The Role of Civic Literacy and Social Empathy on Rates of Civic Engagement Among University Students

Background and Purpose

Civic engagement within the United States (U.S.) has fallen to an all-time low. In 2007, the U.S. ranked 139^th in voter participation of 172 world democracies (AACU, 2012). In particular, rates of civic engagement among young adults have declined.  File (2014) reports that "ÉAmerica's youngest voters have moved towards less engagement over time, as 18- through 24-year-olds' voting rates dropped from 50.9 percent in 1964 to 38.0 percent in 2012. " (p. 2)

This study sought to explore the relationship between civic literacy, social empathy and civic engagement among young adults.  Civic literacy refers to our understanding of how government functions as well as our understanding of basic democratic skills and processes.  Social empathy couples individual empathy with an understanding of structural oppression, contextual factors, as well as a sense of social responsibility (Segal, 2011). The question guiding this study was: "Do social empathy and civic literacy influence rates of civic engagement among students enrolled in a large, public university?"

Methods

This study employed a cross-sectional, survey design to examine rates of civic engagement, civic literacy and social empathy among a sample of students enrolled in a large public university in the western U.S.  The online survey included the Civic Engagement Quiz, the Social Empathy Index (SEI), twenty civic literacy questions, and demographic questions. The Civic Engagement Quiz is a 26-item measure of civic engagement developed by researchers at the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. The Social Empathy Index (SEI) is a 40-item measure of social and interpersonal empathy (Segal, Wagaman & Gerdes, 2012). The civic literacy measure included twenty multiple-choice questions, of which fifteen were drawn from the Civics Assessment Database compiled by the Educational Commission of the States.

An invitation to participate in the study and a link to the survey was sent via SurveyMonkey to a random sample of undergraduate and graduate students. Three follow-up e-mails were sent during the course of the semester. A total of 415 completed surveys were analyzed.

Results

The average number of lifetime civic activities reported by students was 10.  On average, students scored 15.5 on the civic literacy questions, equating to an average grade of "C+."  Students scored an average of 182 on the Social Empathy Index.

A simple linear regression was calculated to predict civic engagement rates based on levels of civic literacy and social empathy among university students.   A significant regression equation was found {F(2,408 ) = 17.681, p =. 000), with an R2 of .075}. The analysis shows that rates of civic engagement increased when levels civic literacy (Beta=.221, p < .05) and social empathy (Beta=.025, p < .05) also increased.

Conclusion and Implications

Civic literacy and social empathy show promise as possible predictors of increased civic engagement. These findings raise the question as to whether or not people are withdrawing from certain forms of engagement due to a basic lack of understanding and empathy. Efforts to build both understanding of government and empathy may foster greater involvement in communities.