Youth Developing Political Efficacy Through Social Learning Experiences: Becoming Active Participants in a Supportive Model United Nations Club

Abstract

Prior research indicates that individuals are more likely to take political action (e.g., vote, contact representatives, protest) when they have higher levels of political efficacy, the belief that one’s actions can influence political processes. In this mixed methods longitudinal study, I draw on Wenger’s and Bandura’s theories of social learning to examine how adolescents’ political efficacy developed during their experiences in a Model United Nations club. Through analyses of data from questionnaires, interviews, and observations, I found that students’ political efficacy increased as they became active club participants. Supportive relationships with club peers and advisors encouraged regular involvement, which in turn provided participants repeated opportunities to prepare for and practice authentic political tasks—experiences that supported their political efficacy. These findings enhance our understanding of successful democratic education and have useful implications for educators and researchers interested in political engagement.

Keywords:

• civic education
• civic engagement
• extracurricular
• out-of-school time
• political efficacy
• secondary education
• social learning

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the scholars who provided feedback on earlier drafts: Jacquelynne Eccles, Annemarie Palincsar, Richard Niemi, Michaela Zint, Jianwei Zhang, Erica Halverson, Anita Wager, and Melissa Braaten. In addition, many thanks are due to this study’s participants, who generously shared their thoughts, ideas, and experiences with me.

FUNDING

Funding for this research was provided by the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan, and I greatly appreciate their support.

Notes

¹ There was a significant increase in EMUN students’ IPE/skills from Time 1 to Time 2. There was a significant decline in NHS students’ EPE from Time 1 to Time 2. Table 2 indicates differences only between groups at each time point.

² In the regression models examining EPE and both IPE dimensions, the demographic variables had no statistically significant effect at Time 2. This was the also the case for race and GPA, which I excluded from the final calculations to create parsimonious models with more degrees of freedom. In my examination of multi-collinearity, variance inflation factors for all three models were within acceptable ranges (below 2.5).

³ Variance inflation factors for these regression analyses were all within acceptable limits (below 2.5).

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan, and I greatly appreciate their support.