The Relationship Between the Civic Engagement of Parents and Children : a Cross-National Analysis of 18 European Countries

Although previous research has suggested the existence of a positive association between the political activities of parents and children, little is known about other forms of civic engagement. In particular, the literature lacks an international comparative study on the intergenerational transmission of civic involvement. Using Bayesian multilevel models on data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2006 special module on social participation, this article tests hypotheses on the patterns of civic engagement of parents and children in 18 European countries with different political legacies. Our results show a positive association between the participation in associational activities of parents and children in all the considered countries, above and beyond individual and contextual characteristics. In particular, we do not find an evident East–West gap in the socialization process, suggesting that the Communist past of Eastern and Central European countries has little influence on what can be considered a basic mechanism of civic learning.