The Effect of Religious Short‐Term Mission Trips on Youth Civic Engagement

Religious short‐term mission trips are an increasingly popular form of American religious practice, especially among young people. Both organizers and participants often emphasize their transformative nature. However, scholarly efforts to evaluate systematically the social consequences of religious short‐term mission trips are lacking. To address this neglect, our article investigates whether going on a religious short‐term mission trip significantly differentiates youth who engage in civic actions from those who do not. Based on quantitative analysis of Wave I of the National Survey of Youth Religion (NSYR), we find that, controlling for other important factors, taking a mission trip significantly increases the likelihood of adolescents participating in various forms of civic activity, particularly religious‐based volunteer work. Drawing on prior scholarship on religious short‐term mission and similarly focused trips and in‐depth interview data from trip participants, we outline several theoretical mechanisms that likely explain the link between taking a mission trip and civic engagement.     

Exploring Associations Among African American Youths' Perceptions of Racial Fairness and School Engagement: Does Gender Matter?

In addition to experiencing race as a unique social milieu within school, gender may also provide an important context for African American students. The authors explored gender differences in associations between African American youths' perceptions of racial fairness and school engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive). One hundred thirty-nine (72 girls, 67 boys) African American high schoolers were recruited from the southeastern region of the United States. Gender differences were found for neither perceptions of racial fairness nor emotional and cognitive engagement. Girls reported higher behavior engagement relative to boys. Also, racial fairness was positively associated with emotional engagement among girls. For boys, racial fairness related positively to the three engagement dimensions. Implications and resources relevant for school psychology practice are discussed.     

Exploring the effects of a youth enrichment program on academic motivation and engagement

This study explores the effects of a youth enrichment program on academic motivation and engagement. Fifty-three students aged 14–16 years participated in the Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN). Embedded within the program were workshops revolving around the Student Motivation and Engagement Wheel [Martin (2003a). How to motivate your child for school and beyond. Sydney: Bantam] and strategies aimed at enhancing students’ academic motivation and engagement. Motivation was measured using the Student Motivation and Engagement Scale [Martin (2001). Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling 11, 1–20; Martin (2003b) Australian Journal of Education, 14, 34–49] at the outset of the program, towards the end of the program, and again 6–8 weeks later. Data showed that there were gains on key facets of students’ motivation by the end of the program – gains that were sustained 6–8 weeks later. These gains were demonstrated by boys and girls. Moreover, when compared to a larger weighted sample (2769 high school students), by Time 2 and also by Time 3, significant declines in motivation had been reversed and any pre-existing advantages or parallel strengths of the RYPEN sample over the weighted sample were maintained. Five facets of the program proposed to have contributed to its effectiveness are: the optimistic expectations held by adults, the program’s focus on mastery, the climate of cooperation and the ensuing sense of belonging, the positive relationships that developed amongst students and between students and adults, and embedding school-related elements within a broader enrichment program. Each of these is discussed.     

Longitudinal Gains in Civic Development through School-Based Required Service

Despite recent figures indicating that 26% of public high schools in the United States require student involvement in community service or service learning, there is little empirical evidence to support such policies. In the present study, successive cohorts of high school students, one without (n = 174) and two with a community service requirement (n = 312), were compared longitudinally on measures of civic attitudes and behaviors. Each cohort was divided according to individual students' inclinations to serve voluntarily. Students already inclined to serve scored high on all measures throughout and showed no advantage after meeting the requirement. However, students who were less inclined to serve showed marked gains on three of four civic measures after completing their requirement. Whereas they scored as low as their less-inclined counterparts who had no requirement during grade 11, they differed from their counterparts after serving the mandated 40 hours during grade 12. This quasi-natural experiment provides support for the argument that a well-designed service program can have a clear benefit in civic development for nonself-selected youth.     

特殊教育师范生感知班级氛围对学习投入的影响:专业认同的中介作用与未来取向的调节作用

探讨特殊教育师范生感知班级氛围与学习投入的关系,考察专业认同在两者之间的中介作用,以及未来取向的调节作用。采用学生感知班级氛围量表、学习投入量表、大学生专业认同量表和未来取向问卷对582名特殊教育师范生进行调查。结果发现：（1）特殊教育师范生感知班级氛围对学习投入具有正向预测作用;（2）专业认同在感知班级氛围与学习投入的关系中起着重要的中介作用;（3）未来取向显著调节特殊教育师范生感知班级氛围对学习投入的直接路径,也调节中介效应的后半段即特殊教育师范生专业认同对学习投入的影响。本研究结果丰富了特殊教育职前教育理论,对提升特殊教育师范生培养质量具有实践意义。     

