Does Long-Term Residence in a Disadvantaged Neighborhood During Adolescence Influence Electoral Participation in Young Adulthood?

Research consistently demonstrates that citizens residing in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods exhibit lower levels of electoral participation. Despite this well-documented relationship, the long-term implications of growing up in such environments remain underexplored in the literature. This study seeks to address this gap by examining the extent to which exposure to disadvantaged neighborhoods during adolescence influences voting behavior in adulthood. Utilizing a comprehensive dataset of Swedish adolescents, the analysis combines survey and register data to assess the duration of neighborhood disadvantage, defined through socioeconomic and demographic indicators, and its impact on subsequent electoral participation. The findings indicate that prolonged exposure to disadvantaged neighborhoods during adolescence influences voting behavior in adulthood, even when controlling for key confounding factors such as education, income, self-efficacy, social networks, employment status, and parental education. While the observed effect size is modest and the precise mechanisms remain indeterminate, the results suggest that neighborhood conditions in formative years can have enduring consequences for democratic participation. These findings underscore the importance of neighborhood context in shaping political behavior and highlight the need for policy interventions aimed at mitigating the structural disadvantages of marginalized neighborhoods.