Examining Predictors of Activism Engagement Among Undergraduate Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Outcomes of Individual, Familial, and Institutional Involvement (Table 22)

Abstract

College campuses have historically been sites for mobilization and protests, but COVID-19’s impact on educational institutions forced students to engage in forms of activism elsewhere. Given the civil unrest of 2020 and the resulting consciousness rising, this study sought to examine attitudinal and behavioral predictors of undergraduates’ willingness to engage in conventional and high-risk activism. Institutional advocacy (targeting institutional aspects of racism) was the largest significant positive predictors of a student's willingness to engage in activism. Social justice orientation was significantly and negatively related to high-risk activism and need for cognition and individual advocacy were positively and significantly related to conventional activism. These findings have implications for elevating critical consciousness and understanding current trends in equity activism.

Authors

• Taylor Payne, University of Texas at Austin

• Flor Castellanos, University of Texas at Austin

• Allison Zengilowski, Lehigh University

• Ashley M. Bennett, University of Texas at Austin

• Lillian Nguyen, University of Michigan

• Madalyn Kaldenberg, University of Texas at Austin

• Germine Awad, University of Michigan