Lowering the voting age to 16 in the Scottish independence referendum had positive effects and should be extended to all elections, a report suggests.
The move could increase young people's engagement with politics, according to the study.
For this to happen, informed political discussion should also be encouraged in classrooms, researchers say.
The report from the University of Edinburgh found that schools had more influence than parents in giving young people confidence in understanding politics.
The study of under-18 year-olds in the referendum found that young people were at least as interested in politics as adults. Only seven per cent had never talked about the vote with anyone.
Young people were less likely than adults to align themselves with political parties, but the proportion who said they did not feel an affinity to one dropped in the year before the vote, from 57% to 51%.
Parents had a strong influence in encouraging young people to vote, but had less impact on how they voted, researchers found.
More than 40% of under-18s said they intended to vote differently than their parents.
Schools played a more significant role than parents in enhancing young people's political understanding, but only when pupils actively discussed the referendum in class. Lessons on general political issues did not have the same effect.
Researchers conducted two surveys of under-18s, in April and May 2013 and then one year later. More than 1000 young people responded to each survey.
Dr Jan Eichhorn from the University of Edinburgh's School of Social and Political Science and the author of the study, said "Fears of under-18s being inappropriately ideologised stem from an underestimation of young people's capabilities. We found these fears to be unfounded. Their engagement with politics is complex and they appreciate school as a space to do this".
"To have a lasting, positive impact, we need to trust schools and teachers to discuss politics actively in the classroom. There are positive effects on young people's political understanding and confidence that parental influence cannot achieve but school can."
In most European countries voting in national elections is reserved for people who are at least 18 years old. Few exceptions exist however: in 2007 Austria changed its laws and now allows 16 year olds to take part in all elections. Apart from this however, most countries tend to limit extensions of the voting franchise to local and regional elections or small-scale trials.
Because of this situation data on political attitudes of 16 and 17 year olds is relatively rare. Many of the studies that have engaged with arguments for and against lowering the voting age to 16 have therefore relied on studying young adults (often 18 to 24 or 30 year olds).
"The analyses provide an optimistic picture about young people and the potential benefits from lowering the voting age to 16. The results mirror some experiences from research conducted in Austria, suggesting that an earlier voting age is found to relate to positive effects on political engagement with a distinct role for schools," Dr Eichhorn said.
The study said that there is a distinct effect political discussion in class can have on young people that no other institution could replicate for all young people after the age of 18. Young people who actively discussed the referendum in class felt more confident in their political understanding - an effect that conversations with no other group of people (such as parents) could replicate. School appears to act as a neutral ground to discuss politics and learn about it in an informed way. Through this engagement it may even be possible to increase the relevance of political parties for young people.
"We observed a reduction in those who did not feel close to any political party from 2013 to 2014 as more had engaged in discussions about the referendum. Early engagement with politics, in which young people have a vote that is supported through schools as a neutral space for discussion, may improve the starting point into their political lives," the study said.
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