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Explaining the Gap: The Interaction of Gender and News Enjoyment in
Predicting Political Knowledge
Jillian Nash; Lindsay H. Hoffman
Online Publication Date: 01 April 2009
To cite this Article Nash, Jillian and Hoffman, Lindsay H.(2009)'Explaining the Gap: The Interaction of Gender and News Enjoyment in
Predicting Political Knowledge',Communication Research Reports,26:2,114 — 122
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/08824090902861556
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Communication Research Reports
Vol. 26, No. 2, May 2009, pp. 114–122
Explaining the Gap: The Interaction
of Gender and News Enjoyment
in Predicting Political Knowledge
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Jillian Nash & Lindsay H. Hoffman
This study investigated emotion as a potential explanation for the omnipresent gender
gap in political knowledge. Past studies have examined methodological issues, socioeconomic attributes, and media use as possible contributors, but have not included enjoyment of media use as a factor in the relation between gender and political knowledge.
Using 2007 data from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, it was found
that, in line with uses and gratifications theory, enjoyment did indeed play a role in the
acquisition of political information, and increased enjoyment resulted in higher political
knowledge. This relation was stronger for women than for men.
Keywords: Emotion; Media Use; Political Knowledge; Women
The presence of a public-affairs knowledge gap in the United States has been a subject
of concern and study for years. A series of nationwide surveys conducted by the Pew
Research Center for the People and the Press (2000, 2007) have found that women
continually score lower than men on knowledge of basic facts pertaining to current
events. Considering the strides women have made in the last few decades in terms of
educational and congressional representation, these repeated findings continue to be
both surprising and alarming. Theoretically speaking, knowledge gaps should not
exist in a nation that promotes equal opportunity for all of its citizens. A flaw in
our allegedly fair system deserves attention and, further, necessitates repair. Of
Jillian Nash (BA, College of New Jersey, 2007) is a master’s student in Communication at the University of
Delaware. Lindsay Hoffman (PhD, Ohio State University, 2007) is an assistant professor in the Department
of Communication at the University of Delaware. Correspondence: Lindsay H. Hoffman, Department of
Communication, University of Delaware, 250 Pearson Hall, 125 Academy St., Newark, DE 19716; E-mail:
lindsayh@udel.edu
ISSN 0882-4096 (print)/ISSN 1746-4099 (online) # 2009 Eastern Communication Association
DOI: 10.1080/08824090902861556
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Communication Research Reports
115
course, the first step is to determine the plausible causes of this disparity. Some
research has tested for the existence of the gap (Kenski & Jamieson, 2000), but few
studies have sought to actually explain why it exists. The current project examines
this very important question.
The few studies that have investigated the reason behind the public affairs
knowledge gap have identified faulty methodology as a possible contributor. For
instance, McGlone, Aronson, and Kobrynowicz (2006) argued that the slanted results
are a product of survey stereotype. In other words, questions on measurement tools
tend to be biased toward men. After conducting an experiment, the researchers found
that the difference in scores on a political knowledge test was reliably moderated by
two factors: bias of the question set and gender of the interviewer.
Research has also demonstrated that women are more likely to give ‘‘do not
know’’ responses to questions assessing political knowledge, and men are more likely
to guess the answers on questions they do not know (Kenski, 2000). This suggests
that the scoring of political knowledge questionnaires might be slightly skewed in
favor of men because they are more likely to give the correct response, perhaps by
chance, even if they did not actually know the answer to a question (see Mondak
& Canache, 2004).
Because this gender gap has persisted over time, there is a good chance that faulty
methodology is not the only explanation. In fact, a study conducted in 2004 found
that a variety of variables including socioeconomic and demographic factors, political
attitudes, political engagement, media exposure, and political life circumstances
result in a moderate reduction in the magnitude of gender as a predictor of political
knowledge (Garand, Guynan, & Fournet, 2004). The finding of media use as a factor
in the relation between gender and political knowledge provides an interesting point
for discussion. Past studies on the usage of new media have indicated the existence of
a gender gap. In accordance with Garand et al., this media use gap could potentially
help to explain the political knowledge gap. If women are not using new media as
much as men, they are probably not acquiring as much political information as
men. It is interesting to note that a recent study found this gap is closing in the
United States (Ramen, Broege, Davis, & Steinmetz, 2006). Therefore, media exposure
may be becoming less and less of a factor.
Even if media use does not play a large role as a moderator in the gender–political
knowledge relation, the media cannot and should not be ignored—they are the principle source for the acquisition of public knowledge. McQuail (2005) argued:
People do learn from the news and become more informed as a result. The extent
to which news has effects depends on its reaching an audience that pays some
attention to the content, understands it, and is able to recall or recognize some
of it after the event. (p. 504)
Thus, the audience’s actual relation with media usage is one that warrants further
exploration.
