The mass media and changes in adolescents' political knowledge during an election cycle

Conway, M. Margaret; Ahern, David K.; Wyckoff, Mikel L.

doi:10.1007/bf00989956

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Parents and schools, for example, are important sources of political knowledge for children (Andolina, Jenkins, Zukin, & Keeter, ; Linimon & Joslyn, ; McIntosh, Hart, & Youniss, ). News media, such as television and newspapers, are also influential (Cho & McLeod, ; Conway, Ahern, & Wyckoff, ; McDevitt, ; Sugarman, ). Furthermore, children's political knowledge is known to vary across social groups and individual‐difference variables, with potentially important repercussions for individuals and political systems.…”

Section: Core Concernsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Empirical work supports the notion that elections are associated with changes in youths' political knowledge and attitudes. Several longitudinal studies indicate that U.S. youths' political knowledge tends to increase during election campaigns, even for children as young as 6 years of age (Allen, ; Conway et al, ). Conway et al () found that adolescents' political knowledge increased over the course of a presidential election year, with election‐related items (e.g., understanding of the electoral college) showing greater increases than general political knowledge items (e.g., naming the three branches of government).…”

Section: Rationales For Studying Us Presidential Electionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several longitudinal studies indicate that U.S. youths' political knowledge tends to increase during election campaigns, even for children as young as 6 years of age (Allen, ; Conway et al, ). Conway et al () found that adolescents' political knowledge increased over the course of a presidential election year, with election‐related items (e.g., understanding of the electoral college) showing greater increases than general political knowledge items (e.g., naming the three branches of government). Similarly, Allen () examined children's political understanding over the course of a presidential election year, using a sample of first, third, and fifth grade children.…”

Section: Rationales For Studying Us Presidential Electionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Children's and adolescents' use of news media, such as reading and watching television news, is positively related to political knowledge and engagement (Austin & Nelson, ; Buckingham, ; Conway et al, ). Television is a particularly important source of information for children because their engagement with written news media is limited by their reading skills.…”

Section: Presidential Elections In Context: Roles Of Media Schools mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Television is a particularly important source of information for children because their engagement with written news media is limited by their reading skills. Indeed, children's (but not adults') viewing of television news is positively correlated with their political knowledge (Atkin, ; Cho & McLeod, ; Conway et al, ). Few studies, however, have examined the content of the media messages to which children were exposed during presidential election campaigns, or children's interpretation of those messages.…”

Section: Presidential Elections In Context: Roles Of Media Schools mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Toward a Developmental Science of Politics

Patterson

Bigler

Pahlke

et al. 2019

Monographs Society Res Child

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this monograph, we argue for the establishment of a developmental science of politics that describes, explains, and predicts the formation and change of individuals’ political knowledge, attitudes, and behavior beginning in childhood and continuing across the life course. Reflecting our goal of contributing both theoretical conceptualizations and empirical data, we have organized the monograph into two broad sections. In the first section, we outline theoretical contributions that the study of politics may make to developmental science and provide practical reasons that empirical research in the domain of politics is important (e.g., for identifying ways to improve civics education and for encouraging higher voting rates among young adults). We also review major historical approaches to the study of political development and provide an integrative theoretical framework to ground future work. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems model as an organizing scheme and emphasizing social justice issues, we describe how factors rooted in cultural contexts, families, and children themselves are likely to shape political development. In the second section of the monograph, we argue for the importance and utility of studying major political events, such as presidential elections, and introduce the major themes, rationales, and hypotheses for a study of U.S. children's views of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In addition, we apply a social‐justice lens to political thought and participation, addressing the role of gender/sex and race/ethnicity in children's political development broadly, and in their knowledge and views of the 2016 U.S. presidential election specifically. In interviews conducted within the month before and after the election, we examined two overarching categories of children's political attitudes: (a) knowledge, preferences, and expectations about the 2016 election, and (b) knowledge and attitudes concerning gender/sex and politics, particularly relevant for the 2016 election given Hillary Clinton's role as the first female major‐party candidate for the presidency. Participants were 187 children (101 girls) between 5 and 11 years of age (M = 8.42 years, SD = 1.45 years). They were recruited from schools and youth organizations in five counties in four U.S. states (Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, and Washington) with varying voting patterns (e.g., Trump voters ranged from 27% to 71% of county voters). The sample was not a nationally representative one, but was racially diverse (35 African American, 50 Latinx, 81 White, and 21 multiracial, Asian American, Middle Eastern, or Native American children). In addition to several child characteristics (e.g., age, social dominance orientation [SDO]), we assessed several family and community characteristics (e.g., child‐reported parental interest in the election and government‐reported county‐level voting patterns, respectively) hypothesized to predict outcome variables. Although our findings are shaped by the nature of our sample (e.g., our partici...

show abstract