Constance A. Flanagan

Civic Engagement and the Transition to Adulthood

Constance Flanagan and Peter Levine survey research on civic engagement among U.S. adolescents and young adults. Civic engagement, they say, is important both for the functioning of democracies and for the growth and maturation it encourages in young adults, but opportunities for civic engagement are not evenly distributed by social class or race and ethnicity.Todays young adults, note the authors, are less likely than those in earlier generations to exhibit many important characteristics of citizenship, raising the question of whether these differences represent a decline or simply a delay in traditional adult patterns of civic engagement. Flanagan and Levine also briefly discuss the civic and political lives of immigrant youth in the United States, noting that because these youth make up a significant share of the current generation of young adults, their civic engagement is an important barometer of the future of democracy.The authors next survey differences in civic participation for youth from different social, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. They explore two sets of factors that contribute to a lower rate of civic engagement among low-income and minority young adults. The first is cumulative disadvantage—unequal opportunities and influences before adulthood, especially parental education. The second is different institutional opportunities for civic engagement among college and non-college youth during the young-adult years. Flanagan and Levine survey various settings where young adults spend time—schools and colleges, community organizations, faith-based institutions, community organizing and activism projects, and military and other voluntary service programs—and examine the opportunities for civic engagement that each affords.As the transition to adulthood has lengthened, say the authors, colleges have become perhaps the central institution for civic incorporation of younger generations. But no comparable institution exists for young adults who do not attend college. Opportunities for sustained civic engagement by year-long programs such as City Year could provide an alternative opportunity for civic engagement for young adults from disadvantaged families, allowing them to stay connected to mainstream opportunities and to adults who could mentor and guide their way.

Dimensions of citizenship and opportunities for youth development: The what, why, when, where, and who of citizenship development.

In this concluding article we consider the definition and conceptualization of citizenship, why youth should be interested in citizenship, when developmentally should we as a society try to foster it, where in youths lives should our efforts be placed, and the existence of potentially different needs and usefulness of different strategies in diverse populations of youth. In addressing the what, why, when, where, and who of citizenship development, we review the contributions to this issue as well as other literature. We conclude the chapter with a charge for future research.

School and community climates and civic commitments: Patterns for ethnic minority and majority students

The developmental correlates of diffuse support for the polity and civic commitments were explored in a survey of 1,052 students (mean age = 14.96 years) from African American, Arab American, European American, and Latino American backgrounds. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that regardless of their age, gender, or ethnic background, youth were more likely to believe that America was a just society and to commit to democratic goals if they felt a sense of community connectedness, especially if they felt that their teachers practiced a democratic ethic at school. Discussion focuses on the civic purposes of education in inculcating a sense of identification with the polity in younger generations.

Examining Trends in Adolescent Environmental Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors Across Three Decades

Since the Environmental Movement began, adolescents’ views have been largely ignored in studies of public opinion. The article presents a descriptive analysis of trends in the environmental attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of high school seniors from 1976 to 2005 using data from the Monitoring the Future study. Across a range of indicators, environmental concerns of adolescents show increases during the early 1990s and declines across the remainder of the three decades. Declining trends in reports of personal responsibility for the environment, conservation behaviors, and the belief that resources are scarce are particularly noteworthy. Across all years, findings reveal that youth tended to assign responsibility for the environment to the government and consumers rather than accepting personal responsibility. Recent declines in environmental concerns for this nationally representative sample of youth signal the need for a renewed focus on young people’s views and call for better environmental education and governmental leadership.

Parents' and teachers' beliefs about adolescents: Effects of sex and experience

Three studies examine beliefs that parents and teachers have about adolescents. A distinction is made between category-based beliefs (concerning adolescents as a group) and target-based beliefs (concerning individual adoles cents). In Study 1, 90 late elementary and junior high school teachers indicated degree of agreement with a set of category-based statements about adolescents. Parents of early adolescents in Study 2 (N=1272) responded to category- and target-based statements. Study 3 compares the responses of teachers in Study 1 and parents in Study 2. Both teachers and parents endorsed beliefs that adolescence is difficult, and that adults can have an impact. Compared to fathers, mothers believed more in difficulty and in the negative effects of biological change on behavior. Parents of daughters believed adolescence is more difficult than parents of sons. Among teachers, amount of experience with adolescents was positively associated with the belief that adolescence is a difficult period of life. For parents, the effect of amount of experience was mixed. Experience had a greater impact on the category-based beliefs of teachers than parents. Possible influences on the origins and modification of beliefs are discussed.

