The political socialization of St. John's school children in grades four to eight

Rice, Maxwell (1981) The political socialization of St. John's school children in grades four to eight. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the political socialization of St. John's school children in grades four to eight. The study was concerned with how variables such as grade level, socioeconomic status, sex, and school type (religion) affected students knowledge of politics, evaluation of government, partisanship and perceived importance of election outcomes, and participation attitudes and behavior. -- An extensive review of related literature was undertaken in order to gain a greater insight into the nature of child political socialization. Very little research has been done on child political socialization in Newfoundland. Most of the studies to date have been conducted in the United States. There are, however, a number of important Canadian studies on child political socialization. The American and Canadian studies that have been conducted proved to be a useful source of information, both theoretical and methodological, on child political socialization in St. John’s, Newfoundland. -- A questionnaire that included only multiple choice items was administered by the investigator to 600 students from five schools in different geographical regions of St. John’s. Three schools were selected from the St. John’s Roman Catholic School System and two from the Avalon Consolidated School System. -- Because of the nature of the study (a survey questionnaire), descriptive statistics were used to analyze the findings. A series of percentage tables were constructed giving student responses to various items on the questionnaire. -- The findings were analyzed under four main headings: findings related to student knowledge of political leaders and institutions, findings related to student evaluation of the job done by political leaders and institutions, findings related to partisanship and perceived importance of election outcomes, and finally, findings related to participation attitudes and behavior. -- When analyzing the findings concerning students’ knowledge of politics, evaluation of the job done by political leaders and institutions, partisanship and perceived importance of election outcomes, and participation attitudes and behavior, it was noted that many differences were not consistently large for all independent variables. For instance, students knowledge of politics was not consistently related to grade level, socioeconomic status, sex differences, and religion (type of school). Students at all grade levels tended to be equally aware of the mayor, however, students in the higher grades (seven and eight) tended to be more aware of the premier and prime minister.

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