Youth Radicalization in Austria: Antecedents and Consequence

The issue of radicalization, be it political or religious, regularly occupies public attention. Most recently, the so-called "Covid-protests" raised questions about the extent to which political radicalization of individual groups is taking place. Indeed, much research has been conducted internationally over the past decades on the outcomes of radicalization in different groups and the factors that influence it. However, there are several gaps in the research to date: Causal relationships are assumed between many factors (A leads to B), but longitudinal studies are lacking to verify whether this is actually true. In addition, studies to date suggest that adoles- cence is the period that shapes radicalization, but almost all studies to date have been con- ducted with adults who recall this period rather than with adolescents who are going through it. However, recollection biases perceptions - things may be different in memory than the actual experience at the time. In addition, very little research has been done on this topic in Austria, so there are no current Austrian data. This project aims to partially fill these gaps: Adolescents aged 14 are to be accompanied over two years and surveyed several times on the develop- ment of political attitudes, various life events and various suspected risk and protective factors for radicalization via online questionnaires. The inclusion of adolescents from different types of schools will be a key aim, and we will aim to maintain contact with them even if they change or leave school during the study. The risk and protective factors studied come from the major research streams of radicalization research in various disciplines, for example, psychology (e.g., the need for social belonging, striving for justice, the search for existential meaning) and criminology (e.g., impulsivity, multiple strain such as social exclusion, lack of educational/vo- cational prospects, etc.). In addition, these approaches from radicalization research will be combined with approaches from social psychology in a broader sense: the influence of norms at different levels (institutional norms at school level, family norms set by parents, and social norms set by the peer group) as well as gender role beliefs on political attitudes will also be measured. The plan is to survey 14- to 16-year-old adolescents. The project will start in May 2023, with a duration of 4 years.