Civic Efficacy Research Articles

How young people get from voice to influence for change: exploring the relations between tactical choices and civic efficacy

ABSTRACT Young people take advantage of new technologies to make their voices heard on important social issues. However, it is unclear whether they see expression as an end-point or starting-point for civic engagement, and how those perceptions relate to feelings of civic efficacy. This online study explored this question by asking young people aged between 18 and 25 (N = 873) to describe how they could address a civic issue they care about. The greatest efficacy was observed among participants who identified ways of using political expression to achieve civic goals extending beyond raising awareness to exerting influence through electoral or civic activities.

Civic-Mindedness Is More Than Personality

Abstract: Many colleges and universities have embraced the goal of increasing students’ civic-mindedness. The research associated with theorizing and measuring civic-mindedness, however, has thus far progressed in a silo away from the established literature of personality psychology. This paper bridges this gap – adopting civic efficacy and service motivation as two measures of civic-mindedness – and examines how well they are explained by the five-factor model of personality (FFM). Using survey data from undergraduate students at a large, public research university, we estimated a structural equation model to measure personality traits from the FFM, service motivation, and civic efficacy. Results showed that variation in personality accounts for approximately 40% of the variation in Service Motivation and 53% of the variation in Civic Efficacy, which does not support a clear assertion that either construct can neatly be categorized as a facet of the FFM. Our findings provide an additional theoretical basis for community service learning courses and other educational opportunities that blend traditional pedagogical strategies with experiential and reflective opportunities aiming to produce change across state-like and trait-like attributes.

Perceived Racial Discrimination, Poverty-Related Stress, Civic Efficacy, and Psychological Problems in Low Socioeconomic Preadolescents

This study examined the intersecting experiences of perceived racial discrimination, poverty-related stress (PRS), and civic efficacy with psychological functioning in preadolescents. The sample consisted of 129 low-income, racially and ethnically diverse preadolescents. Hierarchical linear regression analyses found that perceived racial discrimination and PRS were associated with greater psychological problems, as reported by parents and youth. High levels of both perceived racial discrimination and PRS together resulted in even higher psychological problems, as reported by parents. Lastly, civic efficacy significantly moderated the relationship, where higher civic efficacy in the presence of both discrimination and PRS was associated with fewer psychological problems. In conclusion, these findings suggest that considering both stressors as intersecting rather than additive stress may better explain the mental health disparities among low-income and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) youth. Additionally, empowering resources, such as civic efficacy, may promote positive development.

Civic engagement and well-being among noncollege young adults: Investigating a mediation model.

Young adults may benefit from civic engagement as a health promotion tool, as civic engagement is generally associated with positive well-being. However, more information is needed to examine civic engagement among lesser-educated young adults who are least likely to civically engage, and more likely to demonstrate mental health needs. We surveyed noncollege young adults (N = 621) to measure their civic engagement, meaning, civic efficacy, well-being, and sociodemographic factors. Using an a priori model, direct, indirect, and full effects path analyses were conducted across men and women, and then the entire sample. The full effects model best fit the data with mediation by civic efficacy and meaning (χ2 (2) = 0.59, p = 0.74; comparative fit index = 1.0; root mean square error of approximation = 0.00, 90% confidence interval [0.00-0.06]; R2 = 0.42). Types of engagement (civic, electoral, activism, and online) demonstrated differing relationships with well-being. Stakeholders should resource young adults with civic skills and coping strategies to address the many challenges that civic experiences often elicit.

Civic-mindedness and discipline selection: do civically-minded students cluster within disciplines?

ABSTRACT Choosing a course of study is one of the most consequential decisions a university student will make. While there is considerable literature investigating how personality influences students’ choice of discipline, there is currently no evidence about how students cluster in disciplines relative to their civic-mindedness. This is an important gap in knowledge for faculty and staff who are increasingly implementing programmes and curricula aimed at developing civic-mindedness. Using data from a survey conducted at a single Dutch university (N = 1514) conducted prior to the start of first-year students’ undergraduate studies, we estimated a confirmatory factor analysis model to measure two constructs related to civic-mindedness, Service Motivation and Civic Efficacy, and personality traits included in the five-factor model. We present distributions of these traits across disciplines of study and show large differences between disciplines in both measures of civic-mindedness. We also found that a model including personality, Service Motivation and Civic Efficacy explained a small, but non-trivial (six percent) amount of the variation in discipline selection. A better understanding of the distribution of civic-mindedness across disciplines will help educators and policy makers develop types of civic education that are better suited to the heterogeneity of today’s student population.

