Political Engagement Research Group (POENG)

Political Engagement Research Group (POENG) focuses on studying political attitudes and behaviour. Our group examines e.g. inequalities in political participation, political trust and efficacy, and various other measures of political engagement. In our recent and ongoing research projects, we particularly investigate political socialization, aiming to provide a deep understanding of how political attitudes and behaviours are formed during childhood and adolescence.

Leader

Elina Kestilä-Kekkonen

Professor, valtio-oppi

Faculty of Management and Business

Tampere University

elina.kestila-kekkonen [at] tuni.fi (elina[dot]kestila-kekkonen[at]tuni[dot]fi)

+358504086215

City Centre Campus

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2439-1056

Members

Tampere University

Contact persons

Tampere University

Elina Kestilä-Kekkonen

Professor. valtio-oppi. Faculty of Management and Business.

+358504086215

elina.kestila-kekkonen [at] tuni.fi (elina[dot]kestila-kekkonen[at]tuni[dot]fi)

DISCO - Discontinuities in Intergenerational Transmission of Political Values in Finland (DISCO)

Classical studies on political socialization show a strong intergenerational transmission of political values between parents and children: Parents transmit values to their offspring via both nature and nurture.

Young adults aged 18-42 (Millennials and Gen-Z) in Western countries are much more disconnected from formal politics than their parents. They also have distinct political leanings from their parents: they tend to be more liberal, have higher education levels, adopt a more global perspective on politics, and place less emphasis on religion.

The family structures, social milieu, and individual lifestyles of millennials also deviate significantly from those of their parents and may affect their political value formation. While Finnish millennials themselves have often socialised into politics in traditional heteronormative two-parent nuclear families, their own family structures have become much more diverse.

Low fertility, voluntary childlessness, postponed parenthood, divorce, remarriage, post-divorce families, blended families, single parenthood, and joint custody, as well as the increasing number of non-heteronormative families have all contributed to rising postmodern family diversity, and single-person households are becoming increasingly common.

Furthermore, the rise in migration has increased the prevalence of intercultural families, which often span national borders. In these families, parent-child value transmission may be uniquely influenced by the fact that parents and children are socialized into politics in different cultural contexts.

DISCO homepage

Elina Kestilä-Kekkonen

Tampere University

Professor

valtio-oppi

Faculty of Management and Business

+358504086215elina.kestila-kekkonen [at] tuni.fi (elina[dot]kestila-kekkonen[at]tuni[dot]fi)

Josefina Sipinen

Tampere University

University Lecturer

valtio-oppi

Faculty of Management and Business

+358503187681josefina.sipinen [at] tuni.fi (josefina[dot]sipinen[at]tuni[dot]fi)

Aino Tiihonen

Tampere University

Grant Holder, Post Doc Research

Faculty of Management and Business

+358503187649aino.tiihonen [at] tuni.fi (aino[dot]tiihonen[at]tuni[dot]fi)

Jussi Westinen

Tampere University

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Faculty of Management and Business

+358503267218jussi.westinen [at] tuni.fi (jussi[dot]westinen[at]tuni[dot]fi)

Publications

2025

Kestilä-Kekkonen, Elina, Sipinen, Josefina & Rapeli, Lauri & Vadén, Salla (2025) The role of political engagement of parents in reducing the gender gap in political self-efficacy. European Journal of Politics and Gender 8(3), 622-644. https://doi.org/10.1332/25151088Y2023D000000005

Vadén, Salla, Sipinen, Josefina, & Söderlund, Peter (2025) School track and adolescents’ climate change attitudes. Environmental Education Research, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2025.2461681

Jakobson, Mari Liis, Sipinen, Josefina & Taimla, Kaarel (2024) Are Estonians the true Finns? Homeland and residence country perspectives on support for the populist radical right. International Migration 63(3), e13356. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13356

Kestilä-Kekkonen, Elina, Sipinen, Josefina & Söderlund, Peter (2025) Family Beats School? Adolescents' Turnout Intention on Different Educational Tracks. Scandinavian Political Studies 48(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9477.12300

2024

Hannuksela, Venla & Tiihonen, Aino (2024) Minority bonding to political self-efficacy: a case study on bonding and bridging social capital and political self-efficacy among adolescents in Finland. Frontiers in Political Science 5. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2023.1270065/full

Hannuksela, Venla (2024) Explaining the gap: Why do Swedish-speaking minority youth have higher political self-efficacy than Finnish-speaking majority youth? Scandinavian Political Studies, 47, 72–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9477.12265

Kestilä-Kekkonen, Elina, Josefina Sipinen ja Aino Tiihonen (toim.) (2024). Yläkoulun opettajat ja demokratiakasvatus : Käsitykset, resurssit ja toteuttamismahdollisuudet. Helsinki: opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-263-981-3

2023

Kestilä-Kekkonen, Elina, Josefina Sipinen & Peter Söderlund (2023). Mummy’s girls, daddy’s boys: the gendered transmission of political engagement in families, West European Politics, https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2023.2275447

Political Engagement Research Group (POENG)

Leader

Elina Kestilä-Kekkonen

Members

Josefina Sipinen

Jussi Westinen

Aino Tiihonen

Venla Hannuksela

Contact persons

Elina Kestilä-Kekkonen