New and Old Media Uses and Political Engagement among Korean Adolescents

Abstract

This study examined new and old media uses among Korean adolescents and their political engagement including political interest, political knowledge, political talk, and political participation. Korean adolescents’ political media uses are based on four distinct motivations—guidance, surveillance, social utility, and entertainment. Korean adolescents are more likely to engage in politics when they use new and old media to fulfill guidance and social utility needs. The Internet is the dominant medium in the Korean adolescents’ media environment for political engagement.

Keywords:

• Internet Use
• Political Participation
• Political Knowledge
• Political Talk
• Political Interest
• Adolescents
• South Korea

Notes

1. Examples of items about local public affairs were: ‘The mayor is now in jail because of a bribery scandal’, ‘This is the 24th year of 5.18 Gwangju Democratic Movement (True/False)’, ‘The assembly passed the law regarding the budget for making Gwangju as the capital of culture (True/False)’. Examples of the items related to national current events were: ‘The Grand National Party is the majority party in the General Assembly (True/False)’, ‘Korean government has decided to send its troops to Iraq (True/False)’ and ‘A newly adopted electronic voting system will be used in the coming election (True/False)’. Examples of general or fundamental political knowledge were: ‘who was the first president of Korea? (open-ended question)’, ‘Korean presidency is only a five year term (True/False)’ and ‘The Constitution supports respective independence of the legislature, the executive, and the judicature (True/False)’.

2. Examples of items about political participation were: ‘volunteer as a poll worker on an election day (M = 1.55, SD = 0.94)’, ‘wear a election campaign button for a national or local candidate (M = 1.37, SD = 0.85)’, ‘talk to my friends about a candidate that I support (M = 2.68, SD = 1.01)’, ‘watch a national political convention on TV (M = 2.73, SD = 1.15)’, and ‘participate in voting for a general election (M = 4.34, SD = 1.05)’.