Current Affairs Concepts of Young Children as a Function of their Age, Intelligence, Socio-Economic Class and Sex

This study was designed to determine differences in the amount of knowledge that young children have on the subject of current affairs. Children were compared on the basis of their concepts between socio-economic class, age, sex, and intelligence. The children were presented with a multiple-choice picture identification test and an interview to determine the extent of their knowledge of current affairs. The seven major purposes to this study are: (1) to determine if any differences exist between the concept formation of current affairs between the low- and middle-class children, (2) to determine if any differences exist between the current affairs concepts as a variant of sex, (3) to determine if differences exist in current affairs concepts between age groups, (4) to determine if any differences exist with regard to current affairs concepts relevant to difference in intelligence and mental age, (5) to determine if differences exist in the extent of recall vs. true conceptualization of current affairs relating to two lasting news stories (namely the Vietnam War and the space program), (6) to determine if differences exist in regard to the knowledge of war events when compared with the personal knowledge of a person in Vietnam, and (7) to determine if differences exist in relation to the amount of time the child spends watching television newscasts and other related programs and his amount of knowledge concerning current affairs. The study was conducted in the homes of the children during the months of October and November of the year 1969. A total of 120 children comprised the sample for this study with an equal number of boys and girls, lower- and middle-class children, and five-, six-, and seven year olds. Advisor: John C. Woodwar