Closing gaps in political communication and knowledge - Effects of a school intervention

A model of family influence that reverses the traditional roles of parents and children is presented to explain the results of a school intervention t hat narrowed political communication and knowledge gaps between parents of high and low socioeconomic status (SES). Students' exposure to a civics cur riculum stimulated adolescent news media use at home and discussions with p arents about an ongoing election campaign. These discussions, in turn, stim ulated parents to pay more attention to news and to gain political knowledg e. Students in Grades 5 through 12 and one parent from each family were int erviewed in a quasi-experimental evaluation of the civics curriculum (N = 4 57 pairs). Parents in low-SES homes had not been strongly socialized to pol itics in their own youth, but their children's exposure to the school inter vention provided them a second chance at citizenship. This study highlights the capacity of the child to stimulate political communication in low-SES families.