2-115 - Youth Civic Engagement Across Cultural, Social, and Political Contexts

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Civic engagement refers generally to taking an active role in citizenship through behaviors indicating an interest in the welfare of others in one’s community as well as broader society (Flanagan et al., 1998; Lenzi et al., 2014). The vast majority of research on adolescent civic engagement has framed this construct most principally as a positive, prosocial outcome, or as a promotive factor associated with positive outcomes. Although civic engagement might be the natural outgrowth of a prosocial orientation and positive developmental experiences, it is important to underscore the fact that civic engagement can manifest in a variety of both positive and negative cultural, social, and political contexts. The presentations in this paper symposium address contextual aspects of adolescent civic engagement, with respect to their cultural and political underpinnings and their potential emergence through adverse social experiences. Paper 1 considers the extent to which the proportion of youth in societies impacts youths’ propensities for engagement in both legal and illegal forms of protest. Paper 2 examines whether cross-community interactions amplify civic activities and support for lasting peace among Catholic and Protestant youth in Northern Ireland. Paper 3 documents the lasting effects of experiences with ethnic-political violence during adolescence on civic engagement in young adulthood among Palestinians and Israelis. Paper 4 explores the extent to which civic engagement co-develops with traumatic stress reactions in the presence of community violence in adolescents growing up in urban US neighborhoods. All papers have substantive implications for studying and optimizing youth development.

Sub Unit

• Social, Emotional, Personality

Chairs

• Paul Boxer, Rutgers University

• Daniel Hart, Rutgers

Individual Presentations

• Population Age Structures Moderate the Association of Legal and Illegal Forms of Civic Action - Presenting Author: Daniel Hart, Rutgers

• Promoting peace: The impact of cross-community activities on youth civic engagement and voting intentions - Presenting Author: Laura K Taylor, Queen's University Belfast; Non-Presenting Author: Christine Merrilees, State University of New York at Geneseo; Non-Presenting Author: Marcie Goeke-Morey, The Catholic University of America; Non-Presenting Author: Peter Shirlow, University of Liverpool; Non-Presenting Author: E. Mark Cummings, University of Notre Dame

• The Development of Civic Engagement Among Palestinian and Israeli Adolescents - Presenting Author: Erika Niwa, Brooklyn College - CUNY; Non-Presenting Author: Eric Dubow, Bowling Green State University; Non-Presenting Author: Paul Boxer, Rutgers University; Non-Presenting Author: L Rowell Huesmann, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Simha Landau, Hebrew University; Non-Presenting Author: Khalil Shikaki, Palestine Center for Policy and Survey Research; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine Smith, University of Michigan

• Volunteerism and Protest Emerging from Trauma: Civic Engagement Among Urban Youth - Presenting Author: Paul Boxer, Rutgers University; Non-Presenting Author: Eric Dubow, Bowling Green State University; Non-Presenting Author: L Rowell Huesmann, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Jennifer Irving, Rutgers University