Bruce D. Merrill

Political socialization in the classroom revisited: The Kids Voting program

Abstract Can a civic education program have a short-term impact on political awareness of students and also lead to higher turnout by their parents? This political socialization study evaluates a program, used by 2.3 million students in 1994, that was designed to achieve both goals. Responses to a random survey of 24,976 participants in the Kids Voting program indicate that most students followed the election campaign closely and found the KV program to be enjoyable and useful. Analysis of non-equivalent control groups shows a slight gain in turnout in areas where schools used the program, compared to areas where it was not used. The study also suggests Kids Voting may have several secondary benefits, such as increased student use of the news media and increased discussions of public affairs with family and friends—activities which are linked to long-term political socialization. It remains unclear whether any changes in student attitudes associated with the program are simply short-term in nature.

A Comparison of Competing Models of the News Diffusion Process.

This study investigated the diffusion of information about the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. Previous research indicated that news of major events spreads throughout the populace relatively quickly. In this study, approximately half of the respondents heard of the event within thirty minutes of the explosion. Unlike previous research, which has tended to look at the effect of variables in isolation, this study compared loglinear models of the diffusion process. Results indicated that the most parsimonious model with adequate goodness of fit was a “linear” one in which where one was affected how one heard, which affected when one heard. Suggestions for future research include attempts to model the diffusion process for events that receive less media coverage than the shuttle explosion.

The next generation of news consumers: Children’s news media choices in an election campaign

Children of all ages are more likely to use electronic sources of information such as television and radio-than they are print sources-such as newspapers and magazines-according to a variety of studies. This study examines whether this tendency continues if the children are forced by their primary and secondary school teachers to use multiple news sources-of their own choice-to follow an election campaign. Based on responses from an extraordinarily large sample of 24,348 children, this study focuses on media use by participants in the Kids Voting USA civics education program. Study results demonstrate that even when seeking campaign information in 1994, a non-presidential election year when the emphasis was more on state and local races, children overwhelmingly preferred television and radio as sources of information. Newspaper usage trailed both electronic forms even when a childs family subscribed to a paper. The study found no significant difference between White and non-White children in their choice...