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Family Influence on Political Attitude of University Students in Ethiopia

The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among Family Interaction (FI), Family Socioeconomic Status (FSES) and Political Attitude (PA) of University Students. Data was collected from three Ethiopian universities: Addis Ababa University, Jimma University and Mizan Tepi University. A total of randomly selected 534 students participated in the study. Based on nature of the data, correlational research design was used. Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the data.  The study found a statistically significant, positive and moderate relationship (r =.502, p<.001) between FI and students’ PA. Likewise, the relation between FSES and FI was found to be statistically significant, positive and weak (r =.263, p<.001).Together, FSES (β= -.131, p<.01) and FI ( β=.687, p<.001) explained 43.80% (Effect Size = .779) of the variance in PA.  Although no statistically significant relationship was found between FSES and PA, the indirect effect of FSES (β =.035, p<.05) on PA via FI was found to be positive and statistically significant. Implications of these findings are discussed.