Trust, Identity, and Civic Hope

This article concerns the phenomenon of trust-in others who are familiar and in humanity in general. I make a case that the foundations of both forms of trust are rooted in formative experiences. Trust springs from the sense of security we develop in early nurturing relationships. In friendships and peer relationships we learn about loyalty, accountability, and the reciprocity between trust and trustworthiness. However, trust among friends is an insufficient basis for social trust. To nurture a faith in humanity, children need to interact and cooperate with people who are different from them and values of equality, tolerance, and empathy have to be high priorities in their families.

What Does Democracy Mean? Correlates of Adolescents’ Views

The open-ended responses of 701 7th to 12th graders to the question “What does democracy mean to you?” were analyzed. In logistic regressions, age, parental education, political discussions, and participation in extracurricular activities distinguished youth who could define democracy (53%) from those who could not. Case clustering revealed three emphases in youths’ definitions: individual rights (30%), representative rule (40%), and civic equality (30%). These clusters did not vary by parental education or ethnicity, but several values that youth endorsed varied by parental education. Controlling for parental education, there were significant differences in adolescents’ reports of familial and personal values in the three clusters. Scheffe tests revealed that the equality cluster endorsed less materialism than other clusters, more environmental responsibility than the individual rights cluster, and more social responsibility than the representative rule cluster. In contrast, the individual rights cluster was most likely to report that social vigilance was emphasized in their families.

Youth Civic Development: Historical Context and Emerging Issues

The civic domain has taken its place in the scholarship and practice of youth development. From the beginning, the field has focused on youth as assets who contribute to the common good of their communities. Work at the cutting edge of this field integrates research and practice and focuses on the civic incorporation of groups who often have been marginalized from mainstream society. The body of work also extends topics of relevance to human development by considering themes of justice, social responsibility, critical consciousness, and collective action.

Immigrant Civic Engagement: New Translations

On virtually a daily basis, American news media feature stories about immigrants. Many of these stories touch on questions about the balance between immigrants’ civil rights and responsibilities, the extent to which they are a cost or benefit to local communities and society in general, and the nature of their commitment to the United States and American values. Recently, too, there seems to have been an increase in news stories about immigrants entering into the public debate through various forms of civic engagement, ranging from public marches to local community projects to student walkouts to lawsuits against state and federal agencies. This special issue of Applied Developmental Science (ADS) spotlights civic engagement in immigrants, with an emphasis on immigrant youth whose engagement is important not only in the present but also in the future. Although the social sciences include research on immigrant youth, much of it has focused on academic achievement and family relations. Much like the research in the broader field of youth development, attention to civic development and engagement is missing. At the same time a national political debate is taking place about immigration, citizenship, and what it means to be ‘‘American.’’ This ADS issue brings a set of fresh interdisciplinary perspectives to the discourse on immigration and civic engagement by reframing the meaning of civic engagement and casting it within the contexts of the lives of different immigrant groups. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH

Friends don't let friends ...or do they? Developmental and gender differences in intervening in friends' ATOD use

This study focused on the strategies adolescents endorsed for situations in which friends were experimenting with alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Four hypothetical vignettes (concerning a friend smoking, using drugs, getting drunk at a party, or deciding whether to attend a party with alcohol and drugs) were presented to 2697 5th-12th graders. Whereas younger students were more likely to choose proactive strategies (talking to the friend or an adult or ending the friendship), older students were more inclined to say they would ignore a friends smoking and drug use although they would take the car keys away from a friend drinking alcohol. Among those 13 years old and older, the more dangerous the substance, the more inclined the youth were to intervene. Females were more inclined than males to talk to friends about smoking, drinking, and drugs and less inclined to ignore the behaviors or stop being a friend.