Towards a theory of sociopolitical development and socialization during middle childhood.

This paper examines theories and concepts relevant to sociopolitical development (SPD). As an emerging theory, SPD expands on empowerment and similar ideas related to social change and activism in community psychology--oppression, liberation, critical consciousness, and culture among them. SPD is the process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, analytical skills, emotional faculties, and the capacity for action in political and social systems necessary to interpret and resist oppression. Equally as important is a vision of liberation that is an alternative to oppressive conditions. All of these concepts have been underemphasized in the social change literature of U.S. community psychology. In our view, sociopolitical development is vital to human development and the creation of a just society. As part of identifying and illustrating concepts and processes relevant to SPD theory, we will draw from the words of young African American activists who were interviewed as part of a research study.

Background/Context Sociopolitical development (SPD) refers to the processes by which an individual acquires the knowledge, skills, emotional faculties, and commitment to recognize and resist oppressive social forces. A growing body of scholarship has found that such sociopolitical capabilities are predictive in marginalized adolescents of a number of key outcomes, including resilience, academic achievement, and civic engagement. Many scholars have long argued that schools and educators have a central role to play in fostering the sociopolitical development of marginalized adolescents around issues of race and class inequality. Other scholars have investigated school-based practices for highlighting race and class inequality that include youth participatory-action research, critical literacy, and critical service-learning. Objective of Study The present study sought to add to the existing scholarship on schools as opportunity structures for sociopolitical development. Specifically, this study considered the role of two different schooling models in fostering adolescents’ ability to analyze, navigate, and challenge the social forces and institutions contributing to race and class inequality. Setting The six high schools participating in the present study were all urban charter public high schools located in five northeastern cities. All six schools served primarily low-income youth of color and articulated explicit goals around fostering students’ sociopolitical development. Three of these high schools were guided by progressive pedagogy and principles, and three were guided by no-excuses pedagogy and principles. Research Design The present study compared the sociopolitical development of adolescents attending progressive and no-excuses charter high schools through a mixed methods research design involving pre-post surveys, qualitative interviews with participating adolescents and teachers, and ethnographic field notes collected during observations at participating schools. Results On average, adolescents attending progressive high schools demonstrated more sig-nificant shifts in their ability to analyze the causes of racial inequality, but adolescents attending no-excuses high schools demonstrated more significant shifts in their sense of efficacy around navigating settings in which race and class inequality are prominent. Neither set of adolescents demonstrated significant shifts in their commitment to challenging the social forces or institutions contributing to race and class inequality. Conclusions Both progressive and no-excuses schools sought to foster adolescents’ commitment to challenging race and class inequality, but focused on different building blocks to do so. Further research is necessary to understand the pedagogy and practices that show promise in catalyzing adolescents’ analytic and navigational abilities into a powerful commitment to collective social action—the ultimate goal of sociopolitical development.

Recognizing the significant roles of youth in social change efforts, research has increasingly aimed to clarify the processes that promote critical action among young people. Studies on sociopolitical development and critical consciousness emphasize that youth's reasoning about inequality and their sociopolitical efficacy are particularly salient precursors to critical action. However, this body of scholarship has yet to clarify the role of opportunity structures in sociopolitical development. Even less research investigates how the key factors in the sociopolitical development framework (e.g., critical reflection, sociopolitical efficacy, opportunity structures) differentially shape youth's critical action depending on their developmental phase. The current study analyzes the processes outlined in the theory of sociopolitical development using a diverse national sample of adolescents and young adults. Multigroup structural equation modeling of participants' survey data elucidated the prominent positive relationship between critical reflection and critical action, but revealed that sociopolitical efficacy was only positively linked to critical action in young adults. Additionally, the results indicated that opportunity structures played a more significant role in shaping the critical action of adolescents than that of young adults. In summary, the distinct relationships observed between adolescents and young adults highlight the necessity of considering key developmental differences in the sociopolitical development process to clarify pathways to political engagement.

