What makes up democracy? Meanings of democracy and their correlates among adolescents in 38 countries

Several studies investigate the meanings of democracy among the adult population. In contrast, less is knownabout young citizens’ ideas of democracy, and which individual and contextual characteristics are associatedwith them. This article contributes tothe literature by uncovering the meanings of democracy and their correlates among adolescents in 38 countries. Using the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2009, the article shows that meanings of democracy vary among adolescents. These meanings are the results of how adolescents find various aspects of democracy, as the rule of law, freedoms, rights, pluralism, or equality, constitutive of it. Then, the article assesses whether socialization agents and personal characteristics account forthe different meanings of democracy to adolescents. Finally, the analysis addresses the role that larger contexts –democratization and human development –have in the formation of concepts of democracy among adolescents.