It is important to note that men and women typically prefer different types
of news messages and content. Mood, a possible prerequisite for an enjoyable
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J. Nash & L. H. Hoffman
experience, may play a role in the absorption of political information. After a moodimpacting experience, men tend to distract themselves with absorbing messages,
whereas women tend to ruminate about the experience and thus prefer messages with
lower absorption potential (Knobloch-Westerwick, 2007). This may help to explain
why men retain more political information than women do, especially when a
mood-impacting current event or issue perpetuates media exposure.
An example might illustrate a possible scenario where mood could influence
information acquisition and subsequent knowledge. Imagine an audience viewing a
breaking news report about a devastating attack in the Iraq War. Simply watching
this news report could put the viewers in a negative mood. Men might then seek
to distract themselves with absorbing messages pertaining to the latest news in the
2008 U.S. presidential race, thus increasing the potential to gain political knowledge.
Women, on the other hand, may continue to dwell on the negative news and miss out
on absorbing the important political information.
Emotions might also play a role in information comprehension and retention; in
some cases, emotion might have greater effects on comprehension than cognitions
(Bennett, 2007). Indeed, compared to men, women report more enjoyment from,
and form more favorable judgments of, positively framed versions of news stories,
whereas men tend to report more favorable judgments of negatively framed versions
of those same stories (Kamhawi & Grabe, 2007). Kamhawi and Grabe also found that
women’s favorable views toward positive messages—as well as their unfavorable
views toward negative messages—are stronger than men’s. News reports typically
contain more ‘‘bad news’’ than ‘‘good news’’ (Carroll, 1985; Farnsworth & Lichter,
2007; Lichter & Noyes, 1996; Shoemaker, 1996), and recognition and comprehension
of negatively framed messages is greater for men than it is for women (Grabe &
Kamhawi, 2006). Thus, the increased comprehension of news among men could
explain why surveys find lower political knowledge among women.
The relation between gender and political knowledge, from the perspective of news
media use, becomes easier to understand when considering the uses and gratifications
approach of mass communication studies (Blumler & Katz, 1974). The approach is
based on the ancient Greek philosophy of hedonism, which is the belief that humans
naturally seek out sources of pleasure. It states that ‘‘media use depends on the perceived satisfactions, needs, wishes, or motives of the prospective audience member’’
(McQuail, 2005, p. 423). Therefore, the actions that humans take, including whether
they use media or whether they gain political knowledge, are dependent on whether
they actually enjoy the processes.
Nabi and Krcmar (2004) conceptualized media enjoyment as ‘‘a three-dimensional
construct comprised of affective, cognitive, and behavioral information that mutually
exert influence on one another’’ (p. 296). They argued that enjoyment is an attitude
and, therefore, encompasses these intrinsic components. Clearly, the behavioral component becomes a major player in this relation when considering media use from a
uses and gratifications perspective. Past research, however, has not always examined
the role of enjoyment in seeking gratification. In fact, Nabi and Krcmar argued that
‘‘it is treated as an inferred cognitive outcome rather than a multifaceted component
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of the dynamic process of gratification seeking’’ (p. 301). This article considers the
often overlooked role of enjoyment as a predictor, rather than an outcome. Media
enjoyment might very well be a determining factor in the acquisition of political
knowledge through media use.
Taken together, various lines of research suggest the need to study the relationships among gender, political knowledge, enjoyment, and media use. Several
hypotheses emerge. First, it is reasonable to expect an association between the
amount of media people use and how much they enjoy keeping up with the news.
More specifically, due to natural hedonistic tendencies, people’s enjoyment should
predict how much media they use. Thus, we hypothesized the following:
H1: There will be a correlation between level of enjoyment of keeping up with the news
and media use.
H2: Level of enjoyment of keeping up with the news will be a significant predictor of
amount of media use.
In addition, it is possible that a relation exists between how much people enjoy
keeping up with the news and their level of political knowledge. As suggested earlier,
there is reason to believe that enjoyment is a predictor of political knowledge. To
examine this possibility, we predicted the following:
H3: There will be a correlation between level of enjoyment of keeping up with the news
and political knowledge.
H4: Level of enjoyment of keeping up with the news will be a significant predictor of level
of political knowledge.
