The impact of attentiveness on political efficacy: Evidence from a three-year German panel study

This study established the longitudinal relationships between attentiveness to political news and an individual's sense of internal political efficacy . Respondents were surveyed at one-year intervals in 1992, 1993, and 1994, resulting in N = 1,268 in West Germany and N = 1,001 in East Germany. Struc tural equation modeling (EQS) was used to investigate the longitudinal rela tionship between attentiveness and internal political efficacy. Our results indicated that respondents' initial internal political efficacy did not af fect their subsequent attentiveness to news. However, initial attentiveness to news did enhance subsequent feelings of efficacy. The causal-correlatio nal relationships between attentiveness and efficacy held true for East and West German populations, and when controlling for key demographic variable s. These findings suggest that political efficacy should be reconceptualize d in the context of research on political learning in adulthood, and that h abits of information acquisition can be important for the socialization pro cess. The findings raise questions about the effects of news in mature demo cracies as well as societies in transition.