This study posits that social learning theory can explain development of structure in preadults' political attitudes better than the much-discussed "vulnerability" and "two-step" hypotheses. (Author)

A survey of attitudes of the student population at Nigeria's University of Ife, at the outset of the civil war in 1967, revealed the development of a common set of political attitudes among the students which are variegated but in which variations are not related to tribal origins in any fundamental aspects. (EH)

Evidence is presented that argues for distinguishable, sequential stages in the structuring of political attitudes among students and that partially supports a developmental interpretation of political learning. (Author/AM)

This paper identifies the politically significant others for 154 6th, 9th, and 12th grade respondents for the following topics: political parties, the presidency, Richard Nixon, and the war in Vietnam. Parents emerge as the most influential individual political socialization agent, with peers a close second. (Author/AM)

Longitudinal data from a national sample of students ages 9, 13, and 17 are used to study the levels of political knowledge and participation among American youth. Changes in these levels from 1969 to 1975 are examined. (Author/MC) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Results (Change) (Interpretation).

Investigates three propositions: that important political learning occurs during childhood and adolescence, that such learning is shaped by socializing agents, and that early political learning tends to persist and/or to exert an impact on later political learning and behavior. Discusses an analysis of data concerning adolescent and adult…

Examines the hypothesis that college has a substantial effect on political interest, awareness, and knowledge by comparing college students with a control group of noncollege cohorts. Finds that the effect of the passage of four years increases the awareness and knowledge of youth regardless of whether or not those years are spent in college.…

Using data collected from a random sample of students at a large Eastern university, the relationship of various socio-political factors to students attitudes toward and participation in protest activity is explored. Specifically addressed is the question - Do such factors influence activist-prone youth or youth who may be drawn into protest…

Political attitudes, as measured in a large, national representative sample survey in five areas central to the "great gap" hypothesis (i.e. huge differences in attitudes between the young and the old) are examined in light of three models of the politics of youth. The data casts doubt on theories of the "youth revolt". While the non-college young…

Suggests that adolescents are affected by and involved in the school political grievance system in a number of ways. Under some conditions students seem to be prime transmission belts of parental dissatisfaction. Students come to interpret grievances according to role patterns exhibited by their parents. (Author/AM)

The extent to which black and white adolescents justify the use of political violence to gain desired ends, and the extent to which they express behavioral intentions to engage in such violence to achieve political objectives are examined and compared. (Author/AM)

Six explanations of political ideological complexity and finds the social, structural, political activity, socialization, and functional explanations to be unsupported by the data. Both education and political information explanations are confirmed, the former being favored. Ideological complexity changes with education and greater political…

Reviews seven studies of former student activists to determine if they maintain political beliefs and behaviors consistent with those they exhibited during their participation in the earlier social movements. Explores the question of what accounts for the maintenance of, or change in, beliefs and behaviors over time. (CMG)

Asserts that the role of biologically transmitted individual differences needs to be explored fully, examines the assumptions underlying the emphasis on childhood in empirical research, and examines the nature, persistance and later impact of two sorts of orientations which may be acquired in childhood, political attitudes and party…

The "spillover" hypothesis, the suggestion that early childhood images of the president affect the development of attitudes toward the operation of the political system, is tested. Evidence both consistent and inconsistent with the hypothesis is found. (Author)