Framing the Youth-Led Movement for Gun Violence Prevention: How News Coverage Impacts Efficacy in Generation Z, Millennials, and Gen X

Abstract

The American youth-led movement for gun violence prevention (YMGVP) that emerged after the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, has received tremendous media attention. To assess the potential effect of this coverage on readers’ efficacy, we conduct a two-wave population-based survey experiment on members of Generation Z, the Millennial generation, and Generation X that frames the movement as a success or failure in terms of achieving its political goals. Results show that emphasis framing impacts readers’ perceptions of the movement’s likely success in line with the manipulation. Furthermore, framing the YMGVP as unsuccessful suppresses readers’ own external and collective efficacy regardless of generation. Subjects’ support for gun control moderates the effect of treatment, such that individuals low in support express a decline in internal and information efficacy when presented with the success framing. Thus, we extend the effects of news framing beyond attitudes toward the subjects of reporting to readers’ own perceptions of themselves as capable of political action.