Abstract
Involvement in civic and community activities is a core part of positive youth development. Adolescents involved in voluntary civic activities have greater academic engagement, enhanced well-being, less involvement in problem behaviors, and they are more likely to value connections to their community than those who are not involved. The current research examined involvement in school and community civic activities as well as religious youth groups among 8th and 9th graders (N = 679, 61.7% female, 85.9% White) from small, rural schools in the Midwest U.S. and linked involvement to religiosity, well-being, problem behavior, academic engagement, and perceptions of parents and peers. Half of the adolescents in the sample reported involvement in civic activities or, more commonly, in religious youth groups. Adolescents who participated in religious youth groups reported more extracurriculars, less problem behavior, higher grades and motivation, and more support from parents and friends than adolescents who did not. The most frequently reported school civic activities were student council and Future Farmers of America, and 4-H was the most popular community civic activity. Those who were involved in school- and community-based civic activities reported more religiosity, academic engagement, and positive perceptions of parents and peers than uninvolved youth. The results support and extend research on rural youth by documenting civic activities across contexts and examining how involvement is associated with positive youth development.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005). Making human beings human: Bioecological perspectives on human development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Bryant, A. L., Schulenberg, J. E., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Johnston, L. D. (2003). How academic achievement, attitudes, and behaviors relate to the course of substance use during adolescence: A 6-year, multiwave national longitudinal study. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 13(3), 361–397.
Bryant, A. L., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2002). Examining the effects of academic beliefs and behaviors on changes in substance use among urban adolescents. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(3), 621–637.
Busseri, M. A., Rose-Krasnor, L., Willoughby, T., & Chalmers, H. (2006). A longitudinal examination of breadth and intensity of youth activity involvement and successful development. Developmental Psychology, 42(6), 1313–1326.
Derogratis, L. R., & Spencer, P. M. (1982). The brief symptom inventory (BSI): Administration and scoring procedures. Baltimore: Division of Medical Psychology, John Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Duncan, S. C., Duncan, T. E., Strycker, L. A., & Chaumeton, N. R. (2002). Relations between youth antisocial and prosocial activities. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 25, 425–438.
Eccles, J. S. (1993). Middle school family survey study. Boulder: University of Colorado.
Eccles, J. S. (2005). The present and future of research on activity settings as developmental contexts. In J. L. Mahoney, R. W. Larson, & J. S. Eccles (Eds.), Organized activities as contexts of development: Extracurricular activities, after-school and community programs (pp. 353–371). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Eccles, J. S., & Barber, B. (1999). Student council, volunteering, basketball, or marching band: What kind of extracurricular involvement matters? Journal of Adolescent Research, 14, 10–43.
Elder, G. H., & Conger, R. D. (2000). Children of the land: Adversity and success in rural America. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Flanagan, C. A. (2004). Volunteerism, leadership, political socialization, and civic engagement. In R. M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (2nd ed., pp. 721–745). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Flanagan, C. A., Bowes, J. M., Jonsson, B., Csapo, B., & Sheblanova, E. (1998). Ties that bind: Correlates of adolescents’ civic commitments in seven countries. Journal of Social Issues, 54(3), 457–475.
Flanagan, C. A., Cumsille, P., Gill, S., & Gallay, L. S. (2007). School and community climates and civic commitments: Patterns for ethnic minority and majority students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(2), 421–431.
Fredricks, J. A., & Eccles, J. S. (2006). Is extracurricular participation associated with beneficial outcomes? Concurrent and longitudinal relations. Developmental Psychology, 42, 698–713.
Hansen, D. M., Larson, R. W., & Dworkin, J. B. (2003). What adolescents learn in organized youth activities: A survey of self-reported developmental experiences. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 13(1), 25–55.
Hardy, S. A., & Carlo, G. (2005). Religiosity and prosocial behaviours in adolescence: The mediating role of prosocial values. Journal of Moral Education, 34(2), 231–249.
Hart, D., & Atkins, R. (2004). Religious participation and the development of moral identity in adolescence. In T. Thorkildsen & H. J. Walberg’s (Eds.), Nurturing morality (pp. 157–172). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Hart, D., Atkins, R., & Donnelly, T. M. (2006). Community service and moral development. In M. Killen & J. G. Smetana’s (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (pp. 633–656). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Hart, D., Donnelly, T. M., Youniss, J., & Atkins, R. (2007). High school community service as a predictor of adult voting and volunteering. American Educational Research Journal, 44(1), 197–219.
Harter, S. (1982). The perceived competence scale for children. Child Development, 53, 87–97.
Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Huberty, C. J., & Morris, J. D. (1989). Multivariate analysis versus multiple univariate analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 105(2), 302–308.
Huebner, A. J., & Mancini, J. A. (2003). Shaping structured out-of-school time use among youth: The effects of self, family, and friend systems. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 32(6), 453–463.
Janoski, T., Musick, M., & Wilson, J. (1998). Being volunteered? The impact of social participation and pro-social attitudes on volunteering. Sociological Forum, 13(3), 495–519.
