The Role of Parents’ Civic Engagement and Relationship Quality in Predicting Adolescent Civic Engagement

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Moral Development

Abstract

Adolescent civic engagement provides needed services to society and promotes positive youth development (Zaff et al., 2008). Unfortunately, civic engagement rates remain low among adolescents and young adults (Public Religion Research Institute, 2018). Previous research (e.g., McIntosh et al., 2007) has suggested that parents are crucial socializers of adolescent civic development. For example, parents may promote adolescent civic engagement via practices such as civic discussions, directives, and role-modeling (White & Mistry, 2016). In addition, a positive parent-child relationship has also been found to predict desirable civic-related outcomes, including prosocial behaviors (Ottoni-Wilhelm et al., 2014), and civic participation (Bebiroglu et al., 2013). However, to our knowledge, no studies have simultaneously examined the importance of parents’ civic engagement and parent-child relationship quality in predicting middle and late adolescents’ civic engagement. Using data from a multi-reporter study of positive youth development, we examined the relative importance of parents’ civic beliefs, parents’ civic actions, and parent-child relationship quality on adolescent civic beliefs, controlling for adolescent’s gender, race, and socioeconomic status. Participants were 188 adolescents (72.9% White, 56.4% girls, Mage = 16.26, SD = 1.18) and 188 corresponding parents from the New England area. Results indicated that parents’ civic beliefs, civic actions, and parent-child relationship quality explained about one-fifth of variance in adolescent civic beliefs. Parents’ civic beliefs and parent-child relationship quality were significantly positively associated with adolescent civic beliefs. Parents’ civic actions were not significantly associated with adolescent civic beliefs. Finally, parent-child relationship quality did not moderate the association between parents’ civic beliefs and adolescent civic beliefs, inconsistent with Lenzi et al.’s (2014) finding for early adolescents. We discussed possible explanations and directions for future research.

Authors

• Trang Uyen Le, Boston College
  Presenting Author

• Sara Kassie Johnson, Tufts University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jacqueline V Lerner, Boston College
  Non-Presenting Author