Empirical findings on the origins of political trust among adolescents are limited and tend to understand political trust as unidimensional. Building on recent research capturing the importance of conceptualizing political trust as a two-dimensional construct, the present study aims to investigate origins of trust in order and representative institutions among adolescents, using three theoretical frameworks: social capital, procedural fairness, and critical citizen theory. It draws on data from a representative sample of eight-grade students across 15 European countries that participated in the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016. Multilevel analyses show that positive relationships with peers and feeling fairly treated by teachers are strong, positive predictors of both dimensions of political trust and affect European adolescents in a uniform way. The effect of civic knowledge varies by country characteristics, becoming more positive with lower levels of public sector corruption. Overall, our findings confirm the validity of both rational and cultural approaches in explaining political trust among young emerging citizens across Europe. Implications for teachers and civic education practices are discussed.