Media and civic socialization of youth

Research on the development of citizenship has been reinvigorated by consid ering adolescents as participants actively engaged in, and interacting with , family, peers, teachers, and the media. This contrasts with earlier top-d own transmission models that saw adolescents as passive recipients of infor mation from parents and teachers. Active citizenship is now seen as a large ly indirect result of contextualized knowledge and cognitive skills learned from news media use, interpersonal communication, and active participation in school and community volunteer activities. The processes of active citi zenship learning are an important part of the moral development of adolesce nts and young adults. (C) Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2000.