Administrators and teachers face changes prompted by the shift to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) offers a promising approach to supporting students in mastering new content standards, while also offering experiences that promote their sociopolitical development and civic agency. In YPAR, students work with a teacher or other adult ally to critically reflect upon the social and political forces influencing their lives, identify a pressing problem or school need, study it through systematic research, and then develop an action plan to raise awareness or change a policy. Because of its emphasis on educational relevance, critical consciousness, and social justice, YPAR is an especially promising strategy with young people who experience racism or other forms of marginalization in school. In this article we describe the YPAR cycle, make an argument for how it creates opportunities for academic learning, sociopolitical development, and youth leadership, and provide examples of what this might look like in practice. YPAR offers a curricular approach that addresses academic objectives while also supporting democratic education and the sociopolitical development of students.

Sociopolitical development refers to the processes by which an individual acquires the knowledge, skills, and commitment to analyze and challenge oppressive social forces. A growing body of scholarship reports that high levels of sociopolitical development are predictive in adolescents of a number of key outcomes including resilience and civic engagement. The present study explored the role that urban secondary schools can play in fostering adolescents’ sociopolitical development through a longitudinal, mixed-methods investigation of more than 400 adolescents attending “progressive” and “no-excuses” high schools. Analyses revealed that, on average, students attending progressive high schools demonstrated meaningful growth in their ability to critically analyze racial and economic inequality, while students attending no-excuses high schools demonstrated meaningful growth in their motivation to challenge these inequities through activism. Qualitative interviews offered insight into youth’s perceptions of the programming and practices at their respective schools that contributed to their sociopolitical development.

Political activism attests to the sociopolitical development and agency of young people. Yet the literature sparingly engages the intersectional subjectivities that inform the sociopolitical development of young people, especially women of color. Important questions remain in the theorizing of sociopolitical development among youth engaged in political activism within higher education settings. Thus, we focus on the following question: What experiences informed or catalyzed the sociopolitical development of women of color student activists within a racialized neoliberal university in the United States? In addressing this question we demonstrate how student-led participatory action research (PAR) within the neoliberal university can facilitate and support sociopolitical development. Of most value, this paper demonstrates how PAR can be used as a tool to support the intersectional sociopolitical development of student activists organizing within racialized neoliberal settings of higher education that threaten the academic thriving and overall wellbeing of students of color, specifically women of color. Sociopolitical development theorizing must engage elements of relational healing as a dimension of wellbeing. Therefore, our work contributes to these conversations by centering the experiences of women of color student activists.

Mentoring relationships are critical to adolescent development and can foster social change. While evidence highlights the positive impact of mentors, there is limited understanding of how this process unfolds for Latinx immigrant-origin emerging adults, and the potential for other adults to hinder their sociopolitical development. Through Constructivist Grounded Theory, we explored: How do nonparental adults (1) positively shape and (2) hinder the sociopolitical development of immigrant-origin Latinx emerging adults? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants ( N = 23; M age = 20) from U.S. regions with large but varying Latinx populations in collaboration with university and community partners. The results are in line with our assertion that participants’ sociopolitical development was positively shaped by adults who gave emotional support, provided opportunities for critical social analysis, modeled sociopolitical engagement, arranged opportunities for action, and equipped young people through instrumental support. The findings also support our assertion on how nonparental adults hindered sociopolitical development through discouraging dialogue, restricting action, and manipulation. Findings have implications for future youth development interventions. We provide recommendations for future research and practice.

