INFORMATION SEEKING ACTIVITIES OF ADOLESCENTS OF DIFFERENT SOCIO-ECONOMIC CLASSES IN A CANADIAN URBAN CENTRE

The purpose of the study was to examine adolescent information seeking behavior. Hypotheses concerning the relationship between the use of print, audio-visual, and human resources and three independent variables, socio-economic status, sex, and academic achievement were formulated. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire survey and interviews.

The questionnaire was administered to the entire grade 10 population of a large, urban Halifax, N.S. high school. A total of 292 usable returns, representing 75 percent of the available population, was obtained. The population was diverse, representing all levels of academic achievement and socio-economic status. A stratified random sample of 41 subjects was selected for interviewing. The stratifying dimensions were socio-economic class and academic achievement.

The focus of the interviews was adolescents' information seeking in support of independent learning projects, the latter being self-selected learning tasks. Data collection occurred in January to June, 1977. Cross tabulations of information resource use by social class, sex, and achievement level were carried out, and chi-square statistics calculated using the .05 level of significance.

The findings included the fact that it was not possible to identify a "communications elite", that is a group of adolescents with a higher level of involvement with all forms of communication. Instead, it was only possible to point to particular audiences for particular forms of communication. There was, for example, a "reading elite", sub-groups within the grade 10 population which were more involved with books, magazines, and reading. These adolescents tended to come from the upper or middle class, and were more likely to be high or average achievers. Television viewing, however, was negatively related to socio-economic status and to academic achievement. Some forms of media, such as newspapers and movies, were generally popular with no significant sub-group distinctions evident.

The adolescents' overall resource use was diverse and intense. They attended movies, watched television, read newspapers, and in general interacted with all types of media.

It was pointed out that although libraries are only one source of information for adolescents, they nevertheless have the potential of being a major influence on the whole varied process of information seeking. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UMI