Civic Purpose: An Integrated Construct for Understanding Civic Development in Adolescence

TLDR

Civic purpose is defined as a sustained intention to contribute to the world beyond the self through civic or political action, integrating motivation, civic activity, and future‑oriented civic intention. The article introduces civic purpose as a construct for studying civic development in adolescence. The study employed a mixed‑methods longitudinal design with 1,578 high‑school seniors completing a survey, 50 interviewed, 9 civic exemplars surveyed and interviewed, and a two‑year follow‑up of 480 survey respondents and 34 interviewees. Only a small proportion of participants displayed full civic purpose across political, community service, and expressive activities, while a larger group showed precursory forms, with identity salience, beliefs and values, and adult invitation identified as key contributors.

Abstract

This article introduces civic purpose as a construct for learning about civic development in adolescence. Civic purpose, defined as <i>a sustained intention to contribute to the world beyond the self through civic or political action</i>, integrates the components of motivation, civic activity, and future-oriented civic intention. We present results from a mixed methods longitudinal study that used the civic purpose framework in which 1,578 high school seniors took a survey, 50 participated in an interview, and 9 additional adolescent “civic exemplars” participated in both the survey and the interview. Two years later, 480 participants took the survey again, and 34 participated in a second interview. A small percentage of the study subjects exhibited full civic purpose across three different types of civic activity (political, community service, expressive), while a larger percentage demonstrated precursory forms of civic purpose, with evidence of some but not all components of civic purpose. Key contributors to the development of civic purpose were: identity salience, beliefs and values, and invitation from one or more adults.