Political Communication Factors Affecting University Students' Political Participation

Objective - The purposes of this research were to examine and study political communication factors affecting university students' political participation. Methodology/Technique - The population was 2,613 university students from all over Thailand. Quantitative methodology was applied to survey students' opinions. The research instrument was a questionnaire. The statistics used for data analysis were percentage, mean, standard deviation and factor analysis. The factors affecting political participation were analyzed and used to find an effective strategy to promote political participation. Findings - The research results showed that the factors affecting knowledge building in politics were family, university and classmates. Students' political decision making was based on their role models, e.g. idols, actors and musicians. The students did not agree with vote buying; however, they could not stop family or community leaders from doing it because of the seniority-based culture. Novelty - The results provide suggested guidelines for developing students' political participation.