ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Media Governance and the Public Sphere
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1625965
Gender Differences in the Use of Online Platforms for Political Participation
Provisionally accepted
- 1Dipartimento Culture e Società, Università degli studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
- 2Università degli studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
- 3Department of Sociology, Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Citizens' disengagement in political participation has become a problem in many democracies due to its negative consequences on the equal and inclusive representation of the population. However, little is known about the extent to which online platforms have become a useful tool for sustaining political participation for the most underrepresented groups (e.g., young adults and women). The present study investigates gender differences in the association between online civic participation and political participation (i.e., interest, opinion formation, and involvement) among young adults in Italy, and the mediating role of affinity with political disengagement in these associations. Data were collected from 1149 young adults (68.9% women), ranging in age from 18 to 35 years old (Mage = 25.61, SD = 4.41) by using an online survey. Results of the multiple-group (women vs men) path analysis model evidenced that online civic engagement is directly and indirectly (through affinity with political disengagement) positively associated with high political participation, with few gender differences. Online civic participation is directly related to the ease of forming opinions in politics only for women, suggesting some potential benefit of online tools in reducing the gender gap in women's participation in the political debate. Such findings may help to develop future programs aimed at fostering political participation among young adults.
Keywords: online civic participation, political interest, Political opinion, Political involvement, Gender difference, Mistrust, young adults Space After: 12 pt Formatted: Space Before: 0 pt Formatted: Space Before: 0 pt, After: 0 pt Formatted: Space Before: 0 pt
Received: 09 May 2025; Accepted: 24 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cirimele, Macaluso, Agolino, Çabuk Kaya and Zappulla. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Flavia Cirimele, Dipartimento Culture e Società, Università degli studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.