Youth Political Participation : A Qualitative Study of Undergraduate Students at the University of Ghana

The present paper employed focus group interview discussions as data collection tool from a sample of 36 female and male undergraduate students at the University of Ghana to examine the effect of such socio-cultural factors as age, gender, education, and religion affect their participation in politics. Discourse and thematic analyses of the data corroborated many quantitative research findings of political participation. Males were more likely to express interest in and participate in politics than their female counterparts, while younger youth were less likely to participate in politics than older youth. Contrary to the findings of many quantitative studies, educational level had an inverse relationship with participation in politics, while no significant relationship was observed between religion and political participation by the youth. The relatively low participation in politics by the youth is the result of their sense of corruption and distrust in politics and the pervasiveness of discrimination based on age and gender.