Different Pedagogy,Different Politics: High School Learning Opportunities and Youth Political Engagement

Using data from an original two‐wave panel survey of California high school students and a two‐wave panel survey of high school students in Chicago, we find that different pedagogical approaches influence different forms of civic and political engagement. Specifically, controlling for prior levels of engagement and demographic factors, we find that open discussion of societal issues promotes engagement with political issues and elections. In contrast, service learning opportunities increase community‐based and expressive actions. Both kinds of opportunities promoted commitments to participatory citizenship. These patterns can teach us about the kinds of opportunities (both in school and out) that can shape adolescents' civic and political development.     

Why do young people engage in some civic actions and not others? Exploring the roles of individual and collective civic efficacy

Civic actions are behaviours intended to improve conditions for others or help shape a community's future. Such actions vary widely from voting to voluntary helping, from canvassing to community organizing, and attempts have been made to categorize the array of civic actions. However, the question of why young adults engage in some types of civic actions versus others is not well understood. Using data from 598 White, cisgender, heterosexual young adults in the United States, we examined the relations between individual civic efficacy, collective civic efficacy, and seven actions: writing social media posts, voting, buycotting, volunteering, participating in an organization, supporting political candidates, and protesting. We hypothesized that individual efficacy would be positively related to all seven actions, but collective efficacy would be more strongly related to collective or political actions, compared to the individual or civil ones. Logistic regression analyses showed that individual efficacy positively predicted engagement in all seven civic actions. Individual and collective efficacy had a complex curvilinear relation with buycotting and supporting political candidates. Implications for future research and applications aimed at promoting civic engagement amongst young adults are discussed. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement .     

The impact of the transition to high school on the self-system and perceived social context of poor urban youth

Examined the effects of the normative school transition to senior high school (n=330) on the self-system and perceived school and peer social contexts of poor, black (n=83), European American (n=115), Latino (n=105), and Asian American (n=27) youth in the public school systems of three Eastern urban cities. The only negative effect of the school transition on the self-system was a decline in grade point average (GPA). Concurrently, the school transition was perceived to be associated with changes in the school and peer contexts. Across the transition, students reported increased disengagement from school (i.e., increased social support and extracurricular involvement) and increased engagement with peers (i.e., decreased daily hassles and increased involvement). These changes in the school and peer microsystems, like the changes in the self-system, were also common across race/ethnicity and gender. In addition, transition-associated school changes, and in particular changes in daily academic demands/hassles and involvement in school activities, were associated with changes in the academic dimensions of the self-system (i.e., academic efficacy expectations and GPA). Results and implications for preventive intervention are discussed within a developmental mismatch framework. This research was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH43084) and the Carnegie Corporation (B4850) awarded to Edward Seidman, J. Lawrence Aber, LaRue Allen, and Christina Mitchell. We express our appreciation to the children and schools whose cooperation made this study possible.     

初中生学生投入的发展特点及其与同伴欺负的关系:一项三年追踪研究

采用问卷法和追踪研究设计,对北京市294名初一学生进行了连续三年的追踪测查,来考察初中生学生投入的发展特点,以及同伴欺负与学生投入发展变化的关系。运用多层线性模型进行数据分析,结果表明：（1）从初一（T1）到初三（T3）,学生的行为投入呈下降趋势（主要集中在参与学校活动的投入度上）,情感投入和认知投入呈上升趋势;（2）在控制性别和父母学历后,初中生受言语欺负会负向预测T1时的行为和情感投入;受关系欺负会负向预测T1时的行为、情感及认知投入;受身体欺负会负向预测行为投入的下降速度。     

Religion and Civic Engagement in Muslim Countries

Previous studies of religion on civic and political participation focus primarily on Western Christian societies. Studies of Muslim societies concentrate on Islamic religiosity's effect on attitudes toward democracy, not on how Muslim religious participation carries over into social and political arenas. This article examines the relationship between religion and civic engagement in nine Muslim‐majority countries using data from the World Values Surveys. I find that active participation in Muslim organizations is associated with greater civic engagement, while religious service attendance is not. In a subset of countries, daily prayer is associated with less civic engagement. The main area in which Muslim societies differ from Western ones is in the lack of association between civic engagement, trust, and tolerance. Religious participation is a more significant predictor of secular engagement than commonly used “social capital” measures, suggesting a need to adapt measures of religiosity to account for differences in religious expression across non‐Christian faiths.