Editorial Board:
Editor:
George H. Conklin,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Board:
Bob Davis,
 North Carolina
 Agricultural and
 Technical State
 University

Richard Dixon,
 UNC-Wilmington

Ken Land,
 Duke University

Miles Simpson,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Ron Wimberley,
 N.C. State University

Robert Wortham,
 North Carolina
 Central University

Editorial Assistants

John W.M. Russell,
 Technical
 Consultant

Austin W. Ashe,
 North Carolina
 Central University

® 

Volume 7, Number 2

Fall/Winter 2009

Predicting Civic and Political Engagement:
Family Socialization and Age-Group Differences

by

Terrolyn P. Carter

North Carolina Agricultural 
and Technical State University

    Active citizenship is essential for social change and community prosperity. It involves a level of commitment and engagement to civic life—including volunteerism and voting. Over the last two decades, there has been a considerable increase in the number of volunteers in the United States. In 2007, more than 60 million American adults (26.2%) engaged in volunteer activities (U.S. Census Bureau 2009). However, according to Putnam (2000), there has been a passing of the "long civic generation," and the decline in civic participation seems to rest among recent generations. In his book Bowling Alone Putnam argues that social and civic engagement in America has been on a decline since the mid 60s. As a result, researchers have begun to examine generational differences among civic and political engagement. An emergent body of research suggests that recent generations, such as individuals born after 1975 are engaged in civic life through volunteerism and voting (America's Civic Health Index 2007). Furthermore, research continues to show the predictive value of socio-demographics (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status) on civic and political engagement. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of socio-demographic factors—race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, educational level, religion—and family socialization on the civic and political engagement among two age-groups, termed "Millennials" and "Non-Millennials."

Family Socialization

    A person's sense of civic and political responsibility and proclivity to engage is associated with socialization (McBride et al. 2006). According to socialization theory, the family is the most important socializing agent especially during childhood. Individuals are taught indirectly and directly not just what the norms of social life are, but which norms are good, right and meaningful; and, it is these norms that are typically embraced and displayed during adulthood (Arnett 1995). Most recently, commitments to civic and political engagement was found for individuals who discussed politics and current events with their parents (Kahne 2008) and adults who volunteer and vote regularly are more likely to have parents who volunteered and voted (Andolina et al. 2003; Verba et al. 1995; Zaff et al. 2008). Lastly, civic and political participation is more likely among individuals whose parents are educated and have higher incomes (Hart and Atkins 2002).

Socio-demographic Influences

    For decades, research has demonstrated that education, gender, religious participation, ethnicity, and socioeconomic factors are all associated with civic and political involvement. Specifically, social scientists have shown time and again that formal education is a key determinant of civic and political participation (Flanagan et al. 2007; Nie et al. 1996). According to Hauser (2000), individuals with education are afforded access to resources that encourage and facilitate civic participation. Moreover, education, similar to the family, may socialize individuals to become civic-minded increasing the likelihood of involvement. 

    Other socio-demographic predictors of civic and political engagement include gender, race/ethnicity, and social class. The association between religion and engagement has also been well-established by researchers. Religious commitment and participation increases policy awareness, political involvement, and volunteerism (Gibson 2008; Hoffman and Appiah 2008). At the individual level, female youth are more likely to participate in community service and be more knowledgeable about politics than males (Gibson 2008). However, some studies show that men are more likely to engage in political activities, such as voting, (Verba et al. 1995) and young women are among the most engaged in civic activities such as volunteering (Marcelo, Lopez, and Kirby 2007). For racial-ethnic groups, there may be no differences. According to America's Civic Health Index (2007), it appears that African Americans and Whites have "roughly equal rates in various forms of citizen-centered engagement (p.11)." Latino youth, between the ages of 18-29, generally have lower rates of civic involvement than their African American and White counterparts (Marcelo et al. 2007). 

