The Impact of Civic Engagement on Ethnic and Moral Identity in Adolescence

Background and Purpose:

Civic engagement among youth has received much attention because their disengagement is more prominent than other age groups¹. Several studies found that civic engagement in adolescence is associated with positive outcomes in their later life³. Still, previous longitudinal studies lack investigating the dynamics of civic engagement and identity formation, which are important development tasks of adolescence. This study examines the longitudinal relationship between civic engagement and identity of adolescents (ethnic and moral). The hypotheses are as follows. Hypothesis 1: Civic engagement (time 1) fosters positive ethnic identity (time 2). Hypothesis 2: Civic engagement (time 1) fosters positive moral identity (time 2).

Methods:

Data. This study uses a two-wave longitudinal data set collected by the Stanford University Center on Adolescence. The data set was first collected in 2011 and the follow-up survey was conducted in 2013. The survey includes various topics about civic experiences, attitudes, and motivations of high school seniors. The sample who participated in both survey is 480. Our final sample size is 419.

Measures. Civic engagement is a composite variable of the 5 items: Fund-raising project; helping friends or classmates; volunteering at a school event; giving money to a good cause; and volunteering in community service. Ethnic identity is a composite variable of the 7 items: Respondents’ clear sense, happiness, strong sense, understanding, and pride and strong attachment on their ethnic group. Moral identity is a composite of the 6 items: fairness, willingness to stand up for the right; compassion; honesty, justice and human rights; abd responsibility. 

Method: Fixed effects model with lagged dependent variables using structural equations models was conducted³. The model includes the dependent variable from time 1 into the model to control for stability in the outcome variables.

Results:

The results showed that civic engagement is associated with a strong ethnic identity, which supports Hypothesis 1. Also, civic engagement is statistically significantly related to a strong moral identity, which supports Hypothesis 2. The fit indices show a satisfactory goodness of fit (CFI= 0.979; SRMR=.037; RMSEA=0.068).

Conclusions and Implications:

Our longitudinal findings show that civic engagement leads to positive ethnic and moral identity formation among adolescents. Both ethnic and moral identities are important components of identity, which affects their self-perception. Moreover, identity formation in adolescence is particularly important because it influences the trajectory of identity in adulthood. This provides new insights into a role of civic engagement in youth development. Further studies can be conducted to examine whether this impact varies across different demographics.

References:

1. Bedolla, L. G. (2010). 21^st century competencies and civic participation. Paper prepared for the NRC meeting on 21^stCentury Competencies: A Planning Process on Behalf of the Hewlett Foundation. 

2. Bollen, K. A., & Brand, J. E. (2008). Fixed and Random Effects in Panel Data Using Structural Equations Models. California Center for Population Research On-Line Working Paper Series. 

3. Chan, W. Y., Ou, S-R., Reynolds, A. J. (2014). Adolescent civic engagement and adult outcomes: An examination among urban racial minorities. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43(11), 1829-1843.