The subject of this research is the analysis of factors, trends and forms of political participation of youth. From the perspective of the theory of political participation, the author examines the problems of engagement of youth into political activity, as well as gives assessment to the state of channels of political mobilization of young generation at the present stage of development of political system. The comparison of the motive and method of involvement reveals the differences between the two groups of politically active youth, their specific features as a subject of political participation. Particular attention is paid to studying the impact of social feeling of youth upon the selection of form of political engagement and participation. The empirical framework contains the polling data of the two subgroups of young activists (N=600) of political organizations. The first group includes the activists of pro-government political parties, as well as the members of regional youth parliaments, governments and civic chambers (n=300). The second group of respondents (n=300) includes the activists of “non-systemic” political organizations, serving as the core of modern youth protest. The author’s main contribution consists in the description and comparison of factors defining the choice of strategy for political participation of the activists of sociopolitical organizations. The revealed peculiarities of ideological-political orientations, motivations and indicators of social wellbeing of the young activists demonstrate two different paths - political participation in form of support of the existing government institutions, and oppositional participation, reflected in protest actions.