USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

Examining developmental transitions in civic engagement across adolescence: Evidence from a national U.S. sample.

SelectedWorks Author Profiles:

Wendy Rote

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

ISSN

2191-7485

Abstract

Describing how much and what type(s) of change are evident in civic engagement across adolescence is a fundamental starting point for advancing developmental theory in the civic domain. Using five annual waves of data from a large national U.S. sample spanning 8th–12th grades, our study describes civic engagement typologies and transitions in and out of typologies across adolescence. Four distinct civic typologies were identified across indicators of civic values, behaviors, and future expectations. Two-thirds of youth demonstrated ipsative continuity, i.e., within-class stability over time. Transitions indicated gradual stepwise change in both upward and downward directions and thus provided only modest support for age-related gains. Our study has the potential to spur theoretical progress regarding civic development by documenting developmental change as a series of transitions that vary across people. Results help to clarify the diverse civic pathways that youth experience across adolescence.

Language

en_US

Publisher

I O S Press

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS