Original article
From Adolescent Connections to Social Capital: Predictors of Civic Engagement in Young Adulthood

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.07.007Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

This study examined the ability of adolescent connection in family and community contexts to promote an aspect of healthy youth development and transition into adulthood, civic engagement.

Methods

Data are from Wave 1 (1995) and Wave 3 (2001–2002) of the in-home interviews from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The sample for this study included 9130 young adults aged 18–26 years. Linear and logistic regression models were used to measure the influence of connection in family and community contexts (Wave 1) on outcomes of civic engagement in young adulthood (Wave 3).

Results

Stronger connection in all family and community contexts during adolescence predicted greater likelihood of voting, community volunteer service, involvement in social action/solidarity groups, education groups, and/or conservation groups, and endorsement of civic trust in young adulthood. Select connections in family and community contexts were also significant predictors of political voice/involvement and blood product donation. In a final multivariate model, frequency of shared activities with parent(s) and school connection during adolescence emerged as unique predictors of young adult civic engagement.

Conclusions

Connections in family and community contexts during adolescence promote healthy youth development through facilitation of multiple aspects of civic engagement in young adulthood. The importance of these connections in fostering youth capacity to bond to a broader community construct is discussed.

Section snippets

Study design and population

Data for this study are from Waves 1 (1995) and 3 (2001–2002) of the in-home interviews from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Add Health is a probability, nationally representative, longitudinal study examining the causes and contexts of health-related behaviors of adolescents and their outcomes in young adulthood in the United States. The details of research and sampling design are described extensively elsewhere [21], [22].

The sample for the current study is

Results

Demographic characteristics for the sample assessed at Wave 1 are presented in Table 3. The mean age of youth at Wave 1 was 15.4 years (SD = 1.79).

Youth endorsed moderate-to-high connection in multiple contexts (Table 3). On average, youth shared five activities with parents in the previous month. Independent variable correlations ranged from .14–.46 (Table 4).

Young adults participated in a variety of civic activities in the previous year (Table 3). Overall, more than 90% of young adults

Discussion

This study provides longitudinal evidence for the importance of connection in family and community contexts during adolescence for the facilitation of civic engagement in young adulthood. We investigated predictors of multiple aspects of civic engagement. Civic engagement is defined beyond reported thoughts about civic responsibility and endorsement of civic engagement efficacy to evaluate predictors of actual behavior. It differs from previous studies about parent–youth interaction and the

Acknowledgments

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by a grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Persons interested in obtaining data files from Add Health should contact Add

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