Profiles of civic assets among youth of color: Relations with civic action

Using latent profile analysis, we investigated how the civic assets of critical reflection (analysis of oppression), civic efficacy (feeling that one's civic action will be effective), and social responsibility (sense of duty to support one's community) manifest within 284 youth of color. Four distinct profiles of civic assets were identified. We examined associations between profiles and involvement in community service, political activities, and social activism. Social responsibility was closely associated with community service, civic efficacy was associated with social activism, and social responsibility and civic efficacy together were linked to political activities. According to critical consciousness theory, youth of color can engage in critical action, or civic action targeting oppression, when they have critical reflection. However, our study showed that high critical reflection alone was related to very low civic action. To support the civic action of youth of color, multiple civic assets must be considered in tandem.

Why do young people engage in some civic actions and not others? Exploring the roles of individual and collective civic efficacy

AbstractCivic actions are behaviours intended to improve conditions for others or help shape a community's future. Such actions vary widely from voting to voluntary helping, from canvassing to community organizing, and attempts have been made to categorize the array of civic actions. However, the question of why young adults engage in some types of civic actions versus others is not well understood. Using data from 598 White, cisgender, heterosexual young adults in the United States, we examined the relations between individual civic efficacy, collective civic efficacy, and seven actions: writing social media posts, voting, buycotting, volunteering, participating in an organization, supporting political candidates, and protesting. We hypothesized that individual efficacy would be positively related to all seven actions, but collective efficacy would be more strongly related to collective or political actions, compared to the individual or civil ones. Logistic regression analyses showed that individual efficacy positively predicted engagement in all seven civic actions. Individual and collective efficacy had a complex curvilinear relation with buycotting and supporting political candidates. Implications for future research and applications aimed at promoting civic engagement amongst young adults are discussed. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Empowering community-changers: Developing civic efficacy in elementary classrooms

This study examined the effects of behavioral and social engagement and classroom supportiveness on the development of civic efficacy in fourth-grade science classrooms. We define civic efficacy as children's beliefs that they are not only capable of making a difference in their community, but they also feel a responsibility to do so. This study enrolled 815 students (48% female) across 39 classrooms, including 31 fourth-grade teachers at 25 schools in a large urban school district in the South Central U.S. Stepwise regression showed that behavioral engagement, social engagement, and classroom supportiveness in science class all positively predicted civic efficacy, and social engagement accounted for the greatest amount of variance in that civic efficacy. Findings suggests that social engagement is a stronger driver of civic efficacy than behavioral engagement and classroom supportiveness, pointing to the importance of collaboration and teamwork in science classrooms. We discuss implications for elementary classroom practices.

Engaging youth for positive change: A quantitative analysis of participant outcomes

Engaging Youth for Positive Change is a local civic engagement program focused on youth and young adults in the U.S. state of Illinois, and guides them through the process of adopting a local ordinance by working with their local city councils or other governing bodies. Researchers collected two waves of data from EYPC participants to quantitatively assess associations between program participation and changes in a variety of key factors relating to civic engagement. Initial findings indicate participants reported significant increases in variables associated with civic participation, including teamwork, leadership, and internal political efficacy. Furthermore, participants at more rigorous implementation sites reported significantly higher levels of critical civic engagement indicators compared to their peers at less rigorous implementation sites. This paper discusses EYPC in detail, findings from analyses and program evaluation, and concludes with a discussion on next steps regarding how EYPC and similar programs may enhance civic engagement among youth and young adult populations.

Youth are watching: Adolescents’ sociopolitical development in the Trump era

This study examined whether appraisals of 45th U.S. President Donald J. Trump by 1433 adolescents (Mage =16.1, SDage =1.16, Female=56.9%, Latinx=43.6%, White=35.7%, Black=12.6%, Asian=5.8%) predicted change from 2017 to 2018 across four dimensions of sociopolitical development (SPD): marginalization, critical analysis, civic efficacy, and political action. Trump supporters declined in awareness of inequality and race consciousness but increased in voting intentions. Trump detractors increased in awareness of inequality, race consciousness, and experiences of discrimination. Trump supporters and detractors increased in civic efficacy compared to youth with no opinion. Additional findings were moderated by race and ethnicity. Findings suggest adolescents' SPD has been shaped in distinct ways by the Trump era.

