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Examining the Gender Gap in Children’s Attitudes Toward Politics

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Abstract

In the 2004 presidential election, a majority of men (54%) voted to reelect George W. Bush, but a minority of women (48%) supported Bush at the polls. The gender gap was also evident in races for the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate in 2004. In addition, there is a persistent and significant difference in policy preferences and political priorities among men and women. Taken together, the evidence clearly indicates that men and women currently view politics in the United States differently. What factors help explain these differences? In the present study, we examined whether boys and girls view politics differently. We interviewed eighth-grade students from six middle schools in Maricopa County, AZ in the spring of 2003 and 2004. Our results indicate that the gender gap in policy and partisanship is established early, before children reach adulthood. This suggests that the persistent gender gap in adult views about politics is rooted, at least partially, in gender differences during childhood socialization.

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Notes

  1. Information about the 2004 election results comes from http://www.CNN.com exit polls.

  2. The three explanations for the gender gap in political preferences for adults are not mutually exclusive. Instead, it is likely that feminist ideology, gender differences in economic vulnerability, and gender socialization each help to explain gender differences in political views.

  3. Even though Maricopa County, AZ is a large and diverse community, we need to be cautious when generalizing from our findings because we studied only a small number of students in one locale.

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Acknowledgement

The data for this paper were collected with support from an Arizona State University Multi-Investigator Proposal Development Grant. We would like to thank Robert Bond for his assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, 6752 Coor Building, Tempe, AZ, 85287-3902, USA

    Kim L. Fridkin & Patrick J. Kenney

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  1. Kim L. Fridkin
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  2. Patrick J. Kenney
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Correspondence to Kim L. Fridkin.

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Fridkin, K.L., Kenney, P.J. Examining the Gender Gap in Children’s Attitudes Toward Politics. Sex Roles 56, 133–140 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9156-2

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