Exploring how young people’s access to news literacy education influences their digital civic engagement

Jee Young Lee, Sora Park, Tanya Notley

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This study examines the effectiveness of news literacy education on young Australian’s digital civic engagement using propensity score matching, a method that ensures balanced comparisons between those who have received news literacy education and those who haven’t. A representative online survey of young Australians aged 12–16 years (n = 627) was conducted in June 2023. We found no differences in young people’s exposure to news literacy education opportunities based on age, gender, and region. However, parents’ education has a significance influence on young people’s exposure to news literacy education. A regression analysis reveals that news literacy education is positively related to young people’s digital civic engagement, confirmed by the propensity score matching analysis. The study demonstrates the critical role of news literacy education in fostering informed and engaged digital citizens, highlighting the need for inclusive and comprehensive news literacy programs in the national curriculum.

    Original languageEnglish
    Number of pages17
    JournalJournal of Applied Youth Studies
    DOIs
    Publication statusE-pub ahead of print (In Press) - 2025

    Keywords

    • Digital civic engagement
    • Media literacy
    • News literacy
    • Online survey
    • Propensity score matching
    • Young people

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