The Psychological Mechanism of Socializing Adolescents' Expressive Behavior

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Paper Session: Interpersonal Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Even though we know how freely expressing disagreement is a central part in understanding healthy democracy, it is still questionable to be aware of who are more likely to express their disagreement because we have observed that someone is not hesitant to present their disagreement regardless of a hostile atmosphere. For answering this question, we attempt to dig into the psychological mechanism of expressive behavior from political socialization perspective. Indeed, analysis of a national data first found that adolescents from concept-oriented family are more likely to be interested in politics. Further, adolescents' political interest leads to willingness to express disagreement positively and significantly. More interestingly, adolescents from laissez-fair family are shown to be less interested in politics, have less self-efficacy, and be less willing to express disagreement. Implications and limitations are discussed theoretically and methodologically.

Authors

• Kwansik Mun, University of Wisconsin_Madison

• Dhavan Shah, U of Wisconsin-Madison