Parental mediation and voting behavior : the effects of parental mediation on political socialization

Abstract

The study of political socialization has been focused primarily on either the agent of socialization or the learner being socialized, while scant attention has been paid to how the socialization actually occurs. This study explored the communication between parent and child that may lead to political socialization, specifically, the communication engaged in between parent and child while viewing television news. Parental mediation is a quantitative construct designed to measure parent/child interactions about television. As it is primarily a media effects construct, this study used an established political media effect-political disaffection-as the outcome variable when measuring effects of parental mediation on political socialization. Path models indicating the direction and process of parental mediation effects were predicted. Data were collected from 261 undergraduate students who were eligible to vote in the 2004 presidential election. Results did not support the proposed path models. Results also did not support active parental mediation as an influence on either political disaffection or intent to vote. Results did, however find a small but significant relationship between parent-adolescent coviewing of television news and intent to vote. Implications for future parental mediation study are discussed, as well as the study's limitations.