Family Political Communication and Social Values

The relationship between parental social value priorities and the family communication environment isexamined in three recent surveys: two in West Germany and one in the United States. Value priorities were shown to be systematically related to interpersonal communication about politics, public affairs media use, attitudes about family communication and parenthood, and norms of family communication. The evidence supports a socialization model in which parental social value priorities influence concept-oriented family communication patterns, which, in turn, have a normative impact on the political communication environment in the home. © 1986, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.