajna, 2004). Yet our hypothesis was supportedonly with regard to the importance attributed to the political system,where Jewish adolescents attributed more importance to the politicalsystem than their Palestinian peers. With regard to the remainingthree variables, our findings disproved the hypothesis. Palestinianstudents reported more trust in the political system, they weremore aware of the political system and they had more formulatedopinions of the political system than their Jewish peers. No significantdifferences regarding political knowledge were found betweennationalities.

One possible explanation for the discrepancy between the findingsand the hypothesis might be found in the literature about the role ofminority youth's participation in political protest and activities in thedevelopment of adolescents' political perceptions. Recent studies in Is-rael have hinted at this, showing that Palestinian adolescents are lesssupportive of children's rights in general than Jewish Israelis, but areas supportive of political rights as their Jewish peers (Ben-Arieh &Khoury-Kassabri, 2008). If this is the case, our findings might indicatethe consequence of two different influences. On the one hand the con-servative, traditional culture, which might negatively influence adoles-cents' political approach; on the other hand actual political activityamong minority youth, who are encouraged to fight for their rights,which might have a positive influence on the development of adoles-cents' political approach.

Our second hypothesis was that boys would have more politicalknowledge, showmore positive political attitudes, attribute more im-portance to politics and show less trust in the political process thangirls. The study's findings largely supported this hypothesis. Boysreported more knowledge of the political system, more trust in thepolitical system, more awareness of the political system and moreformulated opinions of the political system than girls. Our hypothesisabout gender concurs with the general notion of the literature thatboys are socialized for more involvement in the public sphere whilegirls are more socialized to trust the political system (Atkeson &Rapoport, 2003; Norris, 2002; Schlozman et al., 1999; Verba et al.,1997). One contradiction appears in the finding that girls attributemore importance than boys to political activities. However, this pat-tern accords with findings in other studies showing that womenvote more than men (Holder, 2006; Perna, 2005). It might be thatwomen recognize the importance of public and political spheresfrom which they are often excluded, but take a more passive position,recognizing the importance but not becoming actively involved be-yond voting.

Ichilov (1991) found that in Israel schooling has a stronger posi-tive impact on boys than girls with regard to civic knowledge andawareness. In other words, schooling reinforces the involvement, ef-ficacy, and support of freedom of speech of boys more than of girls.Similar findings were also found in later studies, in which Israelimale students scored higher than female students on civics tests(Ichilov, 2007). Thus one can argue that politics in Israel is still con-sidered to be predominantly a male domain, and female students

2.4

2.45

2.5

2.55

2.6

2.65

2.7

2.75

2.8

Male Female

Kn

ow

led

ge

of t

he

po

litic

al s

yste

m

Palestinian Jewish

Fig. 2. Interaction between national affiliation and gender in predicting knowledge ofthe political system.

2.7

2.75

2.8

2.85

2.9

2.95

3

3.05

Male Female

Fo

rmu

late

d o

pin

ion

of t

he

po

litic

al s

yste

m

Palestinian Jewish

Fig. 3. Interaction between national affiliation and gender in predicting formulatedopinion of the political system.

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may be less motivated to be interested and engaged in politics(Ichilov, 1984; Ichilov, 1999; Ichilov, 2002). In the more conservativecultures, girls and women are kept even more distant from public life.These interpretations should be examined more closely in futureresearch.

Our third hypothesis was that the gap between boys and girls re-garding political knowledge, political attitudes, attributed importanceof politics and trust in the political process would be smaller amongIsraeli-Jewish adolescents than among Israeli-Palestinian adolescents.This hypothesis was only partially supported by the findings. Ourstudy found a larger gender gap among Palestinian adolescents re-garding their knowledge of the political system and the importancethey attributed to it. However, the gap between boys and girls regard-ing the formulation of political opinion was greater among Jewishteens than among Palestinian teens. As with national affiliation, wefound the effect of belonging to a more culturally conservative, tradi-tional, less westernized society, which the literature found to be influ-ential (Bogard & Sherrod, 2008; Kelly, 2009), appeared to play a lesssignificant role, and in unexpected directions, among the study par-ticipants. Again, our findings' diverging from the findings of previousstudies could be attributable to the specific context of Israeli adoles-cents, who live within a conflict and its unusual influence (Barber,1999; Brenner, 2000; Youniss et al., 2002). In any case, these findingsshould be re-examined in future studies in Israel in order to deter-mine their stability. The interpretations of the findings should be fur-ther examined as well.