Modeling Youth Civic Engagement in a New World of Networked Publics

In an increasingly networked public, the Internet and social media provide rich opportunities for reconnecting youth with their civic life. In a questionnaire study of 578 14-20 year old youth, we explore the relationship between Internet technology experiences, civic efficacy, community identification, and civic engagement in their everyday lives. Contrary to prevailing stereotypes of digital youth, we found that most rely on email and text messaging to communicate with others in their local communities about civic issues. Further, those more experienced with technologies in the public sphere (such as blogs, wikis, and Twitter) had higher levels of civic engagement. Teens who strongly identified with their local community and who had higher levels of civic efficacy were especially likely to be civically engaged. These results highlight the importance of encouraging youth to emotionally connect to their local communities, and to do so online in the public sphere rather than through more personal communication channels.

Civic Development within the Peer Context: Associations between Early Adolescent Social Connectedness and Civic Engagement.

Social connectedness is theorized to contribute to civic development and in turn, civic engagement is thought to cultivate social connectedness. Little research has examined how social connectedness is linked with early adolescent civic engagement. The current study used a social network research design to examine associations between early adolescent social connectedness via their position within their peer network and their civic engagement. Middle-school students (N = 213) aged 11-15 years (M = 12.5; 57% female) were recruited from a remote US community and provided nominations for peer connections and reported on multiple aspects of civic engagement. Early adolescents who had identified more peer nominations had higher civic efficacy. Youth who had fewer connections with different peer groups and fewer connections with popular peers were more engaged in political behavior. Greater popularity was associated with higher political engagement for boys, but not girls. Greater connections with different peer groups was associated with greater environmentalism for younger but not older teens. These findings highlight the need to consider adolescent civic development within the peer context.

Perceived School Characteristics Fostering Civic Engagement Among Adolescents in Italy

It has been widely argued that effective citizenship education should focus on more than mere teaching of civic knowledge, but should provide a wider range of opportunities for the experience of participation and development of skills, efficacy and interest instrumental to active citizenship. Opportunities for critical reflection such as open classroom discussions, fairness at school, institutional efficacy and student participation at school activities have been linked to the development of civic and political attitudes. The capacity of school education to provide opportunities for critical reflection on students’ participative experiences, however, has not been explored empirically sufficiently. This paper aims to identify the contribution of different school characteristics to the development of civic and political attitudes and their impact on students’ level of participation in civic activities through a mixed methods study. Questionnaire data collected in two waves with 685 adolescents from Italy were analyzed through structural equation modeling to test the effects of school characteristics at Time 1 (democratic climate, student participation and critical reflection) on civic participation at Time 2, mediated by institutional trust, civic efficacy and political interest. In order to explore the quantitative findings and examine further students’ perceptions of the school aspects that support their civic involvement, focus group discussions were conducted with students from secondary schools with different tracks.The results highlight the importance of opportunities for active involvement in school and critical reflection in fostering political interest, efficacy and civic participation. Democratic school climate was found to impact institutional trust and civic efficacy, but not participation. Students’ accounts of schools’ citizenship education activities highlight further the need for a participative environment that rises above information transmission by inviting critical reflection and giving value to students’ active involvement in the institution.

Can transparency and accountability programs improve health? Experimental evidence from Indonesia and Tanzania.

We assess the impact of a transparency and accountability program designed to improve maternal and newborn health (MNH) outcomes in Indonesia and Tanzania. Co-designed with local partner organizations to be community-led and non-prescriptive, the program sought to encourage community participation to address local barriers in access to high quality care for pregnant women and infants. We evaluate the impact of this program through randomized controlled trials (RCTs), involving 100 treatment and 100 control communities in each country. We find that on average, this program did not have a statistically significant impact on the use or content of maternal and newborn health services, nor on perceptions of civic efficacy or civic participation among recent mothers in the communities where it was offered. These findings hold in both countries and in a set of prespecified subgroups. To identify reasons for the lack of impacts, we use a mixed-method approach combining interviews, observations, surveys, focus groups, and ethnographic studies that together provide an in-depth assessment of the complex causal paths linking participation in the program to improvements in MNH outcomes. Although participation in program meetings was substantial and sustained in most communities, and most attempted at least some of what they had planned, only a minority achieved tangible improvements, and fewer still saw more than one such success. In our assessment, the main explanation for the lack of impact is that few communities were able to traverse the complex causal paths from planning actions to accomplishing tangible improvements in their access to quality health care.

Can White Guilt Motivate Action? The Role of Civic Beliefs.