Jensen, L. A. (2008). Immigrants’ cultural identities as sources of civic engagement. Applied Developmental Science, 12(2), 74–83.
Johnson, M. K., Beebe, T., Mortimer, J. T., & Snyder, M. (1998). Volunteerism in adolescence: A process perspective. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8(3), 309–332.
Johnston, L. D., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2006). Monitoring the future national survey results on drug use, 1975–2005. Volume I: Secondary school students. Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Kaplan, M. (1997). The benefits of intergenerational community service projects: Implications for promoting intergenerational unity, community activism, and cultural continuity. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 28(3), 211–228.
Kerestes, M., Youniss, J., & Metz, E. (2004). Longitudinal patterns of religious perspective and civic integration. Applied Developmental Science, 8(1), 39–46.
King, V., Elder, G. H., & Whitbeck, L. B. (1997). Religious involvement among rural youth: An ecological and life-course perspective. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 7, 431–456.
Larson, R. (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. American Psychologist, 55(1), 170–183.
Linver, M. R., Roth, J. L., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2009). Patterns of adolescents’ participation in organized activities: Are sports best when combined with other activities? Developmental Psychology, 45(2), 354–367.
Linville, D. C., & Huebner, A. J. (2005). The analysis of extracurricular activities and their relationship to youth violence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34(5), 483–492.
Ludden, A. B., & Eccles, J. S. (2007). Psychosocial, motivational, and contextual profiles of youth reporting different patterns of substance use during a dolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 17(1), 51–88.
Mahoney, J. L., Larson, R. W., Eccles, J. S., & Lord, H. (2005). Organized activities as development contexts for children and adolescents. In J. L. Mahoney, R. W. Larson, & J. S. Eccles (Eds.), Organized activities as contexts of development: Extracurricular activities, after-school and community programs (pp. 3–22). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Markstrom, C. A., Li, X., Blackshire, S. L., & Wilfong, J. J. (2005). Ego strength development of adolescents involved in adult-sponsored structured activities. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34(2), 85–95.
McGuire, J. K., & Gamble, W. C. (2006). Community service for youth: The value of psychological engagement over number of hours spent. Journal of Adolescence, 29(2), 289–298.
Milot, A. S., & Ludden, A. B. (2009). The effects of religion and gender on well-being, substance use, and academic engagement among rural adolescents. Youth and Society, 40, 311–335.
Olson, C. L. (1979). Practical considerations in choosing a MANOVA test statistic: A rejoinder to Stevens. Psychological Bulletin, 86(6), 1350–1352.
Pedersen, S., & Seidman, E. (2005). Contexts and correlates of out-of-school activity participation among low-income urban adolescents. In J. L. Mahoney, R. W. Larson, & J. S. Eccles (Eds.), Organized activities as contexts of development: Extracurricular activities, after-school and community programs (pp. 85–109). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Procidano, M. E., & Heller, K. (1983). Measures of perceived social support from friends and family: Three validation studies. American Journal of Community Psychology, 11, 1–24.
Schulenberg, J., Bryant, A., & O’Malley, P. (2004). Taking hold of some kind of life: How developmental tasks relate to trajectories of well-being during the transition to adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 16(4), 1119–1140.
Sherrod, L. R., & Spiewak, G. S. (2008). Possible interrelationships between civic engagement, positive youth development, and spirituality/religiosity. In R. M. Lerner, R. W. Roeser, & E. Phelps (Eds.), Positive youth development and spirituality: From theory to research (pp. 322–338). West Conshohocken, PA, US: Templeton Foundation Press.
Simpkins, S. D., Eccles, J. S., & Becnel, J. N. (2008). The mediational role of adolescents’ friends in relations between activity breadth and adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1081–1094.
Smith, C., & Denton, M. L. (2005). Soul searching: The religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Spoth, R., & Redmond, C. (1996). Illustrating a framework for rural prevention research. In R. D. Peters & R. J. McMahon (Eds.), Preventing childhood disorders, substance abuse, and delinquency (pp. 299–328). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Stewart, A., & McDermott, C. (2004). Civic engagement, political identity, and generation in developmental context. Research in Human Development, 1(3), 189–203.
Vieno, A., Nation, M., Perkins, D., & Santinello, M. (2007). Civic participation and the development of adolescent behavior problems. Journal of Community Psychology, 35, 761–777.
Wallace, J. M., Jr., Forman, T. A., Caldwell, C. H., & Willis, D. S. (2003). Religion and U.S. secondary school students: Current patterns, recent trends, and sociodemographic correlates. Youth & Society, 35(1), 98–125.
Yates, M., & Youniss, J. (1996). A developmental perspective on community service in adolescence. Social Development, 5(1), 85–111.
Youniss, J., McLellan, J., & Yates, M. (1997). What we know about engendering civic identity. American Behavioral Scientist, 40(5), 620–631.
Acknowledgments
This research was made possible through grants from the Spencer Foundation (Small Grant #200300040), University of Missouri, and Oak Ridge Associated Universities.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ludden, A.B. Engagement in School and Community Civic Activities Among Rural Adolescents. J Youth Adolescence 40, 1254–1270 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9536-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9536-3