Contextual Antecedents and Political Consequences of Adolescent Political Discussion, Discussion Elaboration, and Network Diversity

Understanding how adolescents come to be informed participants in a democracy is a key concern in political socialization scholarship. However, our understanding of this process is hampered by limited research on the antecedents of a sufficiently wide array of communication behaviors and cognitions, in addition to a limited repertoire of knowledge outcomes in adolescent research. This study seeks to further the literature by addressing how discussion frequency, elaboration, and network diversity are related to factual and structural knowledge among adolescents. In addition, we utilize multilevel modeling to assess both school and parental effects on the various elements of political discussion. Results suggest that frequency of discussion is related to both factual and structural knowledge, whereas discussion elaboration is related only to structural knowledge. The multilevel models suggest that aspects of both schools and families are related to discussion frequency, elaboration, and network diversity.