Leaving the Nest and the Social Act of Voting: Turnout among First-Time Voters
Open accessAbstract
Recent studies have indicated that, contrary to common belief, the relationship between age and turnout among the youngest eligible individuals is not monotonically positive, but rather strongly negative – at least for the first few years of adulthood. With a unique dataset from government records for more than 145,000 young adults, we offer a possible explanation for this intriguing pattern – changing social influences as the young adult leaves the family nest. Parental turnout influences the young adults' turnout, and young adults living at home vote more than those who have moved out on their own. When young adults leave home, the influence of their parents' strong voting habits decreases while the weaker voting patterns among their peers have a greater impact. This partly explains the surprising negative relationship between age and turnout and indicates that while political socialization indeed matters, part of the parental influence on young adults stems from voting being a social act.
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When comparing only those voting in their first-ever elections, younger first-time voters have higher chances to turn out than their slightly older peers.
“However, when comparing only those voting in their first-ever elections, younger first-time voters have higher chances to turn out than their slightly older peers (Bhatti and Hansen, 2012; Zeglovits and Aichholzer, 2014).”
From How Young People in Scotland Experience the Right to Vote at 16: Evidence on ‘Votes-at-16’ in Scotland from Qualitative Work with Young People (2021) · cites this paper as Bhatti and Hansen, 2012
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Sorted by citations
First-Time Boost Beats Experience: The Effect of past Eligibility on Turnout
Bhatti, Y., Hansen, K. M., & Wass, H. (2016) · Electoral Studies · doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2015.12.005 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citationHuebner, C. (2021) · Parliamentary Affairs · doi:10.1093/pa/gsab017 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
“One possible explanation for this pattern of voting likelihood is that younger people are more likely to still live at home when they experience their first election and thus benefit from the socialising effects of being embedded in the family or in school (Bhatti and Hansen, 2012).”
BackgroundLonger-Term Effects of Voting at Age 16: Higher Turnout Among Young People in Scotland
Eichhorn, J., & Huebner, C. (2025) · Politics and Governance · doi:10.17645/pag.9283 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“Bhatti and Hansen (2012) show that young people are indeed more likely to vote when they experience their first election whilst still living in the parental home.”
Influential
- Authors
- Bhatti, Y., & Hansen, K. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Hansen, Kasper M.
- Venue
- Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-11
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 380-406
- ISSN
- 1368-9886 (ISSN-L)
- 1745-7289
- 1745-7297
- OpenAlex
- W2072402413
- Cited by
- 137
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 42.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Locations
- Journal of Elections Public Opinion and Parties (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Pennsylvania
- Pennsylvania State University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Youth, Politics, and Society
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Keywords
- first-time voters, young adults, parental influence, political socialization, peer influence, voting behavior
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