See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/359222358

POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION AS A CORRELATES OF YOUTHS' POLITICAL

ATTITUDE IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

Article · January 2019

CITATION READS

1 123

3 authors, including:

Martina Bosede Ajibefun

Adeyemi Federal University of Education Ondo
23 PUBLICATIONS 89 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Martina Bosede Ajibefun on 14 March 2022.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Vol. 9 No. 1, 2019 EKSU Journal of Education

POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION AS A CORRELATES OF YOUTHS’ POLITICAL

ATTITUDE IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

Adekanmbi, G. O; Ajibefun, M. B and Ojomo, G. N

Independent National Electoral Commission, Ado, Ekiti-State
Department of Social Studies, School of Arts and Social Sciences
Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Ondo-State
Police Training School, Oyin Akoko, Ondo-State

Abstract
The study examined political socialization as a correlate of youths’ political attitude in Ekiti State,
Nigeria. The study specifically examined the relationship between agents of political socialization
(family and mass media) and political attitude of youths in Ekiti State. It also examined gender
difference in political attitude exhibited by youths in Ekiti State. The descriptive research design of
the survey type was used in this study. The population of this study consisted of all youths in Ekiti
State who are between the age of 18 and 35 years old. The sample for the study consisted of 200
youths from 4 Local Government Areas in Ekiti State. The sample was selected using multistage
sampling procedure. A self-designed research instrument tagged Political Socialization and Political
Attitude Questionnaire (PSPAQ) was used to collect relevant data for the study. The data collected
through the instrument were analyzed using inferential statistics of Pearson’s Product Moment
Correlation Statistics and t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that
family and mass media as agents of socialization are related to youths’ political attitude in Ekiti State.
Also, political attitude of youths was not gender biased. Based on the findings of the study, it was
recommended among others that public awareness on political processes should be regularly carried
out by various media as this can go a long way to reduce the acts of incivility constituted by youths
and bring about positive political attitude.

Key words: Political Socialization, Political Attitude, Youth, Family, Mass Media

Introduction their involvement in electoral malpractices and

The success of democracy rest on the
enlightenment, activeness and commitment of
citizens. The youths of any society are
potential forces to reckon with as they
constitute a large chunk of the decision
making groups in any society. Falade, (2011)
observed that in a political system the youths
can be involved in the political process and
decision making by joining political party
voting during election, participating in election
campaign, community affairs and other
political activities.
The youths appear not to have skills, ideas,
information and voter education coupled with
their negative attitudes towards political
process. It is observed that some of the youths
exhibit negative attitude towards political
processes. The researcher observed that it has
become a norm among youths that the greater
violence in favour of their mentors, the higher
their reward for knowledge and mastery of the
game of politics. Youths’ attitudes seem to be
characterized by intolerance, intimidation,
thuggery, assassination, bitterness, apathy,
indolence, money and ethnic pluralism. As a
result of this, the ingredients of democracy
appear not to have been able to thrive after
many years of political independence in
Nigeria. It appears that many of the youths
refuse to vote due to ignorance and when they
do, they find it difficult to cast their vote
appropriately resulting in emergence of
unpopular candidate.This could be attributed
to lack of basic knowledge, poor socialization
and inability to demonstrate some capacities
which involves intelligence, self-control and
conscience. The researcher also observed that
some youths mortgage their conscience after

