Which Historical Events Do We Consider Important? on the Validity of the Critical Years Hypothesis

The critical years hypothesis is one of the most influential hypotheses in de the social sciences. It is argued that the attitudes of persons are determined by their experiences when they are young (between 17 and 25 years old). This is an important hypothesis as it is expected that each generation has a unique pattern of attitudes because they are socialized in unique social contexts and as a result the succession of generations potentially changes societies. In this study we have tested the validity of this critical years hypothesis. First, by comparing the power of the critical years hypothesis with the strength of alternative patterns and second by structurally examine the conditionality of the critical years hypothesis we will obtain more information on the general soundness of this influential and important hypothesis. In this study only limited evidence is found for the critical years hypothesis. Implications of this finding are discussed in the concluding section of this paper.