Empirical Research on Fathers' Self-Concepts as Political Educators

90 fathers of 9-10 year old boys from different schools in the region of Hannover were given written questionnaires with 42 closed questions, concerning their political attitudes & activities, attributed importance to family & school in political education, attitude to son's military service in future, sex-difference in political education, tasks of political education in the family, stimulation of political discussion with children, age-norms of concession of independence referring to political opinion, & action. Data analysis includes factor analysis, analysis of variance, & nonparametric techniques. Research concentrated on 4 questions: (1) Do fathers have any concepts of political education in the family? (2) Do age-norms exist conceding independence in political opinion & action to children? (3) Which role do education & SC's play in fathers' self-concept as political educators? (4) In which way to political attitudes & activities of the father influence their conceptions of political education in the family? Results include the following: Higher education & higher level of SC are associated with greater acceptance of children's political autonomy with one exception: up-mobiles with low education--themselves political cynical--own the highest age-norms of all groups (defense of privacy). Political interest & political activites of sons seem to be the immediate outcome of positive political attitudes of the father & a liberal educational climate in general. In families in which boys ask for explanation of political matters (as reported by their fathers), fathers exist who stimulate political discussion, are themselves political interested & active, argue against sex-typed political education, & start political education early. Results are discussed in the context of political apathy typical for contradictory expectations in democratic societies where politics are professionalized. 6 Tables, 1 Graph. AA.