Limited research has investigated factors that shape White youth's civic action aimed at social change. Investigating the relation between Whiteness and civic action is an essential step toward identifying and cultivating environments that encourage White youth to use their racial privilege to combat inequality through civic engagement. To address this gap in the literature, across two distinct samples, this study investigates the role of White guilt in motivating civic action and the moderating role of civic beliefs. Participants included all young adults who self-identified as White from two online survey studies (Study 1, N = 219 college students, 71.9% Women, 28.1% Men, mean age = 19.6; Study 2, N = 185, 50% current college students, 54.6% Women, 45.4% Men, mean age = 23.9). In Study 1, White guilt related to more civic action. In the context of high social responsibility, White guilt related to more civic action; in the context of low social responsibility, White guilt corresponded with less civic action. In Study 2, White guilt also related to more civic action, and civic efficacy emerged as a potential moderator. Collectively, these results highlight the potential for White guilt to be turned into meaningful civic action, particularly when coupled with civic beliefs.

Encouraging CS students to compute for social good through collaborative, community-engaged projects

Which pedagogical techniques better engage computer science (CS) students in computing for social good? We examine this question with students enrolled in classes using the Collaborating Across Boundaries to Engage Undergraduates in Computational Thinking (CABECT) pedagogical model, that pairs CS and non-CS courses with a community partner to propose solutions to a local problem. Pre- and post-tests of self-assessed concerns about civic responsibility, global responsibility, and local civic efficacy were administered to the students in a three-year long pedagogical experiment, which paired five CS courses with five journalism courses. While CS students were not statistically different from their journalism peers in pre-test measures of social and global responsibility, they lagged behind in local efficacy. In the posttest, CS students had significantly increased their sense of local efficacy to the extent that they were statistically indistinguishable from journalism students. Community-engaged learning projects, such as the one in the CABECT model, show great potential for attracting students to computing for social good.

Making a difference in the community: local civic engagement efficacy among immigrants and refugees in King County, Washington

ABSTRACT Issues of immigration and citizenship are at the forefront of policy and public opinion in the United States. This study explores immigrant and refugee perceptions of their ability to make a difference in their community by leveraging an extensive survey conducted in King County, Washington. Findings show that immigrants and refugees who were more interested in the 2016 presidential election, more likely to vote in the 2016 presidential election, and could easily access election information in their preferred language were significantly more likely to believe they could make a difference in their community. This study adds to the literature by showing empirically the ways in which sociocultural factors shape civic efficacy among immigrants and refugees, while building on previous research on political efficacy and participation based on psychological mechanisms to show the broader role of sociocultural environment on civic efficacy.

Adolescent views of civic responsibility and civic efficacy: Differences by rurality and socioeconomic status

This study examined differences in civic beliefs and efficacy for youth living in rural or city contexts and from higher or lower socioeconomic homes. Youth (N = 1847; 88.6% White; 56% female; Mage = 15.72) from a rural town (46.1%) and a mid-sized city (53.9%) completed questionnaires assessing civic beliefs (should, obligation, respect judgments) for community service, standard political, and social movement behaviors, as well as community efficacy, political knowledge efficacy, and political action efficacy. Rural youth and youth from less educated households had lower political efficacy and rated standard political activity as less important, obligatory, and worthy of social praise. Adolescents from more educated households viewed social movement involvement as more important and morally worthy. A parent education by rurality interaction indicated rural youth from less educated families endorsed lower beliefs that people should engage in standard political action. Findings highlight the importance of community and socioeconomic context for youth civic development.

The Civic Efficacy of Charter Schools: A Literature Review

ABSTRACT With the expansion of charter schools, astoundingly limited empirical research has considered issues related to the dimensions of civic learning in these settings. This article, seeks to augment the literature by addressing the civic efficacy of charter schools. Specifically, we employ key elements of the Octagon Model to conceptualize how charter schools influence civic learning. Findings suggest that civic learning is part of the charter school ethos. School climate, teacher practices, curriculum, and civic participation opportunities play an integral role in expanding civic opportunities to those youth enrolled in charter schools. Methodological issues, however, hamper the impact these practices may have on youth enrolled in charter schools.

Integrating Leadership Development Into Cross-Age Mentoring Programs

In British Columbia (BC), the use of cross-age mentoring programs, commonly referred to as buddy programs, is not systemically evaluated and there are no clear program goals. Although the use of buddy programs is widespread across school districts in BC, research remains scarce regarding both the origins of buddy programs and their purpose. Accordingly, integrating leadership development training for children into existing buddy programs could provide clarity for the use of buddy programs while providing elementary-aged children positive benefits, better equipping them for their professional lives after secondary school. Leadership development training is widely accepted as valuable to the elementary-aged child due to its positive impact on self-esteem, self-efficacy, school connectedness, citizenship, civic efficacy, and sense of social justice.