Journalism Civic Self-Efficacy: Predicting Political Participation Among Secondary-School Journalism Students

Abstract

This study builds on the communication mediation model of political socialization and self-efficacy research, and focuses on journalism civic self-efficacy, an individual’s confidence in using journalistic skills to promote the awareness of a community issue. The study tests the premise that journalism civic self-efficacy explains, in part, how journalism education supports individuals’ political participation, by examining links between political interest, journalism civic self-efficacy, school and classroom contexts, and future political participation with data from U.S. high school journalists (n = 769) and their teachers (n = 42). The study’s key results are: (1) journalism civic self-efficacy partially mediates the relationship between political interest and prospective political participation, and (2) journalism civic self-efficacy increases when students feel a supportive school climate and when their instructors exert little control over students’ journalistic output. These results can inform the design of journalism education and outreach initiatives, prioritizing activities and settings that cultivate journalism civic self-efficacy among participants. The findings also highlight the value of such initiatives regardless of whether or not participants pursue newsroom careers. The study contributes empirical evidence to civic development literature of a pathway between journalism education and political participation, distinct from other school-sponsored activities (i.e., debate, student government).