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

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Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by a grant from the National 4-H Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. America’s Promise Alliance, 1110 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC, 20005, USA

    Jonathan Zaff

  2. Tufts University, Medford, USA

    Michelle Boyd, Yibing Li & Richard M. Lerner

  3. Boston College, Boston, USA

    Jacqueline V. Lerner

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  1. Jonathan Zaff
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  2. Michelle Boyd
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  4. Jacqueline V. Lerner
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Correspondence to Jonathan Zaff.

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Zaff, J., Boyd, M., Li, Y. et al. Active and Engaged Citizenship: Multi-group and Longitudinal Factorial Analysis of an Integrated Construct of Civic Engagement. J Youth Adolescence 39, 736–750 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9541-6

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