    In sum, the existing literature suggests that a myriad of social and economic factors, including family civic and political behaviors, may promote or impede adulthood involvement in civic and political activities. Nevertheless, there is limited information on the differences that may exist between young adults and older adults concerning their civic and political activity. Using data from the 2006 Civic and Political Health of the Nation Survey, this study addresses the following questions: (1) does family volunteering and voting habits determine the civic and political engagement among adults; and (2) do age group differences exist among civic and political engagement?

Data

    Data for this study was taken from the 2006 Civic and Political Health of the Nation Survey (2006 CPHS), sponsored by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).  CIRCLE obtained a nationally representative sample of 2,232 individuals (ages 15 and older) from across the United States. The sample was collected through telephone and web interviews. The 2006 CPHS includes oversamples of African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans ages 15 – 25. Data collection was completed by Braun Research, Incorporated from April to June of 2006. 

Participants

    For the current study, individuals aged 20 years and older and were included in the final sample because these individuals were of voting age and responded to one of the primary outcome variables, "regular voting."  After missing values were detected, the final sample for the current study included 1,349 individuals. Of this sample, 819 were between the ages 20 – 25 (termed, "Millennials") and 530 were between ages 26 – 97 (termed, "Non-Millennials"). 

    The 2006 CPHS measured civic engagement of its participants by using 19 core engagement activities. A complete list of these activities can be found at www.civicyouth.org. For this study, two indicators were used to measure civic and political engagement. Civic engagement was assessed by participants’ response to the question, "Have you ever spent time (in the last 12 months) participating in any community service or volunteer activity?" Political engagement was assessed by the questionnaire item: We know that most people do not vote in all elections. Usually between one-quarter to one-half of those eligible actually come out to vote. Can you tell me how often you vote in local and national elections? Response choices ranged from "always to never". 

Predictor Variables

    Socio-demographic. Measures of gender (male or female), race/ethnicity (Latino and African American), mother's education (i.e., mother has at least college degree), middle-class and upper-class status, education (respondent's has some college education) and religion (i.e., respondent's affiliated with religion or no affiliated) were all included as socio-demographic variables.

    Family Socialization. Two questionnaire items were used to measure family socialization effects on civic and political engagement. For this study these items were termed "family volunteer habits" and "family political discussions." Participants responded to the questions: "From what you remember growing up, did anyone in your household spend time volunteering, or not?" "From what you remember growing up, how often was politics discussed around your house?" Response choices for this item ranged from "very often to never." 

    The primary goal of this study was to determine the effects of family socialization and socio-demographic factors on the civic and political engagement of adults. Moreover, this study sought to determine whether age-group differences exist among civic and political engagement.  Logistic regression was used as the primary analytic technique. Chi square analyses were used to test age-group differences. 

    Descriptive and background characteristics of the sample by age group are found in Table 1. As shown in Table 1, the average of the ages of the Millennials (ages 20 – 25) is 22.7 years, while the average of the ages for Non-Millennials was 54.0. Non-Millennials were significantly more likely to engage in both civic and political activities than were Millennials. Although more than half of the Millennials engaged in civic (56.7%) and political activities (59.5%), a much larger percentage of Non-Millennials (83.5% and 64.2%, respectively) were engaged. These findings may be predicated on family civic and political socialization. For example, a slightly higher percentage of Non-Millennials, compared with Millennials, were amid civic and political practices in their household while growing up. Interestingly, however, only 14.5% of Non-Millennials' mothers were college-educated compared with nearly 29% of Millennials. This family factor, along with religion, was the only variable found to be significantly different between Millennials and Non-Millennials. A larger percentage of Non-Millennials reported that they were affiliated with a certain religious denomination (e.g., Catholic, Protestant, etc.) than Millennials. 

