News-Avoidance Among Adolescents: How Family Communication Influence Adolescents’ News Habits–A Three-Wave Panel Study (TOP PAPER)

• In Event: Social Influence on Media Use and Effects (TOP PAPER ENTRY)

Abstract

Keeping up with what’s going on in the world of politics and current affairs through various news media is commonly seen as important for civic engagement and informed citizenship. Today, however, citizens face more opportunities than ever to select media content according to their personal preferences and interests – leading to what previous research has identified as a polarization between news-seekers and news-avoiders. Given heightened concerns regarding growing shares of news-avoiders in particular, this study analyses the development, stability and family influences on Swedish adolescents’ news habits over time. The findings, based on panel survey data among adolescents and their parents, show that (1) news-avoidance is fairly permanent at the individual level, that (2) parents’ own news consumption is the most consistent predictor of adolescents’ development of news habits, and that (3) these family effects are distinct from adolescents’ personal motivations for seeking out news.

Author

• Adam Shehata, University of Gothenburg