Poster #99 - Understanding Adolescents’ Civic Identity From a Narrative Perspective

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - Interdisciplinary Section

Integrative Statement

The development of political commitment is a key aspect of identity formation in adolescence (Erikson, 1968), and strong civic commitments in adolescence are more likely to result in higher civic engagement in adulthood (Youniss, McLellan, & Yates, 1997). Although rarely studied, civic identity is a construct that can shed light on how adolescents see themselves as participants in civic life (Hart, Richardson, & Wilkenfeld, 2011). To examine civic identity, we employ a narrative approach, which argues that identity is an internalized and evolving story, constructed from life events, to describe what is central to the self (McAdams, 2011). Meaning and coherence signify more developed identities. This paper analyzes written narratives to understand what civic identity looks like for adolescents.

Data came from a longitudinal study of 4th-12th grade youth (N = 3335; 55% female; 35% Latinx, 11% Black, 40% White, 14% Other Ethnicity) across three geographic regions. In wave 5, high school students described a meaningful experience where they helped their community or created political or social change, locally or globally. See Figure 1 for specific questions.

Narrative coding categories included content, coherence, meaning making, and self-connection. Content categorized the type of civic identity, of which community service was most common: other types were expressing political voice, helping protect the environment, and engaging with organizations, and some adolescents reported no civic identity. Community service identities included helping at homeless shelters, supporting those with special needs, or raising money for charities. One youth wrote, “a time when I felt engaged in my community was when I helped distribute food and essential products to the homeless.” Environmental civic identities most often included cleaning up one’s neighborhood, e.g., “I was sixteen and helped clean up a local park.” Political voice entailed anything political that tried to bring about change, such as protesting, organizing around issues such as DACA and voter turnout, attending meetings about community issues, and efforts to improve schools. One youth described “[attending] meetings in my city where we talked about the Latino and Hispanic ethnic background and how we can make our community better.”

Coherence characterized the sophistication of the story structure, coded from 0 (no coherence) to 4 (very high coherence). Adolescents’ narratives ranged substantially in coherence, with few demonstrating high coherence. Meaning making (0 = no meaning to 3 = deeper insight) was determined by degree of civic-related learning described. Some youth indicated no new learning or insights gained, while others provided hints at meaning that were unclear or cliché, conveyed a specific lesson narrowed to similar situations, or described deeper insight applied to broader life domains or new worldviews.

Findings suggest promise in conceptualizing civic identity from a narrative perspective. Many youth expressed no or low civic identity, suggesting that few adolescents exhibit a coherent civic identity. Learning a specific lesson from civic experiences suggested evidence of civic identity development. In future work, quantitative analyses will examine associations between civic identity components, evidence for a single identity construct, and variability across diverse groups of youth.

Authors

• Danielle Dunn, University of California, Los Angeles
  Presenting Author

• Laura Wray-Lake, University of California, Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author