The current study examined parents’ attitudes toward political socialization and political socialization messages related to the 2020 United States presidential election, using a sample of 185 parents of 6- to 12-year-old children from across the United States. Overall, parents viewed political socialization as somewhat important. However, a meaningful number of parents indicated beliefs that political socialization was not important, that their children were too young to learn about politics, or a desire to shield their children from knowledge of politics. Parents reported engaging in a variety of socialization practices, but reported higher levels of indirect approaches to socialization (e.g., watching political news while the child was present) compared to more direct approaches (e.g., reading books about politics with the child). As with frequency, the content of parents’ socialization messages varied widely, including explicit endorsement of candidates and policies, messages about the importance of respecting all opinions, and messages related to negative partisanship. Parents’ political interest, engagement with politics, and extremity of political ideology predicted their approaches to socialization. Community-level factors (e.g., heterogeneity of voting patterns) were largely unrelated to parents’ attitudes and practices.

中文翻译：

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房间里的大象（和驴）：父母围绕 2020 年美国大选的政治社会化方法

目前的研究使用来自美国各地的 185 名 6 至 12 岁儿童的父母作为样本，调查了父母对与 2020 年美国总统大选相关的政治社会化和政治社会化信息的态度。总体而言，父母认为政治社会化有些重要。然而，相当数量的父母表示相信政治社会化并不重要，他们的孩子太小而无法学习政治，或者希望保护他们的孩子免受政治知识的影响。父母报告参与了各种社会化实践，但与更直接的方法（例如，与孩子一起阅读有关政治的书籍）相比，他们报告了更高水平的间接社会化方法（例如，当孩子在场时观看政治新闻）。与频率一样，父母社交信息的内容差异很大，包括明确支持候选人和政策、关于尊重所有意见的重要性的信息以及与负面党派关系相关的信息。父母的政治兴趣、参与政治和极端的政治意识形态预示着他们的社会化方式。社区层面的因素（例如，投票模式的异质性）在很大程度上与父母的态度和做法无关。政治意识形态的极端预示着他们的社会化方式。社区层面的因素（例如，投票模式的异质性）在很大程度上与父母的态度和做法无关。政治意识形态的极端预示着他们的社会化方式。社区层面的因素（例如，投票模式的异质性）在很大程度上与父母的态度和做法无关。