117
Vol. 9 No. 1, 2019
been induced with meager amount of money
or materials like face-caps, T-shirts, umbrellas
among others.
The observed political attitude exhibited by
youths appears to be a reflection of poor
political socialization. Socialization in very
broad terms involves the learning of laws,
norms, values, customs, belief structures,
attitudes and world view of the broader
society, the family, within institutions, the
community and in any social system (John,
2007). These values and norms are imparted
by the community, the family, institutions,
even peer groups, cliques, among others. This
is done through verbal or non-verbal
communication, a message or signal which
then reaches the recipient.
Political socialization refers to the process
through which individuals develop a
relationship with the political world and obtain
the knowledge, the opinions, the values and
the behaviour that lead to the shaping of their
political identity. Through the process of
socialization, individuals obtain the sense of
belonging in a society and are driven to the
internalization of their national political
culture (Warren and Wicks, 2011; Bhatti and
Hansen, 2012).Political socialization is the
transmission of political culture to new
generations of citizens in a given society.
The construct of political socialization refers
to the developmental processes through which
individuals acquire political attitudes and
behaviours (Quintelier, 2013). Political
socialization process simply entails the
inculcation of a society’s political culture in
members of society and the transmission of
such from one generation to the other. Thus,
individuals, groups or institutions that affect
people’s self-concepts, attitudes, behaviors or
other orientations are referred to as agents of
socialization. Political socialization convey
established patterns of thought and action,
laws and norms, and traditions and folkways
through agencies, such as the family,
educational system, peer groups, mass media,
political institutions, community
organizations, religious organizations, and the
military (Marshall, 2008).
118
EKSU Journal of Education
Considering the significance of political
socialization and its useful effects political
attitude of the youths, this study’s intent is to
investigate specifically two agents of political
socialization such as the family and mass
media.The family is usually accorded the
importance of being the primary agent or the
“foremost among agencies” in the political
socialization process (Calavita, 2013). The
family is often considered as the primary
socialization context for young people, also
with regard to political attitudes and behaviors.
Usually, young children will experience their
first political discussions or their first political
activities together with their parents and/or
siblings. The family seems to exert the first
and most important political socialization
influence on the formation of individual
values. As Almond (2008), observed, the
direct and indirect influences of the family are
normally powerful and lasting.
Calavita (2013) affirmed the strength of family
influence in children’s early formative years,
terming this the cornerstone of one’s political
attitudes. Within the family, young people
learn to fulfill their accepted social, gender and
political roles (Ikelegbe, 2013). As such, the
intergenerational transmission of political
attitudes was often portrayed as a mechanism
to ensure social stability, leading to a strong
resemblance of attitudes between subsequent
cohorts (Hooghe& Wilkenfeld 2007). In
general, young people indeed tend to share the
political preferences and the beliefs of their
parents, and the correlation between the
attitudes of parents and their offspring is
usually quite strong (Hooghe& Wilkenfeld,
2007).
The media seems to be one of the most
powerful agents of socialization on the planet
today and widely believed to play a part in the
early socialization of children and long term
socialization of adults (McQuail, 2005). The
mass media also play a significant role in the
political socialization of youths. Mass media
employs technologies of communication such
as radio, television, internet, films, telegraphs,
newspaper, and magazines to communicate
messages to a large, heterogeneous,
anonymous, scattered and transitory audience.
Vol. 9 No. 1, 2019
Youths who are more exposed to the media are
also more likely to change their political views
or behaviour during campaigns while
uninformed voters will be less likely to vote
(Ladd 2010). The mass media have been used
to propagate political ideas often known as
propaganda, and also used an instrument of
political mobilization by different political
parties in the country.
The mass media are perceived to wield
enormous influence on the youths, especially
on their participation in the electoral process.
Research findings on the agenda-setting
function of the mass media reveal that the
media have the ability to tell us what to think.
Little wonder Ndolo (2006) posits that
communication has not only remained a
critical component of the society but the pivot
on which the society revolves. The problem of
this study is, therefore, to investigate agents of
political socialization such as the family and
mass media, and political attitude of youths in
Ekiti State.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study was to examine
political socialization as a correlate of youths’
political attitude in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The
study specifically examined
i. the relationship between family as an
agent of political socialization and
political attitude of youths in Ekiti State;
ii. the relationship between mass media as
an agent of political socialization by and
political attitude of youths in Ekiti State;
and
iii. gender difference in political attitude
exhibited by youths in Ekiti State.
Research Hypotheses
The following research hypotheses are raised
for this study
1) There is no significant relationship
between family as an agent of political
socialization and political attitude of
youths in Ekiti State.
2) There is no significant relationship
between mass media as an agent of
political socialization by and political
attitude of youths in Ekiti State.
119
EKSU Journal of Education
3) There is no significant gender difference
in political attitude exhibited by youths in
Ekiti State.
Methodology
Research Design
The descriptive research design of the survey
type was adopted in the study. Descriptive
research was considered appropriate because,
it focuses on the observation and perception of
the existing situation. A survey research
studies a small sample from a large population
from where inferences would be draw about
the characteristics of the defined population.
Population
The population of this study consisted of all
youths in Ekiti State who are between the age
of 18 and 35 years old.
Sample and Sampling Technique
The sample for the study consisted of 200
youths from 4 Local Government Areas in
Ekiti State. The sample was selected using
multistage sampling procedure. In stage one,
two senatorial districts were selected from the
three senatorial districts in Ekiti State through
simple random sampling technique. In stage
two, two local government areas were selected
from each of the senatorial districts using
simple random sampling technique. In stage
three, 50 youths were selected from Churches,
Mosques and football viewing centers in each
of the Local Government Areas through
purposive sampling technique.
Research Instrument
An instrument titled “Political Socialization
and Political Attitude Questionnaire (PSPAQ)”
was used to collect relevant data for this study.
The PSPAQ consisted of two sections namely
A and B. Section A sought information on
demographic data of the respondents which
include gender. Section B consisted of 20
items which sought for information on
political attitude of youths and political
socialization through family and mass media.
A four point rating scale response options
provided for the respondents to choose from
are: Strongly Agreed (SA), Agreed (A),
Disagreed (D) and Strongly Disagreed (SD).
Vol. 9 No. 1, 2019 EKSU Journal of Education

