Civic Purpose: An Integrated Construct for Understanding Civic Development in Adolescence

Abstract

This article introduces civic purpose as a construct for learning about civic development in adolescence. Civic purpose, defined as a sustained intention to contribute to the world beyond the self through civic or political action, integrates the components of motivation, civic activity, and future-oriented civic intention. We present results from a mixed methods longitudinal study that used the civic purpose framework in which 1,578 high school seniors took a survey, 50 participated in an interview, and 9 additional adolescent “civic exemplars” participated in both the survey and the interview. Two years later, 480 participants took the survey again, and 34 participated in a second interview. A small percentage of the study subjects exhibited full civic purpose across three different types of civic activity (political, community service, expressive), while a larger percentage demonstrated precursory forms of civic purpose, with evidence of some but not all components of civic purpose. Key contributors to the development of civic purpose were: identity salience, beliefs and values, and invitation from one or more adults.

Motivations for Civic Participation Among Diverse Youth: More Similarities than Differences

“…However, it is intriguing that 25% of politically active youth in this study were motivated by helping identity. Although research has suggested that youth don't see political activities as a way to help others (Walker, 2002), perhaps helping identity is a primary motive for a subset of politically active youth (Malin et al, 2015). It is important to note that because political was not defined in this study, it might be that participants interpreted "political" activities more broadly than in previous research.…”

“…Further research can elaborate on the issues that lead to sustained civic participation and examine how concerns for specific issues integrate with other motivations in highly involved youth. Indeed, a recent analysis of civically purposeful youth from the same study found that youth integrate their interest in social issues with their own social values and identities (Malin, Ballard, & Damon, 2015).…”

“…Although using filter questions about involvement in political and nonpolitical volunteer activities allowed us to explore motivations for both types of activities, the fact that we did not define what we meant by political and volunteer activities likely led to interpretation ambiguity. In particular, young people may have underestimated their political involvement because youth do not always see their interests or activities as political even when adults would say that they are (Malin et al, 2015). Future studies should define political and volunteer activities for participants.…”

Impacts of Adolescent and Young Adult Civic Engagement on Health and Socioeconomic Status in Adulthood

“…Exposure to nonfamilial adults might provide professional models and opportunities for youth (Jarrett, Sullivan, & Watkins, ; Zeldin, Larson, Camino, & O'Connor, ). Second, all three forms of civic activities might serve a social function by putting young people in contact with adult mentors and like‐minded peers who can provide psychological support and shape expectations, aspirations, and goals (Diemer, ; Malin, Ballard, & Damon, ; Zeldin et al., ). Third, meaningful engagement in civic life might engage young people in their education.…”

“…Third, meaningful engagement in civic life might engage young people in their education. At a time when some young people are at risk for disengaging from school, civic opportunities can provide a context for them to derive purpose and find meaning in their lives (Malin et al., ), increase their future orientation and a tendency to plan for the future (Robbins & Bryan, ), and redirect effort toward attaining goals, all of which might lead to more academic engagement and better academic performance. However, it could also be the case that certain forms of civic engagement might funnel people toward career paths in helping or advocacy professions, which may result in lower SES in adulthood.…”