Jonathan F. Zaff

Predicting Positive Citizenship from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: The Effects of a Civic Context

Researchers have theorized that programs to promote positive citizenship should begin with an opportunity for adolescents to participate in civic activities, such as community service or political volunteering. In this article we extend the theory by arguing that a more systemic approach is needed, in which a civic context is developed to promote citizenship. We hypothesize that living within a consistent civic context leads to civic engagement in late adolescence and into young adulthood. We use a diverse, longitudinal dataset to test this hypothesis. We find that social interactions with peers, parent modeling of civic behaviors, and cultural factors, such as ethnicity-specific practices, cumulatively result in a higher level of civic activities among youth and that a continued context that includes these factors results in a higher level of civic activities into adulthood. The implications of our findings are discussed with regard to program and policy development.

Active and Engaged Citizenship: Multi-group and Longitudinal Factorial Analysis of an Integrated Construct of Civic Engagement

Civic participation does not necessarily equate to civic engagement. However, to date, integrated measures of civic engagement that go beyond civic behaviors have not been developed. In this article, we propose an integrated construct of civic engagement, active and engaged citizenship (AEC), that includes behavioral, cognitive, and socioemotional constructs. Using data from 909 adolescents (62.4% girls) who took part in the Grades 8–10 assessments of the longitudinal 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), we assessed the structure and measurement invariance of AEC. AEC was proposed as a second-order latent construct that encompasses four first-order latent factors: Civic Duty, Civic Skills, Neighborhood Social Connection, and Civic Participation. Measurement invariance was tested over time (from Grade 8 to Grade 10) and between boys and girls. The results supported strong invariance of AEC over time and between sexes. Implications of AEC for future research and practice are discussed.

Developmental trajectories of civic engagement across adolescence: disaggregation of an integrated construct.

Using longitudinal data from Grades 8 to 11 of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, a longitudinal study involving U.S. adolescents, we examined the developmental trajectories of multiple components of civic engagement, and the effects of youth development program participation and participation in another major domain of youth engagement (religious activity) on these trajectories. A set of two-level, hierarchical linear models (time-varying measures of civic engagement at level 1 and covariates at level 2) were conducted. Results indicated that the components of civic engagement have different starting points and growth rates during adolescence and that the contextual factors have differing effects dependent on the civic engagement component. By understanding how the components of civic engagement develop during adolescence, and the contextual factors that affect those trajectories, practitioners can gain more nuanced insights into how and when to effectively encourage youth civic engagement.

Promoting equal developmental opportunity and outcomes among America's children and youth: results from the National Promises Study.

Building on a developmental framework positing five types of assets or inputs needed for children’s development, referred to as promises, we investigated the extent to which American children and youth experience the five Promises articulated by the America’s Promise Alliance. These are: (1) Caring Adults, (2) Safe Places and Constructive Use of Time, (3) A Healthy Start, (4) Effective Education, and (5) Opportunities to Make a Difference. Data came from a nationally representative poll designed to assess these five resources and involved more than 4,000 teenagers and their parents. Results showed that only a minority of young people experienced rich developmental nourishment (having 4–5 of the Promises). Males, older adolescents, adolescents of color, and adolescents from families with less education and lower parental annual incomes were significantly less likely to experience sufficient developmental opportunities and were also less likely to experience desirable developmental outcomes. However, among those young people who reported experiencing 4–5 Promises, the great majority of demographic differences in developmental outcomes were either eliminated or significantly reduced. The results suggest that increasing children’s experience of these Promises would reduce developmental inequalities among America’s young people. Editors’ Strategic Implications: Longitudinal studies with representative samples will be necessary to further validate this approach and study causal contributions of assets, but this integration of Positive Youth Development frameworks holds great promise for theory, practice, and policy.

Putting Children Front and Center: Building Coordinated Social Policy for America's Children

In this article, we argue that policymakers in America should reference a coherent, comprehensive, and child-centered framework for children. That is, based on an extensive review of the empirical literature on the first two decades of life, we conclude that policies should address the needs of young people throughout the first two decades of life. In addition, public policies should address the multiple contexts within which young people develop, and the multiple domains that represent positive development, such as cognitive, psychological, physical, social, emotional, and civic domains. By referencing such a framework, we posit that public policies would be more effective and efficient. We conclude with multiple recommendations that would be first steps to putting this framework into practice.

Service Learning Promotes Positive Youth Development in High School

Both youths and communities benefit when students engage in service learning in and out of school.

Ecology matters: Neighborhood differences in the protective role of self-control and social support for adolescent antisocial behavior.

Adolescence can be characterized as a time when aggression, delinquency, and violence (taken together as antisocial behavior) increase. Adolescents who engage in antisocial behavior increase local crime and can create unsafe conditions for families. Understanding the protective factors that mitigate antisocial behavior can help to inform prevention practices. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (n = 1,072, 51.40% female, 39.18% Hispanic, 32.28% Black), we examined how self-control, social support, and neighborhood characteristics were associated with these behaviors. Using latent profile analyses, we categorized neighborhoods based on several dimensions, including violence, disadvantage, and collective efficacy. Then, we examined how self-control and social support were associated with antisocial behavior within and across neighborhoods. Results suggested that self-control was a protective feature in only some types of disadvantaged and dangerous neighborhoods. We discuss findings in terms of implications for programs and policies to mitigate youth violence and delinquency. (PsycINFO Database Record

Differential predictors of academic achievement: individual and familial factor interactions with community poverty

ABSTRACT We present an analysis of the contexts within which adolescents graduate from high school and enroll in college. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health show that adolescents’ school engagement, maternal academic monitoring, and community poverty significantly interact to explain differences in high school graduation and college enrollment rates (n = 7100). To examine this association, we performed weighted logistic regression analyses, controlling for gender, race, block level unemployment, and block level median income. Findings suggest that protective factors can help youth overcome the challenges associated with community poverty and achieve academically in low and medium levels of poverty, but that youth in high-poverty contexts may need more resources to reach higher levels of academic attainment.

A Psychometric Analysis of Hope, Persistence, and Engagement among Reengaged Youth.

Youth who have disengaged from and subsequently returned to school are qualitatively different from students with continual educational enrollment. In this study, we examined the validity for two measures: the Adult Hope Scale (AHS) and Persistence in Goal Striving (PGS) Scale, among two samples of reengaged students (i.e., students who have dropped out of high school and returned to finish their degrees). Results from the AHS indicated that among reengaged students, a new factor structure may fit better than what has been used previously. Results from the PGS replicated a factor structure from previous research. Finally, we examined whether we could find support for criterion validity by assessing associations with measures of engagement, and found a positive relation between the AHS, PGS, and measures of cognitive and emotional engagement. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Dropout typologies: Relating profiles of risk and support to later educational re-engagement

ABSTRACT A large body of work has examined factors that push and pull youth to drop out. However, a relatively minimal amount of work has examined whether and how these factors cluster in individuals’ lives preceding or concurrent to leaving school. This study used Latent Class Analysis with a national sample (N = 1,942) to examine how push, pull, and protective experiences clustered in the lives of individuals who left high school without graduating. Then, we asked how the resultant classes differentially predicted youth re-engagement in educational endeavors. We identified three classes: youth with the presence of protective factors and absence of push/pull factors (Quiet Dropouts), youth with the presence of protective factors and an abundance of push/pull factors (High Adversity), and youth with the presence of instability in factors related to social relationships and school or housing (Instability). Results indicated each profile differentially predicted youths’ re-engagement in education and achievement of educational outcomes.