Investigating civic participation developmental trajectories among Canadian youths transitioning into adulthood

ABSTRACT

Current knowledge of intraindividual longitudinal patterns of civic participation (CP) and their predictors remains limited. As life cycle trends are showing a decline in civic/political involvement during early adulthood years, increased understanding of these aspects could enhance efforts to promote greater and/or sustained CP trajectories among youth transitioning into adulthood. The current study aimed to identify youths CP developmental trajectories from age 18 to 22 and examine their predictors in late adolescence. The four following CP trajectories were identified among 327 Canadian youths (61% Female; 90% Caucasian; 100% French-speaking) through semiparametric modeling: Low with slight decline (56.9%), Moderate sustained (25.1%), High with steep decline (12.5%), and High sustained (5.5%). Youths displaying higher academic performance, civic attitudes, altruistic orientation, prosocial/community-oriented, and academic/vocational activity involvement were more likely to be assigned to higher at baseline and/or sustained CP trajectories. Implementing youths CP promotional programs targeting these attributes may hold promise for addressing issues sustaining CP in youths transitioning into adulthood.