Last, it is important to ascertain whether enjoyment of keeping up with the
news helps explain the existence of the political knowledge gap. Lack of enjoyment
or pleasure could be a reason why women are not retaining information from news
sources. Accordingly, we expected that
H5: Gender will act as a moderator in the relation between enjoyment of keeping up with
the news and political knowledge.
Method
This study was a secondary analysis of recent political knowledge survey data from
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (2007). This nationwide
telephone poll was conducted in February 2007 through random digit dialing.
Participants (N ¼ 1,502) ranged in age from 18 to 95 years old (M ¼ 46.9,
SD ¼ 19.0), and 50.9% of the sample consisted of women. Participants’ annual
family income ranged from less than $10,000 to $150,000 or more (M ¼ 5.7) or
between $40,000 and $75,000 (SD ¼ 2.8). Education level varied from a few years
of grade school to post-graduate studies (M ¼ 4.3; or some school after high school,
SD ¼ 1.7).
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J. Nash & L. H. Hoffman
Enjoyment was measured by the item, ‘‘How much do you enjoy keeping up with
the news?’’ Responses ranged from 1 (not at all), 2 (not much), 3 (some), to 4 (a lot)
to fall in line with the hypotheses (M ¼ 3.2, SD ¼ 0.9).
Additive scales were created to operationalize both political knowledge and media
use. The Pew Research Center combined 23 items to create a political knowledge
index. Each correct answer counted as one point, producing a scale that ranges
from 0 (no correct answers) to 23 (a perfect score). The items included questions about
identifying U.S. and world leaders, knowledge about current U.S. political legislation,
knowledge about the Iraq war, and knowledge about the candidates running in the
2008 U.S. presidential election (M ¼ 12.9, SD ¼ 5.3; for question wording, see The
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 2007).
The media use scale was created by combining 16 different items, including whether
participants watched the national nightly network news on CBS, ABC or NBC; watched
Cable News Network (CNN); watched the Fox News (cable) Channel; watched the local
news about their viewing area; watched NewsHour With Jim Leher; watched The Today
Show, Good Morning America, or The Early Show; watched The O’Reilly Factor with Bill
O’Reilly; watched shows like The Colbert Report or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart;
listened to National Public Radio; listened to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show; read news
magazines such as Time, U.S. News, or Newsweek; read a daily newspaper; read Internet
1
news Web sites, such as GoogleTM News or Yahoo! News; read network TV news Web
sites such as CNN.com or MSNBC.com; read the Web sites of major national newspapers such as USA Today.com, New York Times.com, or the Wall Street Journal online;
or read online blogs where people discuss events in the news (M ¼ 4.63, SD ¼ 2.84).
Results
In testing H1, we found, as expected, a significant correlation between the enjoyment
of keeping up with the news and one’s media use (Spearman’s r ¼ .449, p < .001).
As predicted in H3, there was a significant correlation between the enjoyment of
keeping up with the news and political knowledge (Spearman’s r ¼ .554, p < .001).
These served as the initial tests for the relations between the key variables under
study, and revealed significant associations between enjoyment of keeping up with
news and both media use and political knowledge.
H2 and H4 predicted that enjoyment of keeping up with the news would be a significant predictor of amount of media use and level of political knowledge. Two regression
analyses, controlling for level of education, gender, and income, were run to test these
hypotheses. As expected, enjoyment of keeping up with the news was a positive and significant predictor of amount of media use, even after controlling for gender, education,
and income (b ¼ 1.15, SE ¼ .07, p < .01). Enjoyment of keeping up with the news was
also a positive and significant predictor of political knowledge (b ¼ 1.97, SE ¼ .15,
p < .01). H2 and H4 were supported. Table 1 summarizes these results.
H5 predicted an interaction effect in which gender moderates the association
between enjoyment of keeping up with the news and political knowledge. After
running a multiple regression, we found support for H5. A significant interaction was
Communication Research Reports
119
Table 1 Regression Analyses Predicting Media Use and Political Knowledge
Media usea
b
Variable
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First block
Education
Income
Second block
Education
Income
Gender
Enjoyment of keeping up with news
Gender Enjoyment
Political knowledgeb
SE
b
SE
0.137
0.078
.050
.035
1.127
0.565
.082
.057
0.038
0.041
0.116
1.150
—
.049
.034
.143
.074
—
0.907
0.378
0.626
1.968
0.527
.073
.051
.698
.149
.214
Note. Beta coefficients are unstandardized.
a
Adjusted R2 ¼ .160, F change ¼ 123.078 . bAdjusted R2 ¼ .456, F change ¼ 176.735 .
p < .05. p < .01.
observed between enjoyment of keeping up with the news and gender in predicting
political knowledge (b ¼ 0.53, SE ¼ .21, p < .05). As Figure 1 illustrates, men appear
to gain more political knowledge from their enjoyment of news than do women.
