What explains political engagement? What effect might political disagreement among an individual’s friends and family members have on his or her decision to participate in the political arena? These questions are fundamental to understanding how democratic citizenship is practiced among regular people. An ongoing debate over how political discord in one’s interpersonal context relates to political participation motivates our inquiry: some studies show a positive relationship (disagreement is interesting and animates the political arena), others a negative one (disagreement is uncomfortable and causes people to “chicken out” from politics). We leverage a uniquely rich panel survey of over 8,000 young Swedes to offer two novel sets of insights. First, we compare discord among separately interviewed friends (up to eight friends) and separately interviewed parents to establish each network’s influence on political engagement. Second, by looking at young people (teens as well as twenty-somethings) over time (five annual waves) we provide the first dynamic analysis of discord’s influence on the early development of political orientations. And because political participation in youth is a strong predictor of lifelong engagement patterns, this study is especially weighty. Analysis that considers the mediating roles of factors such as personality (Big 5) and media attention enriches our research.