In the conditions of Ukraine's development as a legal state, the modernization of its political system on the basis of democratic values, the relevance of the problem of forming the political culture of students in higher education is growing significantly. During the establishment of this process, actual theoretical ideas and practical experience on the identified problem of scientists and teachers working in higher education in different countries of the world can become essential in this case. In particular, the teachers of France and China have considerable interest in this regard. France is one of the most developed European countries. In this state there is a tendency to a pluralistic type of political socialization, which is characterized by the indirect nature of the interaction between the citizen and the government, the existence of a significant number of diverse subcultures where the primary socialization of a person is taking place. A common phenomenon for France is to strikes, to have political protests in which a significant number of as ordinary citizens as well-known political figures usually participate. Corporatization and cultural and religious diversity of the French society have caused the background for the absence of complete system of political socialization for the individual in the state. Instead, the political socialization of people is realized by involving them to know and master the values of the social group to which they belong. The revealed characteristics of France's socio-political development have a significant influence on the students’ process of forming the political culture in French universities. As it is identified in the study, the leading place in this process is occupied by youth public organizations and other informal student associations, student councils, interim commissions and discussion groups which set up to perform specific tasks. The most important problems are discussed at the general meeting (assemblies). As it’s determined in the study, the majority of French students actively participate in the socio-political life of the country, the struggle for their rights, liberties and, in general, for democratic transformations in society, to show a highly socio-political activity. However, the manifestation of youth maximalism often causes the collision between young people and the police or the further conflicts with the administration of universities. At the same time, it should be prospered that in France the process of formation of political culture of high school students occurs during the process of active socio-political activity, which encourages young people to realize responsibility for their public words, behavior and actions, and what is more important for further consequences. Comparing the model for the formation of the political culture of high school students in France and China, it should be noted that they are fundamentally different. The formation of political culture in China occurred under the significant influence of ancient Chinese doctrines and philosophical and religious views. At the same time in China, according to the new demands of modern society, the transformation of the political system is taking place, which, in particular, is manifested in the further development of the political culture of citizens. The centerpiece in it takes those values and attitudes which ensure the preservation of the existing political system. The organization and content of educational work aimed at forming the political culture of students in Chinese universities and is fully consistent with the state strategy for the modernization of the political system in China. Leading role in this process is carried out by organizations and youth associations. One of the effective ways of forming a political culture of student youth in China is its involvement in the work of student self-government bodies. However, unlike the Western European countries, all important decisions should be coordinated with Chinese university leaders and representatives of the university administration and party management bodies. In general, the process of shaping the political culture of Chinese students is directly aimed at educating future specialists as politically aware and active citizens who share traditional sociopolitical values of Chinese people and make intensive efforts to improve their well-being. In the conditions of European integration of Ukraine, the greatest interest for Ukrainian educators lies under the experience of the formation of political culture in French universities. However, we believe that it is also appropriate at the same time to study carefully and to use creatively the certain valuable developments in the field of political education of both Chinese scientists and practitioners. Key words: political culture, student, university, France, China, model.

“Something has to change”

Given high recidivism rates and the vulnerability of detained youth, the authors posit that juvenile detention centers may be most efficacious by serving as both place and process to create career opportunity through vocational training. The authors review the psychosocial factors contributing to delinquency and the primary theories of rehabilitation that extend to detained youth. They highlight key ingredients to effective vocational programming in juvenile detention, such as integration of traditional career theories with constructs pertinent to this population (emerging adulthood, sociopolitical development, social cognitive career theory). Considerations for successful implementation of vocational programs in juvenile detention are also offered.

This is a challenging moment for supporters of public education: the status quo is untenable but the options offered by “reformers” appear equally dangerous. In this context we need arguments for the democratic purposes of education that offer an alternative to existing inequities on one hand and technocratic or privatized solutions on the other. New formations of parents, teachers, and young people call for schools that raise young people who feel connected to their communities, can critically interpret their social and political worlds, and possess the academic skills and agency to empower their communities (Warren in Transforming public education: the need for an education justice movement. N Engl J Public Policy 26(1), Article 11. http://scholarworks.umb.edu/nejpp/vol26/iss1/11, 2015). This special issue, which originated in a series of interdisciplinary seminars, proposes sociopolitical development (SPD) as a core feature of democratic education and human development. Making SPD central to education requires a compelling mix of theory, rigorous evidence, and practical strategy. In this article we provide a scholarly context for SPD in education and introduce the contents of the special issue.

