Family Matters: The Effects of Adolescents’ Exposure to Political Discussion in the Home David E. Campbell University of Notre Dame

Discussion: What you say Disagreement: What you think Deliberation: How you decide

Hypotheses ParticipationEfficacyComfort with Conflict Deliberation

Hypotheses ParticipationEfficacyComfort with Conflict Deliberation Disagreement

Hypotheses ParticipationEfficacyComfort with Conflict Deliberation Disagreement Discussion

Hypotheses ParticipationEfficacyComfort with Conflict Deliberation Disagreement Discussion Disagreement and Discussion

Data Family Matters survey – Done in the US – 2,500 parent-teen dyads – Administered online by YouGov/Polimetrix – Survey done in – Wave 2 just completed, waves 3-4 yet to come

Deliberation Index How often do your parents: Talk over important family decisions with you? Listen to your side of an argument? Let you have a say in making up rules that concern you? I feel free to disagree openly with my parents about political and social issues My parents encourage me to make up my own mind about political and social issues My parents respect my opinions and encourage me to express them My parents present several sides of an issue when explaining it Never/Rarely/Sometimes/Often

Disagreement Index How closely do your ideas agree with your parents’ ideas about: What values are important in life? Religion? Politics? Racial issues? What are appropriate roles for women? The role of gays and lesbians in society? Very similar/ Mostly similar/ Mostly different/ Very different/ Don’t know

Disagreement Robustness Check Partisan Disagreement – Parent and teen have different party ID

Discussion How often do you talk about social and political issues with your parents and family? Never Rarely Sometimes Often

Efficacy (individual) Thinking about the problems you see in your community, how much difference do you believe you can personally make in working to solve problems you see? A great deal of difference Some difference A little difference No difference at all

Efficacy (group) Thinking about the problems you see in your community, how much difference do you believe people working together as a group can make in working to solve problems you see? A great deal of difference Some difference A little difference No difference at all

Intention to vote Have you ever done or plan to do the following things? Vote in a public election I will certainly not do this I will probably not do this I will probably do this I will certainly do this I have already done this Don’t know

Comfort with conflict When people argue about political issues, I feel uneasy and uncomfortable. Strongly agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly disagree

Controls Parental measure of dependent variable Parental political participation Parental level of education Teen’s age Teen’s gender Parental expectation to teen’s educational attainment – All control variables set to means; 95% confidence bars

Deliberation Hypothesis

Disagreement Hypothesis

Discussion Hypothesis

Disagreement and Discussion Hypothesis

Robustness Check: Party identification

Summary ParticipationEfficacyComfort with Conflict Deliberation Disagreement Discussion Disagreement and Discussion

Next Steps Explanations – Wave 2: what happens when youth disagree with parents? Views change, appreciate different sides, strengthens views, more likely to agree or disagree with parents – Home compared to school, friends, online – Longitudinal analysis Waves 2-4

If you remember nothing else... Families matter!