The Role of Social Media Use in Association With Youths’ Political Attitude and Ethnic-Based Narration in Yeka Sub City, Addis Ababa.
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Date
2026-06-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study examined the relationship between social media use and youths’ political attitudes, as well as ethnic-based narration/discourse, in Addis Ababa (Yeka Subcity). Guided by Political So-cialization Theory and informed by perspectives on the digital public sphere and the political economy of communication, the study tested whether social media functions as a digital environ-ment that shapes political meaning-making and identity-centered narratives among Ethiopian youth. A quantitative correlational design was employed using a structured Likert-scale question-naire administered to 384 youths aged 18–30 selected through simple random sampling with eli-gibility screening for active social media users. Reliability of the measurement scales was con-firmed using Cronbach’s alpha (overall α = .944). Data were analyzed through descriptive statis-tics, Spearman’s correlation, and group comparison tests (independent-samples t-test and one-way ANOVA). The results showed a strong positive association between social media use and political attitude (ρ = 0.863) as well as between social media use and ethnic-based narration (ρ = 0.792). However, gender, age group (18–24 vs. 25–30), and study field (Natural Science vs. Social Science) did not produce statistically significant differences in social media use, political attitude, or ethnic-based narration, while educational level significantly distinguished political attitude (F = 5.333, p = 0.005) but did not significantly differentiate ethnic-based narration (F = 0.984, p = 0.375). In addition, simple linear regression indicated that social media use (Zscore(SocialMedi-aTotal)) explained a substantial proportion of the variance in youths’ outcomes; specifically, for ethnic-based narration the model produced R = .868 and R² = .754 (Adjusted R² = .754), account-ing for about 75.4% of the variability in Z-score (Ethnic-Based Narration Total), and for political attitude it produced R = .800 and R² = .639 (Adjusted R² = .638), accounting for about 63.9% of the variability in Z-score (Political Attitude Total).
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The Role of Social Media Use in Association