What Do Citizens Have to Do? Parents’ and Adolescents’ Messages About Civic Duty

Abstract

The current study examined demographic and civic behavior correlates of observed messages concerning civic duty coded from dyadic, semi-structured interactions between 160 adolescents ( Mage= 14.42, range = 12-18) and their parents (144 mothers, 52 fathers). Anecdotal statements are provided to illustrate the eight themes that emerged within parent-adolescent civic discussion. Three themes concerned community and political involvement— community service, voting, and other standard political involvement (e.g., keeping up with current events)—and five themes concerned informal civic duties— be productive (e.g., working and becoming educated), follow regulations, help others, respect country, and respect others. In mixed-effect logistic regression models, coding categories were differentially associated with parent and adolescent demographic characteristics and parent-reported civic behavior.