Scandinavian Students Participating in Social Actions: Finding a Unified Model

This article proposes a model of home environment and school climate on the participation of ninth graders based on 1999 Civic Education Study data of students in social actions. This study examined ninth graders’ participation in social actions by means of a questionnaire; the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling methodology. The objective was to design a model, using two exogenous constructs –the home environment and school climate– and three endogenous constructs –students’ political interest, political environment, democratic values and social participation. Based on IEA Civic Study data on four countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, the study demonstrated that political interest and school climate influence political interest and political environment and these endogenous factors influence democratic values of the students. Finally democratic values influence students’ social participation.