Political Content And Political Behavior: Using Functional Theory To Test The Ability Of Political Content To Stimulate Political Interest

<p>The health of the American democracy is up for debate. Digital natives will decide the future of this democracy. Fewer digital natives--those who have grown up with Internet access--are engaging in formal political participation, compared to their parents. Digital natives lack the information needed to participate. This study examined the effects of interactive political content on digital natives' political information efficacy (PIE) through an experiment. The results revealed a decrease in the participants' political confidence and a decrease in the likelihood they would vote. Exposure to political information harmed most digital natives' PIE and reinforced political attitudes in some. The results are troubling for the future health of the American democracy. The results call attention to the need for further research on the relationship between digital natives' use of new communication technologies and its effect on political participation.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Stouffer, Ryan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Fred Vultee

• framing
• media effects
• participation
• quantitative - experiment
• Communication
• Political Science

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/1169

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wayne.edu:oa_dissertations-2168