Validity of the Instrument The data collected from the questionnaires

The face and content validity was ascertained
by giving the designed questionnaire to experts
of Tests and Measurement and Social Studies
for vetting before distributing it to the
respondents. To ensure face validity of the
instrument, the experts helped to determine the
face value of the appropriateness of the
instrument. To ensure content validity, the
experts checked the items and ascertain that
the items represent the factors specified in the
research questions. In so doing, all
irrelevances and ambiguous items were
eliminated.
Reliability of the Instrument
The reliability of the instrument was
determined by finding the internal consistency
of the instrument. In doing this, a pilot study
was carried out outside the sampled locations.
The instrument was administered on 20
respondents. In order to ascertain reliability of
the instrument, data collected were tested
using Cronbach’s alpha which yielded
reliability co-efficient of 0.81.
Administration of the Instrument
The researcher personally administered the
instrument as this made it possible for the
researcher to explain and interpret some items
of the questionnaire to the respondents. The
researcher’s personal contact and visit to the
respondents helped in ensuring better
understanding of the items of the questionnaire
and also eased retrieval of the questionnaire.
Data Analysis
were analyzed using inferential statistics. The
hypotheses were tested using Pearson’s
Product Moment Correlation Statistics and t-
test at 0.05 level of significance.
Results
Hypothesis 1: There is no significant
relationship between family as an agent of
political socialization and political attitude of
youths in Ekiti State.
Table 1: Relationship between family as an
agent of political socialization and
political attitude of youths
Variables N Mean Stand r-cal r-tab
Dev
Family 200 13.38 1.02
Political 200 25.14 1.78 0.621* 0.195
Attitude
*P<0.05
Table 1 showed that the r-cal value (0.621) is
greater than r-table value (0.195) at 0.05 level
of significance. The null hypothesis is rejected.
This implies that there is a significant
relationship between family as an agent of
political socialization and political attitude of
youths in Ekiti State. Hence, family as an
agent of political socialization is positive and
moderately related to political attitude of
youths.
Hypothesis 2: There is no significant
relationship between mass media as an agent
of political socialization by and political
attitude of youths in Ekiti State.

Table 2: Relationship between mass media as an agent of political socialization and political attitude
of youths
Variables N Mean Stand Dev r-cal r-tab
Mass Media 200 12.97 1.16
Political Attitude 200 25.14 1.78 0.597* 0.195

*P<0.05
and moderately related to political attitude of
Table 2 showed that the r-cal value (0.597) is youths.
greater than r-table value (0.195) at 0.05 level
of significance. The null hypothesis is rejected. Hypothesis 3: There is no significant gender
This implies that there is a significant difference in political attitude exhibited by
relationship between mass media as an agent youths in Ekiti State
of political socialization and political attitude
of youths in Ekiti State. Hence, mass media as
an agent of political socialization is positive