The fourth hypothesis of our study was that the more religious ad-olescents define themselves to be the more they will show politicalknowledge, positive political attitudes, attributed importance to poli-tics and trust in the political process. Our findings did establish a reli-giosity effect for the adolescents' awareness of the political system, aswe had hypothesized. Our study also found a religiosity effect for theformulated opinion of the political system, but none of the post-hoccomparisons reached a statistical significance, indicating that the reli-giosity effect was small and without clear direction. Religiosity wasfound to have no significant effect on the other political indices.

One possible explanation for this might be the nature of theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict. As much as this is a national conflict, it isalso a religious one (Kellman, 1999). In fact, on both sides religiousgroups spearhead the conflict (Bekerman, 2003). The fact that religi-osity was found to be positively related to political awareness andalso weakly related to the formulation of political opinion might notbe surprising in a context where politics and religion are so inter-twined. The fact that religiosity was not related to political knowl-edge, trust in the political system and attribution of importance to itcould again be the consequence of a contradiction between the con-servatism associated with religiosity on the one hand and the closelinks between religiosity and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on theother hand. This possible interpretation should be further investigat-ed in future research.

11. What have we learned so far?

Guided by Political Socialization Theory, this study set out to ex-amine the contribution of nationality, gender and religiosity on ado-lescents' political knowledge, political attitudes and political values.Following earlier studies we hypothesized that adolescents frommore liberal, modern and westernized societies have greater politicalknowledge, more positive attitudes and a higher opinion of the polit-ical system than those from more conservative societies.

Examining the unique socio-political context of Israel by includingJewish and Palestinian adolescents we were able to examine the con-tribution of certain factors on youth living in a conflict zone and in aconflict that is both national and religious in its nature. This uniquesituation not only creates opportunities for more thorough investiga-tion but also leads to some important findings.

Our study found that the role of gender was largely in accord withthe findings of other studies. This allowed us to add to the existingknowledge with findings from a different, less-Western, non-Christian culture. Our findings regarding the role of nationality andreligiosity were not in accord with other studies, however. Thismight stem from the fact that our findings were first and foremostthe consequence of the national and religious conflict in which Israeliadolescents' lives are embedded. Previous studies have found life in aconflict context to have an influence on political perceptions (Barber,1999; Youniss & Yates, 1997). These earlier studies focused on conflictas the major influence on youth's political approach, however, andlacked a wider perspective that includes additional contextualvariables.

Our study examined a number of such variables, enabling us inparticular to highlight the potential role of various factors of life with-in a conflict zone on the development of adolescents' political ap-proach. While our study does not enable us to concludeaffirmatively that living within a conflict has more influence on chil-dren's political approach than levels of conservatism and religiosity,it nevertheless calls our attention to such a possibility, and calls forfuture examination of this pattern of findings.

All studies necessarily have their limitations. The sample used inthe current study is a convenience sample, for example, and not a rep-resentative one. Future studies should use random sampling methodsto better represent the different groups of adolescents in Israel. Also,although our outcome variables measures were based on existingscales, in their current form their psychometric properties were notexamined in other studies in Israel. This study exposes the complicat-ed role that different contexts in which adolescents are living have ontheir attitudes, awareness and values regarding the political system.As policy designers wish to address the deteriorating political partic-ipation of adolescents, they should take into consideration cultural,religious and gender affiliations, as well as the general context ofthe socio-political circumstances in which young people live.

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