The Social Factors Inf luencing Thai Students’ Political Participation

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to test the explanatory and predictive power of certain social factors in relation to Thai students’ political participation. Four forms of participation, namely tracking political information, conventional participation, political consumerism, and political demonstration, were treated as separate but related facets of participation. The data were collected from 13,950 students studying at 45 universities located in all regions of Thailand, including Bangkok. The analysis was performed by correlation coefficient and multiple regression. The f indings show that the correlations among variables were positive and signif icant, and that social factors can signif icantly explain and predict political participation.