Examining Predictors of Activism Engagement Among Undergraduate Students

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

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, The University of Texas at Austin

• Flor Castellanos, The University of Texas at Austin

• Allison Zengilowski, University of California - Davis

• Ashley Michelle Bennett, The University of Texas at Austin

• Lillian Nguyen, The University of Texas at Austin

• Madalyn Kaldenberg, The University of Texas at Austin

• Germine Awad, The University of Texas at Austin