Abstract
Civic competencies are essential prerequisites for adolescents’ active citizenship; however, little is known about their developmental precursors. In order to address this research gap, this study examined the role of sympathy in late childhood, early, and mid adolescence for civic competencies in mid and late adolescence. Based on a representative sample of 1118 Swiss children (51% females, Mage T1 = 9.26, SDageT1 = 0.20, rangeageT1: 8.50–9.67–years), this study investigated associations of sympathy with four components of civic competence: attitudes about social justice, informal helping, perceived efficacy to take responsibility and perceived political efficacy. The findings revealed that sympathy in late childhood (i.e., age 9) reflected an early predictor of all four components of civic competence assessed 6 years later. Moreover, sympathy in early adolescence (i.e., age 12) positively predicted attitudes about social justice and informal helping in late adolescence (i.e., age 18). Lastly, changes in sympathy from mid to late adolescence (i.e., age 15 to 18) positively correlated with changes in all four components of civic competence. This study highlights that civic competencies reflect a multidimensional construct that starts to form in late childhood, with sympathy being a central individual predictor in the emergence of civic competencies during adolescence.
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The authors thank Stecy Kalumba and Lena Dändliker for the support in the formatting of the manuscript as well as Dr. Corinne Igel, Dr. Martin Götz, Dr. Stella Bollman, and Laura Bechtiger for providing feedback. The authors also thank the children and their primary caregiver who participated in the present study and the research assistants who supported this research project.
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This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grants 405240-69015, 10FI13_122369; 10FI14_134674; 10FI14_150996) and a grant by the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, University of Zurich.
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JG participated in the design of the study, performed the statistical analysis and the interpretation of the data, drafted the manuscript, and revised it critically for important intellectual content; MB conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, acquisitioned the data, participated in the interpretation of the data and draft of the manuscript, and revised it critically for important intellectual content. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Grütter, J., Buchmann, M. Civic Competencies During Adolescence: Longitudinal Associations with Sympathy in Childhood. J Youth Adolescence 50, 674–692 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01240-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01240-y