    Because both dependent and independent variables are binary, logistic regression was used to determine the influence of family socialization and all socio-demographic factors on civic and political engagement. Table 2 displays the results from two separate logistic regression models; model 1 predicts civic engagement and model 2 predicts political engagement. While identifying as a Latino, African American, and middle-class were all associated with engaging in civic activities, no other socio-demographic variables were predictive of civic engagement. Nevertheless, the odds of engaging in civic activity were greater for individuals who observed volunteerism in their household while growing up than those who did not. 

    In Model 2, respondents' education and ethnicity were the only two socio-demographic variables found predict political engagement. Latinos and African Americans with a college education had the highest odds of engaging in political activity than White American adults. In addition, it seems that respondents who observed discussions about politics around the house while growing up were .67 times more likely to engage in political activity than those who did not observe political discussions. Overall, these results suggest that family socialization plays an important role in determining civic and political engagement for both Millennials and Non-Millennials. 

    This study sought to determine the effects of family socialization) and socio-demographic factors on the civic and political engagement of adults. The ideas tested in this study are straightforward, but limited. Consistent with previous research, the findings of this study show that adults who observed volunteerism and political discussions in the home while growing up were more likely to engage in both civic and political activities (Andolina et al. 2003). Moreover, contrary to my expectations and existing literature, the effects of socio-demographic factors, such as religion and mother's education, were not significant in this study. These findings were extremely surprising given the fact that for many individuals religion is the source of civic engagement and volunteerism for many, and political involvement typically grows with religious participation among adults (Gibson 2008). Conversely, religion can deter civic engagement within communities by encouraging people to work primarily in their faith communities (Uslaner 2002). Also, young cohorts sometimes turn away from church-related volunteering to engage in school-related activities (Rotolo and Wilson 2004).  Hence, religion might not be a strong influence on the civic behaviors of young people as it might be with older adults.

    Some support for Putnam's (2000) theory has been found, in that the decline in civic and political participation may lie among younger generations. In this study, a significant percentage of the adults born before 1989—Non-Millennials—volunteered and voted regularly than Millennials. This finding was also unexpected given the fact that the American's Civic Health Index (2007) reported that Millennials have been "voting at higher rates than their predecessors, Generation X (p.5)."  It is possible, however, that Millennials are participating in civil society, but they are experiencing it through mechanisms such as computers and other digital networks such as "Facebook," "Twitter," and "MySpace." Furthermore, much of political and civic involvement for the last United States Presidential election was experienced through the internet. For example, much of President Obama's campaign monetary contributions (28 million dollars) were raised online. It is possible to speculate that we may not be accurately measuring the civic and political involvement of Millennials. Consequently, the results of this study are not nearly enough to validate Putnam's theory. It is clearly evident that future studies of social engagement may have to take a very different form.

    Finally, there were no significant age-group differences found for family volunteerism and family political discussions. Significant differences were found only for mother's education and religion. For example, Millennials were more likely to have mothers with at least a college education compared with Non-Millennials, even though Millennials were less likely to engage in civic and political activities. These findings suggest the importance of examining generational effects in relation to socio-demographic factors.

    In conclusion, volunteering and voting are ways in which individuals display conscious citizenship and it is clearly evident that these forms of engagement are influenced by a myriad of social and economic factors. In this study, I determined, like most work, that civic and political habits are formed first in the home. Adults who grow up observing volunteerism and political discussions among household members are more likely to be engaged in civil society. Their civic and political involvement may be explained also by their educational levels, race or ethnicity, as well as their social class. Additionally, civic and political engagement does exist among both young and older adults, but the percentage of adults who are engaged remains to be among those born before 1989, Non-Millennials. 

    Though the findings for this study support existing work, the observed differences may not reflect meaningful variations that exist in the civic and political experiences of adults. It can be argued that the age range, particularly for Non-Millennials, was too large and another generational group could have been added. Furthermore, measures of family civic and political practices relied solely on two items to explain adulthood civic and political engagement. Other measures of parents’ political and civic behaviors (e.g., voting habits) may prove useful to explaining adult's engagement. 

