Emerging Adults’ Intentions to Participate in Radical Protest Actions: The Role of the Parents in the Midst of Extra-Familial Influences and the Offspring’s Political Characteristics

Abstract

Abstract This study explored the influence of parental socialisation, relative to that from crucial dispositions of the offspring and other socialisation agents, on the offspring’s intentions to engage in radical protest actions in Hong Kong, a city that has been experiencing periodical socio-political upheavals and generational rifts over politics. A sample of 666 university students, aged eighteen to twenty-five years, from eight universities in Hong Kong completed the survey. Employing hierarchical regression analysis, the results revealed that participation in ritual protests among fathers positively associated with radicalism intentions. With the introduction of a broader group of socialisation agents, however, its effect on the dependent variable became statistically non-significant. Rather, peer influence and media consumption positively associated with radicalism intentions, whilst family discussions about politics negatively associated with such intentions. After including the respondents’ political characteristics in the final model, which accounted for the greatest variance in the dependent variable, no variables reflecting influences from the household remained statistically significant. Apart from peer influence and media consumption, the respondents’ past histories of activism and radicalism and his/her political sympathies over the self-determination stance positively associated with radicalism intentions. In the light of the findings, implications for future studies and social work practice are discussed.