Young people need opportunities that support their well-being while enabling them to take meaningful action. There has been strong interest in youth participatory action research (YPAR) as a form of sociopolitical action for marginalized youth seeking to address inequities that undermine individual and community well-being. The rapid growth of the YPAR literature in the last decade has involved studies analyzing the impact of YPAR on dimensions of youth empowerment, sociopolitical development (SPD), and well-being. The relatively new framework of Transformative Social Emotional Learning (tSEL) is potentially fruitful in identifying relevant constructs, skills, and strategies to support well-being during the YPAR process. This article seeks to advance our integrative conceptualization and analysis of the impact of YPAR by (1) considering the overlapping and unique dimensions of SPD and tSEL: agency, belonging, collaborative problem solving, curiosity, identity, societal involvement, and worldview and social analysis; and (2) applying this integrative lens to the analysis of novel data from an updated systematic review of U.S. and international YPAR studies (2015–2022). We summarize youth outcomes reported in 25 studies to assess the evidence for YPAR as an approach for promoting youth SPD and tSEL outcomes, identifying limitations and next steps for advancing our understanding of these impacts.

This study is a secondary data analysis that extends knowledge about the effects of the early childhood Family Check-Up (FCU) intervention to trajectories of general psychopathology problems (p factor) across early and middle childhood, and effects on adolescent psychopathology and polydrug use. The Early Steps Multisite study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT00538252) is a randomized controlled trial of the FCU and consists of a large, racially and ethnically diverse sample of children who grew up in low-income households in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Eugene, Oregon; and Charlottesville, Virginia (n = 731; 49% female; 27.6% African American, 46.7% European American, 13.3% Hispanic/Latinx). To represent a comorbid presentation of internalizing and externalizing problems, we fit a bifactor model that included a general psychopathology (p) factor at eight ages in early childhood (ages 2-4), middle childhood (ages 7.5-10.5), and adolescence (age 14). Latent growth curve modeling was conducted to examine trajectories of the p factor across ages within the developmental periods of early and middle childhood. The effects of FCU on the reductions in growth in the childhood p factor had cascading effects on adolescent p factor (i.e., within-domain effect) and polydrug use (i.e., across-domain effect). Findings underscore the utility of the early FCU in preventing a host of maladaptive adolescent outcomes across diverse settings and populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

This article explores the sociopolitical development (SPD) of youth activists involved in climate justice and gun violence prevention movements. Interviews with 52 youth members of five different youth-led activist organizations and follow-up surveys supplied the data. We found that involvement in youth-led activist organizations facilitates a particular kind of SPDwe term "intersectional politicization." Intersectional politicization involves critical intersectional reflection paired with critical intersectional action. Critical intersectional reflection entails analysis of how marginalized populations are impacted by particular social problems and how various social issues and forces of oppression interconnect. Critical intersectional action consists of participating actively in multiple movements or activist organizations to address distinct issues simultaneously. Intersectional politicization is fostered through organizational trainings and programming, collaborative work with other organizations, dialog with fellow activists, and online activist content. Intersectional politicization raises new considerations for research on critical consciousness and youth SPD.

Environmental factors seem to be related to the incidence of allergic disease. Children with a later birth order are often exposed to environments, where pathogens and endotoxins can be found, and thus have a higher risk of developing infectious diseases. Therefore, birth order is regarded as an indicator that reflects post-natal environment. However, longitudinal studies are limited on this subject. This study sought to elucidate the relationships between birth order and allergic disease. From a nationwide longitudinal study that followed children born in 2001 (n=47015), we selected doctors' visits for 3 types of allergic disease-bronchial asthma, food allergy and atopic dermatitis-from infancy to 12years of age and conducted binomial log-linear regression analysis to evaluate the associations between birth order and these diseases. We adjusted for the child and parental factors and estimated risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for each outcome. The associations between birth order and bronchial asthma were diverse; later birth order increased the risk in early childhood, but decreased the risks during school age. For example, the adjusted RR comparing third-born or higher and first-born children was 1.19 (95% CI, 1.05-1.35) between 30 and 42months of age, but was 0.76 (95% CI, 0.65-0.89) between 10 and 11years. Later birth order was generally protective for food allergy but increased the risk of atopic dermatitis. The influence of birth order depended on the type of allergic disease and the childhood period. Childhood is unique in terms of physical and immunological development, and the immune response to the post-natal environment in childhood appears to be heterogeneous.