Figure 1
Interaction Between Gender and Enjoyment of Keeping Up with the News on Political Knowledge.
120
J. Nash & L. H. Hoffman
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Discussion
This study sought to examine the relations among media use, enjoyment of keeping
up with the news, political knowledge, and gender using the uses and gratifications
approach as a theoretical framework. In line with H1 and H2, we found that a
person’s level of enjoyment of keeping up with the news is significantly associated
with—and predicts—media use. We also observed a significant relation between
enjoyment and political knowledge. More specifically, enjoyment acted as a predictor
for level of political knowledge. Thus, H3 and H4 were also confirmed.
These findings support the idea of hedonism as an important aspect of the uses
and gratifications approach. It appears that people use the news media and retain
political information when they enjoy keeping up with the news, perhaps because
they are innately pleasure-seekers. Because women do not appear to enjoy keeping
up with the news as much as men do, practitioners and scholars alike should examine how to make viewing news a more enjoyable experience for women. This does
not necessarily mean that news media will have to soften their content; important
news is important news, and must be reported to the public regardless of the
emotion it evokes. Rather, news outlets may want to focus on taking women’s concerns into account to deliver news in a more enjoyable manner. Future research
should seek to determine how to format and cover stories in a different way, by
determining both what news is of most interest to women and how stories can be
rewritten in a way that is more appealing to women. By doing so, media outlets will
not only attract larger audiences, they will also potentially aid in closing the political
knowledge gap.
The main purpose of this study was to determine whether gender plays a role in
the relationship between enjoyment of keeping up with the news and political knowledge. This notion was supported through the testing of H5. We found that men, who
have higher levels of political knowledge, tend to enjoy keeping up with the news
more than women, who typically have lower levels of political knowledge. This finding is extremely important for its implications; it may indicate that women are not
retaining political information because they are not enjoying the sources from which
they obtain it. These results add credence to the experimental findings of Grabe and
Kamhawi (2006), who concluded that women experience avoidance responses to
negative messages, rating positive stories as more arousing, and processing such messages more effectively than negative ones. Positive emotional responses to news, such
as enjoyment, can aid in women’s comprehension of news, as well as their subsequent
comprehension of the information therein. As Figure 1 demonstrates, increased
enjoyment results in higher political knowledge, but this relationship is stronger
for men than for women—that is, men potentially get more out of watching the news
when they enjoy it than women do.
Like any research study, this one has its limitations. First, we assumed that
‘‘enjoyment of keeping up with the news’’ is synonymous for ‘‘enjoyment of the
news.’’ It is possible for one to enjoy the content of news while not enjoying the
process of keeping up with it. Future studies should operationalize these concepts
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121
as two separate variables so that differences between enjoyment of use and enjoyment
of content can be tested against gender. Second, the knowledge gap may have begun
to close in recent years. As Ramen et al. (2006) noted, women are now using new
media as much as men are. This could impact the amount of political information
they are accessing and attaining. Moreover, there have been recent changes in the
political climate. For the first time in history, a woman, Hillary Clinton, was a viable
contender for the U.S. presidency during the time of the Pew survey’s administration.
News coverage of her campaign flooded media outlets for months. This news content
may have sparked the attention of many women, as they may have found it easier to
relate to news about a prominent female politician as opposed to news about the traditionally male-centered world of U.S. politics. Researchers should study enjoyment
of media use during and after this monumental period of time to gauge potential
changing trends.
Despite these limitations, there are important practical and theoretical implications of our results. These findings support those of Nabi and Krcmar (2004), who
conjectured that the nature of media enjoyment is more complex than previously
thought. Enjoyment is not necessarily the byproduct of media use, but rather is an
active predictor of its occurrence. This adds new insight to the uses and gratifications
perspective, which has often considered enjoyment a reflexive outcome of the process.
Our findings also indicate the importance of studying media enjoyment in relation to
political knowledge, for there is an apparent connection between the two. Scholars
often lament American citizens’ political apathy evidenced by poor voter turnout.
Yet, undoubtedly, a large number of eligible voters abstain from voting because they
do not feel informed enough on the issues to make a decision. This research can also
contribute to the study of political knowledge and gender. Although many would say
that men and women have finally achieved political equilibrium, the ever-present
knowledge gap in this area demonstrates that inequity does indeed still exist. In light
of this study’s findings, future research should consider media enjoyment as an
impetus for political knowledge gain. This emotional component of news media
use may be vital to ultimately leveling the playing field.
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