120
Vol. 9 No. 1, 2019
Table 3: t-test analysis for political attitude of youths based on their gender
Variations N Mean
Male 121
Female 79
P<0.05
Table 3 shows that the t-cal value of 0.890 is
less than t-tab value of 1.96 at 0.05 level of
significant, this implies that the null
hypothesis is not rejected at α = 0.05. Hence,
there is no significant gender difference in
political attitude exhibited by youths in Ekiti
State.
Discussion
The study reveals that there was significant
relationship between family as an agent of
political socialization and political attitude of
youths in Ekiti State. The reason for this
finding might be because the family is the
primary agent in the socialization
processwhere the rules, regulations, norms and
attitude that is expected in the society must
have been learnt and taught in the family.
Family upbringing influences youth attitude.
Political behaviour is not exempted. The
finding is supported by the claims of Warren
and Wicks (2011), Bhatti and Hansen (2012)
and Quintelier (2013) who concluded that
family influences political attitude of youths.
The implication of this finding is that the
family as an agent of political socialization can
go a long way to influence youths’ political
attitude.
The finding also reveals that there was
significant relationship between mass media as
an agent of political socialization by and
political attitude of youths in Ekiti State. The
reason for this finding might be due to the fact
that youths are more exposed to the media
which is likely to change their political views
or behaviour during political process. This
finding was supported by Quintelier (2013)
and Bhatti and Hansen (2012) who found
significant relationship between mass media
and political attitude.The finding however
contradicted the conclusion of Warren and
Wicks (2011) who concluded that the mass
media has no influence on political attitude of
youths.
EKSU Journal of Education
SD df t-cal t-tab
25.21 1.69
198 0.890 1.96
24.99 1.72
Conclusively, it was revealed that there was no
significant gender difference in political
attitude exhibited by youths in Ekiti State. This
implies that the political attitude exhibited by
youths based on their gender was similar. This
finding was supported by Bhatti and Hansen
(2012) who found out that there is no
significant difference in political attitude
exhibited by male and female youths.
Conclusion
Based on the findings of this study, it can be
concluded that the family and mass media as
agents of socialization are related to youths’
political attitude in Ekiti State. Also, political
attitude of youths was not gender biased.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study, the
following recommendations were made.
1) Public awareness on political processes
should be regularly carried out by
various media as this can go a long way
to reduce the acts of incivility
constituted by youths and bring about
positive political attitude.
2) Values such as transparency, due
process, your vote must count, and one-
man one-vote among others should be
preached by all families so that the
youths will have the right political
attitude.
References
Almond, Y. (2008). Comparative Politics
Today. London: Longman.
Bhatti, Y. and Hansen, K.M. (2012) Leaving
the Nest and the Social Act of Voting:
Turnout among First-Time Voters. Journal
of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties
22(4), 380–406.
Calavita, M. (2013). Within the Context of
Many Contexts: Family, News Media
Engagement, and the Ecology of
121
 Vol. 9 No. 1, 2019
Individual Political Development among
Generation Xers. The Communication
Review, 6(1), 23-43.
Falade, D. A. (2011). Political participation
in Nigerian democracy: A study of some
selected local government areas in Ondo
State Nigeria. A paper presented at Social
Studies Workshop held at Adeyemi
College of Education, Ondo
Hooghe, M. & Wilkenfeld, B. (2007). The
Stability of Political Attitudes and
Behaviors across Adolescence and Early
Adulthood. A Comparison of Survey Data
on Adolescents and Young Adults in Eight
Countries. Journal of Youth and
Adolescence, 36, 78 – 86
Ikelegbe, A. (2013) Political Parties and
Violence Being a paper presented at
National Conference on Political Parties
and the Future of Democracy in Nigeria,
organized by the National Institute for
Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS),
Kuru, in collaboration with the Democracy
and Governance Develop-ment Project
(DGD) II of UNDP, 26-28 June, 2013
122
View publication stats
EKSU Journal of Education
John, K. (2007). What is the role of the media
in the socialisation of teenagers. Retrieved
13 June, 2019 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/media_manip
Ladd, J.M. (2010). The Role of Media Distrust
in Partisan Voting. Original Paper in
Political Behaviour, 32(4), 567-585.
Marshall, G. (2008). Dictionary of Sociology
(2nd ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McQuail, D. (2005). Mass communication
theory (5th ed.). London: Sage Publica-
tions
Ndolo, I. (2006). Mass media and society.
Enugu: RhyceKerex Publishers.
Quintelier, E. (2013). Engaging adolescents in
politics: The longitudinal effect of political
socialization agents. Youth and Society,
14, 59 – 67
Warren, R., & Wicks, R. H. (2011). Political
Socialization: Modeling Teen Political and
Civic Engagement. Journalism & Mass
Communication Quarterly, 88(3), 156-
175.