The extent of the political socialization of first year Memorial University students

Abstract

The study investigated the extent of political socialization of a group of first year students at Memorial University, and the association of the indices of political socialization to selected demographic factors. The indices of political socialization used were political efficacy, political cynicism, sense of citizen duty and political participation. The demographic factors investigated were age, sex, socioeconomic status, size of home community and religion. -- The study was conducted by means of a questionnaire. The scales of sense of citizen duty, political cynicism and political efficacy were compiled mainly from items drawn from the literature on political socialization. The items on participation included both actual political participation, and intended future political participation. -- The questionnaire was administered by the author to a sample of first year students, and the data obtained was coded and analysed using the IBM 360/40 computer. The frequency of responses were obtained and contingency tables constructed. In order to test the hypotheses of the study, Chi Square values were calculated. -- The political efficacy of the students in the study was generally low. Statistically significant associations with socioeconomic status, and community size were obtained. The students generally scored high on the political cynicism scale and no significant associations with any demographic factors were found. It was postulated that political cynicism may exist as a community norm, influenced by the political milieu of the province. The students scored highly on the sense of citizen duty scale revealing a high sense of political obligation. Item analysis of this scale revealed a possible change in philosophy of young people when compared to results of the original use of the scale. The analysis of the items pertaining to participation indicated that the students were nearly all prepared to participate in low levels of political activity, but not at higher levels of involvement. The intended political participation was found to be significantly associated to previous experience in school government, as well as political efficacy. From this study a number of recommendations for further research were made.