Explaining the purpose of political socialization programs: the experience of the Youth Parliament in Brazil

This article investigates systematically the changes generated by civic education programs on its participants, offering an integrated view of the determinants and the resulting effect patterns. Our main conclusions are: 1) values are more resistant to change than motivation, political knowledge and attitudes towards political institutions; 2) cognitive gains and attitudinal changes are more likely to occur (and with greater intensity) when the object belongs to the universe of experience related to the program; 3) effects on political participation do not occur in the present, but the data indicate a propensity latter in adult life; 4) very often, the quality of the program and the motivation of the participant determine the influence of other factors. The object of study is the Youth Parliament mining, in its 2008 edition. Our research design follows the logic of quasi-experimental research (CAMPBELL; STANLEY, 1979). In 2008, a non-random sample of 670 participants completed two rounds of interviews, 335 before and 335 after the program. We interviewed 167 participants and 168 non-participants. Adapted from the source document.