Legal Guarantees of Individual Freedom: A Cross‐National Study of the Development of Political Thought

Abstract

American, British, and German adolescents between the ages of 11 and 18 were asked to weigh the merits of two potentially intrusive laws and to state whether or not individual freedoms ought to enjoy certain legal safeguards. Older subjects were both more aware that the proposed laws might constitute an invasion of privacy and more interested in obtaining legal guarantees of individual liberties, even in the event of an emergency. While the developmental results were more striking than the cross‐national ones, the concern for preserving individual liberties was especially marked among American adolescents. These findings are taken as evidence for the development of an “ideology” or “feeling for ideals” during adolescence.