1-139 - Social Support and Engagement: Exploring supportive ecologies and their influence on school and civic engagement

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Social supports across developmental contexts are key ingredients for youth’s academic and civic engagement. This engagement subsequently leads to academic success and long-term civic participation (Benner & Graham, 2009; Benner, Graham & Mistry, 2011; Roderick, 2003; Zaff et al., 2010). This symposium offers a collection of papers exploring how social support, or the lack thereof, can effect the positive engagement and development of youth. The first paper offers insights into adolescents' civic perceptions and meaning making processes; in the context of the Chicago Teacher Union protests in 2012. Findings indicate that students became involved in the protests because they felt strong connections to and high levels of social support from their teachers. The second paper turns from looking at the role of social support in the lives of actively engaged youth to youth who disengaged from school. This paper looks at the experiences of positive and negative socializing agents in the lives of these youth, and the possible academic effects of these agents. The final paper identifies typologies of support and risk, including levels of support and other contextual factors, for disengaged youth. The results elucidate the heterogeneity of lived experience among youth who disengage from school. Taken together, these papers provide insights into the roles of supportive contexts in helping youth navigate and negotiate their life experiences. The paper presentations will be followed by a discussion about implications for policies and practices aimed at engaging youth and promoting their academic success and civic orientations.
 

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Elizabeth S Pufall Jones, Tufts University

Discussant

• Jonathan F Zaff, Tufts University

Individual Presentations

• Urban youth and civic engagement: The Chicago Teacher Union strike and youth involvement - Presenting Author: Resney Gugwor, University of Chicago

• Building connections to graduate: How positive socialization can change the trajectory of youth who drop out of school - Presenting Author: Ana Carvalho, Tufts University; Elizabeth S Pufall Jones, Tufts University; Jonathan F Zaff, Tufts University

• Dropout typologies among two national samples: Profiles of risk and support - Presenting Author: Jennifer Prescott, Tufts University; Sara Anderson, Georgetown University; Elana McDermott, Tufts University; Alexandra Baker, Tufts University; Jonathan F Zaff, Tufts University