     There are other limitations of this study because of the structure of the data set. An ideal data set for this study's purpose would include measures that would better reflect religious involvement and parental civic and political practices. Finally, the statistical methods used in this study are primarily descriptive and some association, but not causation. Thus, we must be prudent in generalizing the findings of this study to the larger population. Even with these limitations, the findings do provide some evidence for the civic engagement age-difference debate. Furthermore, policies and programs aimed at increasing civic and political involvement among young people should consider the social and economic contexts of young people as well as provide civic and political opportunities that both parents and children can experience together.

America's Civic Health Index. 2007. Renewed Engagement: Building on America’s Civic Core. A Report by the National Conference on Citizenship. In Association with CIRCLE and 
Saguaro Seminar. 
www.civicenterprises.net/pdfs/2007
civicindex.pdf

Andolina, Molina W., Krista Jenkins, Cliff Zukin, and Scott Keeter. 2003. "Habits from Home, Lessons from School: Influences on Youth Civic Engagement." PS: Political Science and Politics, 36(2): 275-280.

Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. 1995. "Broad and Narrow Socialization: The Family in the Context of a Cultural Theory." Journal of Marriage and Family, 57(3): 617-628.

Brown, R. K., and R. E. Brown. 2003. "Faith and Works: Church-based Social Capital Resources and African American Political Activism." Social Forces, 82(2): 617-641.

Flanagan, Constance A., Patricio Cumsille, Sukhdeep Gill, and Leslie Gallay. 2007. "School and Community Climates and Civic Commitments: Patterns for Ethnic Minority and Majority Students." Journal of Educational Psychology 99(2): 421-431.

Gibson, Troy. 2008. "Religion and Civic Engagagement among America's Youth." The Social Science Journal 45, 504-514.

Harris, F. C. 1999. Something Within: Religion in African-American Political Activism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Hart, Daniel and Robert Atkins. 2002. "Civic Competence in Urban Youth."  Applied Development Science 6(4): 227-236. 

Hauser, Seth M. 2000. "Education, Ability, and Civic Engagement in the Contemporary United States. Social Science Research 29: 556-582.

Hoffman, Lindsay, H. and Osei Appiah. 2008. "Measuring Race as a Cultural Component of Social Capital: Black Religiosity, Political Participation, and Civic Engagement." The Howard Journal of Communications 19(4).

Kahne, Joseph E. 2008. "Developing Citizens: The Impact of Civic Learning Opportunities on Students' Commitment to Civic Participation." American Educational Research Journal 45(3):738-766.

Marcelo, Karlo B., Mark H. Lopez, Emily H. Kirby. 2007. "Civic Engagement Among Minority Youth." The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. www.civicyouth.org

McBride, Amanda Moore, Margarent S. Sherraden and Suzanne Prizker. 2006. "Civic Engagement Among Low-Income and Low-Wealth Families: In Their Words" Family Relations 55:152-162.

Nie, Norman H., Jane Junn, and Kenneth Stehlik-Barry. 1996. Education and democratic citizenship in American. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Putnam, Robert D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community: New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. 

Rotolo, Thomas and John Wilson. 2004. "What Happened to the Long Civic Generation? Explaining Cohort Differences in Volunteerism." Social Forces 82(3):1091-1121.

Uslaner, E. M. 2002. "Religion and Civic Engagement in Canada and the United States”.  Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 41(2):239-254. U.S. Census Bureau. 2009. Volunteers by Selected Characteristics and Type of Main Organization: 2007. Retrieved May 18, 2009, from 
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Verba, Sidney, Kay Lehman Shlozman, and Henry E. Brady. 1995. Voice and equality: Civic voluntarism in American politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Zaff, Jonathan F., Oksana Malanchuk, and Jacquelynne S. Eccles. 2008. "Predicting Positive Citizenship from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: The Effects of a Civic Context." Applied Development Science 12(1): 38-53.

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