Hawkins, Pingree & Roberts (1975) Watergate and Political Socialization

What was the long term impact of the Watergate crisis on children?
Studies show that children as young as 8 begin to form political ideas (406).

studies assessing parents and schools as the main socializing agents have not panned out; there must be something else going on.

Why Watergate? Much more information was available; and for a long time. second, it was a tarnished picture of the political process. One that differs from what they are taught in school. Third, the affective judgments encouraged by the event--lying cheating etc--are the simple good/bad kind that are easy for children to make and understand. Fourth, the President is the focus... central to a child's conception of government.

Research Design
Naturally design experiment: Watergate

Questions:
(1) What did Watergate mean to children it terms of their communication behaviors, knowledge of the events, and attitudes about specific and general aspects of the political system?
(2) which children were most involved in and affected by the Watergate scandal?


Family Communication:
(1) socio-orientation: encourage the child to avoid controversy
(2) concept-orientation: encourage expression of ideas and exposure to controversy

Hypotheses:
children from c.o. families to have payed attention to w.g. but not to have made affective judgments
children from s.o. families to have payed less attention to w.g., but still affect attitudinal responses to affective issues in the w.g. events.

Method:
N=1,173 1972
4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12 graders

Independent Variables:
Grade--older children = more comm and more knowledge
C.O. no diff
Party Preference no diff
S.O. by party no diff
Grade by Party Pref. no diff
Interest in Politics higher among older
Mean Use for Political Info more info consumption = more comm and more ken
Discussion of Politics high discourse = more communication



Dependent Variables:
Knowledge of W.G.
Communication about W.G.

Nixon's Involvement
Eval of Nixon

Findings: