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Measuring youth empowerment: Validation of a Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth in an urban community context

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Sociopolitical control (SPC) is generally considered to be a vital element of the intrapersonal component of psychological empowerment, despite contradictory findings concerning the dimensionality of the construct when applied to a youth population. This study tested the Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth (SPCS-Y), which was designed to represent the two hypothesized dimensions of leadership competence and policy control, using data from a sample of urban youth (n=865) located in the northeastern United States. Results indicated that the hypothesized 2-factor model provided an adequate model-to-data fit, and that this model was a significantly better fit to the data than the 1-factor model. Further analysis showed that SPC profile groups differed significantly on measures of community and school participation, neighborhood attachment, perceived school importance, and drug use. Findings provide empirical support for the validity of the SPCS-Y and its underlying bidimensional model of SPC. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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ARTICLE
MEASURING YOUTH
EMPOWERMENT: VALIDATION
OF A SOCIOPOLITICAL CONTROL
SCALE FOR YOUTH IN AN URBAN
COMMUNITY CONTEXT
N. Andrew Peterson
Rutgers University
Christina Hamme Peterson
Rider University
Lynn Agre
Rutgers University
Brian D. Christens
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Cory Michael Morton
Rutgers University
Sociopolitical control (SPC) is generally considered to be a vital element
of the intrapersonal component of psychological empowerment, despite
contradictory findings concerning the dimensionality of the construct
when applied to a youth population. This study tested the Sociopolitical
Control Scale for Youth (SPCS-Y), which was designed to represent the
two hypothesized dimensions of leadership competence and policy control,
using data from a sample of urban youth (n 5865) located in the
northeastern United States. Results indicated that the hypothesized
2-factor model provided an adequate model-to-data fit, and that this
model was a significantly better fit to the data than the 1-factor model.
Further analysis showed that SPC profile groups differed significantly on
measures of community and school participation, neighborhood attach-
ment, perceived school importance, and drug use. Findings provide
empirical support for the validity of the SPCS-Y and its underlying
Correspondence to: N. Andrew Peterson, Rutgers University, 536 George Street, Room 303A, New
Brunswick, NJ 08901. E-mail: andrew.peterson@ssw.rutgers.edu
JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 39, No. 5, 592–605 (2011)
Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jcop).
&2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/jcop.20456
bidimensional model of SPC. Implications and directions for future
research are discussed. C2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Youth empowerment represents an important topic for research and practice (Berg,
Coman, & Schensul, 2009; Franzen, Morrel-Samuels, Reischl, & Zimmerman, 2009;
Russell, Muraco, Subramaniam, & Laub, 2009; Walker, Thorne, Powers, & Gaonkar,
2010; Watts & Flanagan, 2007). Zimmerman’s (1995, 2000) ideas on empowerment
have been widely applied to guide studies and interventions with both youth and adult
populations in a variety of substantive domains, such as community organizing and
activism (Christens, Peterson, & Speer, in press; Hamilton & Fauri, 2001; Itzhaky &
York, 2000, 2003; Speer, 2000), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention
(Carballo-Dieguez et al., 2005), as well as forestry and environmental protection
(Smith & Propst, 2001). In addition, Holden, Messeri, Evans, Crankshaw, and
Ben-Davis (2004) described the application of Zimmerman’s (1995) model of
psychological empowerment (PE) to the national evaluation of the American Legacy
Foundation’s Statewide Youth Movement Against Tobacco Use (SYMATU) initiative.
Holden et al. (2004) considered youth PE as essential for the ability of SYMATU
coalitions to create environmental and policy changes that could reduce smoking
prevalence in their communities.
Much of the research on PE has focused on measuring an element of the construct
referred to as sociopolitical control (SPC; Peterson et al., 2006). Sociopolitical control
refers to people’s belief about their skills and capabilities in social and political systems
(Zimmerman & Zahniser, 1991). In adult populations, SPC is often conceptualized as a
bidimensional construct (Itzhaky & York, 2003; Smith & Propst, 2001); however,
among youth, it has been applied as unidimensional (Holden et al., 2004). Here we
present a study designed to test the validity of a scale that was developed as a
bidimensional measure of SPC applicable among youth in an urban U.S. context. The
study tested the underlying structure of the scale, created SPC profile groups based on
youths’ scores on the two SPC dimensions of leadership competence and policy
control, and examined differences between the SPC profile groups on a set of variables
that may be considered as conceptually relevant to youth empowerment.
DIMENSIONS OF SOCIOPOLITICAL CONTROL AND THEIR ROLE WITHIN
A FRAMEWORK OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT
Psychological empowerment was conceptualized in Zimmerman’s (1995) model as
including three interrelated components: intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioral.
The intrapersonal component of PE, which includes SPC, involves concepts such as
individual competence, efficacy, and mastery. Zimmerman (1995) theorized that this
component of PE ‘‘refers to beliefs about one’s ability to exert influence in different life
spheres such as work, family, or sociopolitical contexts’’ (p. 588). These beliefs may be
crucial for individuals to engage in proactive behaviors needed to achieve their goals.
The interactional component of PE was considered by Zimmerman to involve an
individual’s critical awareness and understanding of the sociopolitical environment,
such as awareness of the resources one may need to achieve goals as well as the
knowledge of how to obtain and manage those resources. The behavioral component
of PE was conceptualized as individual actions that are expected to directly affect
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Journal of Community Psychology DOI: 10.1002/jcop
outcomes. Zimmerman’s (1995, 2000) ideas on empowerment generally, and this
model of PE specifically, have been useful to practitioners and researchers because
they have provided a guide that can be used to develop and evaluate community-based
interventions that have been designed to be psychologically empowering.
Sociopolitical control has generally been considered to be a vital element of the
intrapersonal component of PE, and it has traditionally been used in measures of the
construct (Carballo-Dieguez et al., 2005; Hamilton & Fauri, 2001; Itzhaky, 2003; Itzhaky
& York, 2000, 2003; Peterson & Hughey, 2004; Peterson et al., 2006; Peterson & Reid,
2003; Speer, 2000; Speer, Jackson, & Peterson, 2001; Speer & Peterson, 2000; Smith &
Propst, 2001; Zimmerman, Ramirez-Valles, & Maton, 1999). Based on the work of
Zimmerman and Zahniser (1991), SPC has usually been conceptualized as including two
dimensions: leadership competence (i.e., people’s self-perceptions of their skill at
organizing a group of people) and policy control (i.e., people’s self-perceptions of their
ability to influence policy decisions in an organization or community). The findings of
recent studies, however, have produced contradictory findings concerning the
dimensionality of the construct when applied to a youth population. Specifically,
Holden and colleagues (Holden, Crankshaw, Nimsch, Hinnant, & Hund, 2004; Holden,
Evans, Hinnant, & Messeri, 2005) presented a unidimensional measure of SPC as part of
their tests of a broader scale that was designed to assess PE among youth participating in
the SYMATU initiative. Holden et al. (2004, 2005) constructed their measure of SPC
using items from Zimmerman and Zahniser’s (1991) foundational, bidimensional
measure of the construct. Importantly, SPC was conceptualized and tested in Holden’s
(2004, 2005) studies as unidimensional despite their use of items from each of
Zimmerman and Zahniser’s (1991) two original subscales of leadership competence and
policy control, as well as the findings of previous research showing SPC to be a
bidimensional construct (Smith & Propst, 2001).
Zimmerman and Zahniser (1991) initially developed an instrument that was
intended to bridge literature and measures of SPC and PE. The scale, which they
referred to as the Sociopolitical Control Scale (SPCS), was designed as an integrated
measure, drawing on items from scales of related aspects of SPC (e.g., political efficacy,
perceived competence, and sense of mastery). The 17 items included in the SPCS were
selected based on empirical evidence and conceptual fit with the meaning of the
underlying concepts. The items were found to represent two subscales referred to as
leadership competence and policy control. Subsequent research also found support for
these two dimensions of SPC. In two other published studies of the underlying
structure of the SPCS, Smith and Propst’s (2001) and Peterson et al.’s (2006) research
yielded similar findings—the two hypothesized SPC factors of leadership competence
and policy control were confirmed. Together, the findings from these studies provide
strong evidence that SPC is a bidimensional rather than unidimensional construct.
Holden et al.’s (2004, 2005) studies provided a valuable test of empowerment
concepts and represent an important milestone in the application and development of
empowerment theory. Yet, it may be critical for researchers and practitioners to
distinguish, measure, and target the two separate and distinct SPC dimensions of
leadership competence and policy control, if they exist, in their work with youth.
Zimmerman and Zahniser (1991) emphasized the potential importance of differentiat-
ing skills (leadership competence) and participatory expectations (policy control) in
community-based research or the evaluation of empowerment-based interventions, and
they suggested that future work might benefit from exploring four theoretical SPC
profiles created using SPCS subscales. One example of the application of this approach
594 Journal of Community Psychology, July 2011
Journal of Community Psychology DOI: 10.1002/jcop
was provided by Speer (2000). He created profile groups of adults based on their SPC
scores (e.g., one group of individuals was created based on their higher scores on both
SPC dimensions, another group of those with lower scores on both dimensions, and
groups for those with higher scores on only one of the two dimensions). He also
developed profile groups based on people’s scores on a measure that assessed aspects of
interactional PE. Significant differences between profile groups were found by Speer
(2000) on measures of organizational and community participation, engagement in
prevention activities, and sense of community, suggesting that it may be crucial for
researchers and practitioners to consider how constellations of different PE dimensions
may be important depending on the desired outcome. This approach has not been
explored with a youth population. The precise measurement of the dimensions of SPC
would be vital to this approach as well as studies that evaluate more generally those
interventions that promote community involvement, citizenship, and intrapersonal PE.
Present Study
In the present study, a measure of SPC, tailored for youth, was hypothesized as
representing the two dimensions of leadership competence and policy control. Both
the 1-factor and 2-factor models of SPC were tested, and profile groups were
developed based on youths’ scores on the two hypothesized dimensions of SPC.
We then tested differences between the SPC profile groups on a set of variables
(i.e., community and school participation, neighborhood attachment, perceived school
importance, and alcohol and drug use) that may be considered as conceptually
relevant to youth empowerment. Although no previous research has specifically
examined differences between SPC profile groups among youth, prior studies have
considered the relationships between empowerment and the set of variables included
in this study. We expected, based on previous empowerment-based research with
youth populations, that the group with higher scores on the two SPC dimensions
would report greater community and school participation (Lipschitz-Elhawi & Itzhaky,
2005), neighborhood attachment (Dallago, Francesca, Perkins, Nation, & Santinello,
2010), and perceived school importance (Bradshaw, O’Brennan, & McNeely, 2008;
Speer, 2008) and lower scores on alcohol and drug use (Haegerich & Tolan, 2008;
Kim, Crutchfield, Williams, & Helper, 1998; Peterson, Buser, & Westburg, 2010;
Wilson, Minkler, Dasho, Wallerstein, & Martin, 2008) than the other SPC profile
groups. In addition, based on the work of Speer (2000), we anticipated that there may
be certain SPC profiles that are more relevant for different outcomes, which would
provide further evidence for the need to consider the bidimensionality of SPC among
youth. Given the contradictory findings of previous research concerning the
dimensionality of SPC when applied to a youth population, as well as the widespread
interest in this aspect of the intrapersonal component of PE, additional research was
needed to test the measurement and bidimensionality of this construct.
METHOD
Participants
Participants (n5865) were high school students who were surveyed in year 2007. Nine
hundred seventy-seven high school students participated in the survey. Because the
Measuring Youth Empowerment 595
Journal of Community Psychology DOI: 10.1002/jcop
main purpose of this research was to test the bidimensional structure of a measure of
SPC, only those 865 students who completed all items of the SPC measure were
included in this analysis. This sample (n5865) was 60% female and 55% Hispanic. In
addition, the sample was 37% Black or African American; 4% Asian; and, 4% White,
non-Hispanic. Regarding years in high school, approximately 16% of the participants
were in the 9th grade; 23% were in the 10th grade; 29% were in the 11th grade, and,
33% of the participants were in the 12th grade.
Measures
Sociopolitical control. The measure of SPC used in this study was a 17-item scale,
henceforth referred to as the Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth (SPCS-Y), which
was based on the work of Zimmerman and Zahniser (1991), Holden et al. (2004, 2005),
andPetersonetal.(2006).ItemsoftheSPCS-YareshownintheAppendix.TheSPCS-Y
(overall scale: Cronbach’s a5.89; M53.71; SD 5.64) was designed to include two
subscales. The first subscale included eight items to assess leadership competence
(Cronbach’s a5.81; M53.80; SD 5.73); the second subscale included nine items to
assess policy control (Cronbach’s a5.85; M53.65; SD 5.70). As indicated in the
Appendix, one item of the policy control subscale was drawn directly from Holden
et al. (2004). Other items in the policy control subscale were designed to reference
‘‘community or school’’ to be consistent with Holden et al. (2004). All items were
developed to be consistent with Zimmerman and Zahniser (1991) and the positive
wording of SPC items as recommended by Peterson et al. (2006). All respondents
answered items in the SPCS-Y using a 5-point, Likert-type response option format
ranging from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree. Items were coded so that higher scores
represented higher levels of SPC. Scores represented the mean of items in each
subscale.
Conceptually relevant variables. Four additional measures were administered to
participants and included in this study to examine their relationships with SPC.
Community and school participation (Cronbach’s a5.69; M52.57; SD 51.01) was
measured using a scale designed specifically for the study. It consisted of five items
assessing individuals’ engagement in extracurricular activities beyond the require-
ments of the school day. The five items asked respondents how often they undertook
particular activities (e.g., attend meetings or activities for a club or youth group, go to a
program for learning or for fun) and used a 5-point, Likert-type scale ranging from
Almost every day to Never. Items were reverse scored prior to analysis. Neighborhood
attachment (Cronbach’s a5.86, M52.24, SD 51.35) was measured using three items
from the Communities that Care Youth Survey, a self-report instrument for
adolescents that measured multiple risk and protective factors (Arthur, Hawkins,
Pollard, Catalano, & Baglioni, 2002). Items were answered using a 4-point Likert-type
scale ranging from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree. Perceived school importance
(Cronbach’s a5.89, M54.64; SD 5.76) was assessed using a 4-item scale developed
by Stevenson, Maton, and Teti (1998). Respondents answered items such as ‘‘How
important to you is finishing high school?’’ and ‘‘How important is going to college in
obtaining your life goals?’’ using a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from Not at all
important to Very important. Alcohol and drug use (Cronbach’s a5.95, M5.91,
SD 5.73) was assessed via 18 items from the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey
(Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2004). Questions were intended to
596 Journal of Community Psychology, July 2011
Journal of Community Psychology DOI: 10.1002/jcop
determine the frequency of use currently and in the lifetime for different types of
substances, such as cigarettes, chewing tobacco, cigars, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine,
inhalants, methamphetamines, heroin, ecstasy, illegal drugs through injection, and
steroids without a prescription. Scores were the mean of responses to the current use
items, with higher scores indicating greater frequency of drug use.
Procedures
Participants were surveyed as part of a comprehensive needs assessment for a federal
initiative to prevent substance abuse and sexual risk taking behaviors among racial and
ethnic minority youth in an urban community. The sample setting is considered
among the 30 poorest school districts and has among the highest rates for substance
abuse and certain sexually transmitted diseases in this northeastern U.S. state. Self-
administered written surveys were distributed by school district personnel in randomly
selected health education classes.
Analysis
Two analyses, including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multivariate analysis of
covariance (MANCOVA), were performed. We used CFA to assess two models: Model 1,
the 1-factor SPCS-Y; and Model 2, the 2-factor SPCS-Y. The CFAs were conducted
using maximum likelihood estimation procedures of AMOS 16.0 and the indices that
we interpreted are considered to be acceptable measures of fit. The MANCOVA was
performed using PASW Statistics 18.0 to examine whether profile groups, which were
created on the basis of scores on the two SPCS-Y subscales (mean split), differed on
measures of community and school participation, neighborhood attachment, and
perceived school importance, as well as alcohol and drug use. Consistent with the
recommendations of Zimmerman and Zahniser (1991) and the work of Speer (2000),
we created four SPC profile groups: (a) individuals with higher scores on both SPC
dimensions of leadership competence and policy control; (b) individuals with higher
scores on leadership competence, but lower scores on policy control; (c) individuals
with higher scores on policy control, but lower scores on leadership competence; and
(d) individuals with lower scores on both leadership competence and policy control.
Prior to conducting our main analyses, we examined descriptive statistics and
correlations among the SPCS-Y items. Univariate skewness and kurtosis values
indicated normal distributions for the item responses. All of the items in the SPCS-Y
were included in the final analyses.
RESULTS
Results of the CFAs are shown in Tables 1 and 2. Table 1 presents fit indices for the two
models of the SPCS-Y; Table 2 shows the standardized loadings for the models that
were tested in this study. As can be seen in Table 1, the 1-factor solution for the SPCS-Y
(Model 1) provided the poorest fit to the data. The chi square (w
2
) values were
statistically significant for both models; however, the w
2
is often considered too
stringent and an unrealistic standard as a goodness-of-fit statistic. Conversely, the other
fit indices indicate that Model 2, the 2-factor solution for the SPCS-Y, provided an
adequate fit to the data from our sample of respondents. For Model 2, the Goodness-of-
Fit Index (GFI) and the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) were above .90, indicating
Measuring Youth Empowerment 597
Journal of Community Psychology DOI: 10.1002/jcop
acceptable model-to-data fit. The same pattern was found for the Expected Cross-
Validation Index (ECVI) values and the root mean square of error approximation
(RMSEA) values for the models. Higher ECVI and RMSEA values indicated poorer fit
for Model 1, whereas lower values indicate better fit for Model 2. Importantly, the 90%
confidence intervals (CIs) for the ECVI and the RMSEA, which are also presented in
Table 1, indicate differences in fit between Models 1 and 2. The 90% CIs allow
comparison between Model 1 (the 1-factor SPCS-Y) and Model 2 (the 2-factor SPCS-Y)
Table 1. Overall Fit Statistics for Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth (SPCS-Y) Confirmatory
Factor Analysis, n 5865
Models
Measures of fit Model 1: 1-Factor SPCS-Y Model 2: 2-Factor SPCS-Y
w
2
916.497 519.935
df 119 118
p-Value o.001 o.001
GFI .857 .931
CFI .830 .914
ECVI (90% CI) 1.139 (1.032, 1.255) .683 (.605, .769)
RMSEA (90% CI) .088 (.083, .093) .063 (.057, .068)
Note: SPCS-Y 5Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth; df 5degrees of freedom; GFI 5Goodness-of-Fit Index;
CFI 5Comparative Fit Inde x; ECVI 5Expected Cross-Validation Index; CI 5confidence interval; RMSEA 5root
mean square error of approximation.
Table 2. Standardized Regression Weights for Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth (SPCS-Y)
Confirmatory Factor Analysis, n 5865
Models
Model 2: 2-Factor SPCS-Y
Item Model 1: 1-Factor SPCS-Y Leadership competence Policy control
SPCS-Y1 .56 .66
SPCS-Y2 .47 .56
SPCS-Y3 .56 .64
SPCS-Y4 .61 .67
SPCS-Y5 .58 .68
SPCS-Y6 .51 .53
SPCS-Y7 .44 .49
SPCS-Y8 .59 .58
SPCS-Y9 .65 .66
SPCS-Y10 .57 .59
SPCS-Y11 .62 .62
SPCS-Y12 .59 .63
SPCS-Y13 .64 .67
SPCS-Y14 .57 .64
SPCS-Y15 .56 .62
SPCS-Y16 .58 .60
SPCS-Y17 .55 .61
Note: Items correspond to the SPCS-Y as shown in the Appendix.
598 Journal of Community Psychology, July 2011
Journal of Community Psychology DOI: 10.1002/jcop
by examining the extent of overlap between the models. As can be seen in Table 1, the
CIs did not overlap between Models 1 and 2, indicating that the two models fit the data
differently. Model 2, which had the smallest ECVI and RMSEA values, may be
interpreted as fitting the data better than Model 1 for the data from our sample. In
addition, Table 2 shows the standardized loadings that represent the strength of each
SPCS-Y item in relation to the hypothesized factor that was tested in the analysis. As
can be seen in Table 2, items consistently had stronger loadings in Model 2, the
2-factor solution for the SPCS-Y.
Results of the one-way MANCOVA are presented in Table 3. Fourteen individuals
did not provide demographic data for gender and Hispanic origin and were therefore
excluded from this analysis. The covariates in the analysis were several demographic
variables that were found to be related with membership in the SPC profile groups:
grade in school, w
2
(9) 519.34, po.05; gender, w
2
(3) 59.73, po.05; Hispanic origin,
w
2
(3) 518.26, po.05; and racial category (i.e., Black or African American vs. Other),
w
2
(3) 515.57, po.001. More specifically, students in the upper grades had higher
percentages of students who were in Group 1 (i.e., higher scores on both SPC
dimensions); students in the ninth grade had a higher percentage of students in Group
4 (i.e., lower scores on both SPC dimensions). In addition, girls had a greater
percentage in Group 1 than boys, whereas Hispanics had a greater percentage in
Group 4 than non-Hispanics. Finally, individuals who were Black or African American
had a greater percentage in Group 1 than did those whose racial category was not
Black or African American.
As can be seen in Table 3, MANCOVA results demonstrated that, after controlling
for demographics, statistically significant differences were found between SPC profile
groups for all four of the conceptually relevant variables. Post hoc pairwise
comparisons showed that individuals in Group 1 (i.e., individuals with higher scores
Table 3. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance Comparing Profiles Groups of the Sociopolitical
Control Scale for Youth (SPCS-Y) With Community and School Participation, Neighborhood
Attachment, School Importance, and Alcohol and Drug Use
SPCS-Y Profile Group Means
Variable
1. High on
both leadership
competence and
policy control
2. High on
leadership
competence, but
low on policy
control
3. High on
policy control,
but low on
leadership
competence
4. Low on
both leadership
competence and
policy control
Univariate
F(3, 843)
Means
Different,
po.01
Community
and school
participation
2.80 2.44 2.42 2.43 7.58

142, 3, 4
Neighborhood
attachment
2.43 1.99 2.37 1.92 15.06

1, 342, 4
School
importance
4.76 4.65 4.77 4.44 4.30
1, 344
Alcohol &
drug use
1.37 1.68 1.41 1.77 10.95

1, 3o2, 4
Note: Overall SPCS-Y multivariate analysis of covariance: Wilks’ Lambda 5.88; F(12, 2222.72) 58.94, po.001.
Covariates: Grade, Gender, Hispanic, and Black/African American.
po.01;

po.001.
Measuring Youth Empowerment 599
Journal of Community Psychology DOI: 10.1002/jcop
on both SPC dimensions) had significantly higher scores on community and school
participation than individuals in the other three SPC profile groups. In addition, post
hoc analysis indicated that individuals in Group 1 and Group 3 (i.e., individuals with
higher scores on only the policy control dimension) had significantly higher scores on
neighborhood attachment and significantly lower scores on alcohol and drug use than
individuals in Group 2 (i.e., individuals with higher scores on only the leadership
competence dimension) and Group 4 (i.e., individuals with lower scores on both SPC
dimensions). Finally, individuals in Groups 1 and 3 were found to have higher scores
on perceived school importance than individuals in Group 4.
DISCUSSION
The SPCS-Y was designed to represent the two hypothesized SPC dimensions of
leadership competence and policy control. Sociopolitical control is generally regarded as
animportantelementoftheintrapersonalcomponentofPE;ithasfrequentlybeenused
in studies of empowerment, although recent studies have produced contradictory
findings concerning the dimensionality of SPC in a youth population. Our results
indicated that the hypothesized 2-factor model of the SPCS-Y provided an adequate fit to
the data from the sample of youth in this study, and that this model provided a
significantly better fit to the data than the 1-factor model. Our results also suggested
important differences between SPC profile groups on measures of community and
school participation, neighborhood attachment, and perceived school importance, as well
as alcohol and drug use. Specifically, different SPC profiles appeared to be more critical
for particular outcomes. Higher levels of policy control by itself, for example, seemed as
important for stronger neighborhood attachment and less frequent substance use as did
higher levels on both SPC dimensions. Leadership competence, conversely, appeared to
be less crucial for these specific outcomes. Overall, the findings of our study provide
empirical support for the validity of the SPCS-Y and its underlying bidimensional model
of SPC, and they have vital implications for empowerment theory, research, and practice.
Our results extend the findings of Zimmerman and Zahniser (1991), Smith and
Propst (2001), Holden et al. (2004, 2005), and Peterson et al. (2006) to confirm SPC as
a bidimensional rather than unidimensional construct among youth. Our work also
extends the findings of Speer (2000), who demonstrated how constellations of PE
dimensions may be relevant for different outcomes among adults. One possible
explanation for the contradictory findings of previous research concerning the
dimensionality of SPC might involve the use of negatively worded items in the
measurement of the construct. Items that are negatively worded are those that are
phrased semantically in the opposite direction from a particular construct. The SPC
items in Holden et al.’s (2004, 2005) studies were drawn from Zimmerman and
Zahniser’s (1991) original measure, and many of those items were negatively worded.
Traditionally, measurement researchers advocated for the use of negatively worded
items, which are often mixed with positively worded items, to protect against response
set bias and acquiescent behaviors of respondents. Recent research, however, suggests
that the increased item complexity resulting from this practice can cause individuals,
particularly youth, to misunderstand an item or answer differently than they would to
positively worded statements (Barnette, 1996, 2000). Consequently, researchers have
called for abandonment of the use of negatively worded items in the design of
empowerment measures (Peterson et al., 2006), and the inclusion of this type of item
600 Journal of Community Psychology, July 2011
Journal of Community Psychology DOI: 10.1002/jcop
in previous studies might account for the differences between their findings and those
of the present study of SPC.
The main implication of our findings is that SPC should be conceptualized and
measured as a bidimensional construct among youth populations, and researchers and
evaluators should explicitly incorporate and explore the multiple dimensions of SPC in
their studies with adolescents. As noted by Zimmerman and Zahniser (1991),
demonstrated by Speer (2000), and reinforced by the findings of our study, future
research that considers the two dimensions of SPC may be especially useful in efforts to
increase our understanding of social change activities, citizen participation in community
organizations, and how individual differences in SPC might explain different outcomes
of empowerment-based prevention initiatives. Components of youth PE beyond SPC
might also be considered in future studies. Zimmerman’s (1995) framework for PE
included intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioral domains, and later studies
developed and validated scales for the multiple components of PE with adult samples
(Peterson, Hamme, & Speer, 2002; Speer & Peterson, 2000). Although the current study
demonstrates the relevance of SPC for understanding youth empowerment processes,
the question remains whether a complete nomological network for youth PE should
differ substantially from PE among adults. Recent qualitative studies of youth
empowerment in community organizing (Christens & Dolan, in press) and gay-straight
alliances (Russell, Muraco, Subramaniam, & Laub, 2009) highlight differences between
youth PE and similar processes in adult populations. Peer relationships (Farmer, 2007;
Speer, 2008), for instance, and relationships with adults (Camino & Zeldin, 2002;
Franzen et al., 2009; Langhout, Rhodes, & Osborne, 2004) might be considered as part
of an overall framework or measurement model for youth PE.
Findings from the current study also suggest important implications for policy and
program design related to SPC among youth. Alongside community and school
participation and neighborhood attachment, SPC shows promise as a psychosocial
indicator for important behavioral and developmental outcomes, including substance
abuse and possibly educational attainment. Recent findings from a longitudinal study using
an adult sample suggest that increases inSPCcanbeachievedthroughincreased
community participation (Christens et al., in press). Future research should continue to test
relationships between components of youth PE and other conceptually related variables,
including broader measures of community participation and engagement (Christens &
Zeldin, in press; Flanagan, 2004; Holden, Messiri, Evans, Crankshaw, & Ben-Davies, 2004)
and psychological sense of community (Chiessi, Cicognani, & Sonn, 2010; Evans, 2007;
Zeldin, 2002) to better inform practice and policy. Future research should continue to test
the relationship between youth PE and outcomes including substance abuse, identity
development, violence, and educational attainment. Finally, following empowerment
theory, future research should address community and organizational contexts (Maton,
2008) that not only facilitate perceptions of SPC among youth, but real ability to operate
with power and make community-level change (Griffith et al., 2010).
Despite our findings providing robust support for the validity of the bidimensional
model of SPC among youth, more work is needed to further develop and test the
SPCS-Y with different populations and contexts to ensure generalizability of both the
construct and instrument. One limitation of the SPCS-Y presented in this study involves
the referents (i.e., ‘‘community or school’’) included in the items of the policy control
subscale. Those items were designed to be consistent with the wording of Holden et al.
(2004, 2005) in the hope of providing a fair test of the competing models. Future work,
however, might benefit from considering these referents separately or using only one
Measuring Youth Empowerment 601
Journal of Community Psychology DOI: 10.1002/jcop
referent in items that assess this domain. In addition, it is important to recognize that
our study was conducted in the context of a needs assessment rather than the
evaluation of a particular intervention. The studies of Holden et al. focused on
empowerment concepts in the context of evaluating a tobacco control intervention, and
they included multiple aspects of the intrapersonal component of PE that included SPC
as well as other aspects that addressed issues relevant to that context. One could
hypothesize that the operational definitions of a study of SPC in the context of outcome
evaluation could be quite different from the present study if the youth were asked
about specific situations. Nevertheless, one might still expect different operations to
capture qualities of the two dimensions of SPC that are appropriate to that context.
It may be especially important to tailor the items of the SCPS-Y for use with new
youth populations and in different settings. We agree with Zimmerman (1995) that
specific operational definitions of SPC should be context-specific, and that the search
for a single, universal measure of empowerment for all populations and contexts is not
an appropriate goal. Our study focused on urban youth located in the northeastern
United States, and substantial modifications may be necessary to make the SPCS-Y
useful for studies with youth in different parts of the United States or other regions of
the world. In a recent study of another important construct, sense of community
(SOC), Wombacher, Tagg, Burgi, and MacBryde (2010) showed convincingly the value
of moving beyond the mere translation of items into a different language. They
applied a translation approach in their study that emphasized the meaning of items
and the appropriateness of SOC concepts across cultures. Their approach could also
be useful to researchers testing the validity of empowerment concepts across cultures
and times. Furthermore, studies testing the validity of a modified SPCS-Y could also
examine the effects of alternative approaches to the Likert-type response option
format used in this study, such as phrase completion response formats (Hodge &
Gillespie, 2003). Sociopolitical control represents a crucial aspect of youth empower-
ment theory and practice. We hope that our attention to measurement issues for SPC
advances understanding of the bidimensional nature of this construct.
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APPENDIX
Items of the Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth (SPCS-Y)
Item Item wording
SPCS-Y1 I am often a leader in groups
SPCS-Y2 I would prefer to be a leader rather than a follower
SPCS-Y3 I would rather have a leadership role when I’m involved in a group project
SPCS-Y4 I can usually organize people to get things done
SPCS-Y5 Other people usually follow my ideas
SPCS-Y6 I find it very easy to talk in front of a group
SPCS-Y7 I like to work on solving a problem myself rather than wait and see if someone else will deal
with it
SPCS-Y8 I like trying new things that are challenging to me
SPCS-Y9 I enjoy participation because I want to have as much say in my community or school as possible
a
SPCS-Y10 Youth like me can really understand what’s going on with my community or school
SPCS-Y11 I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the important issues which confront my
community or school
SPCS-Y12 Youth like me have the ability to participate effectively in community or school activities and
decision making
SPCS-Y13 My opinion is important because it could someday make a difference in my community or school
SPCS-Y14 There are plenty of ways for youth like me to have a say in what our community or school does
SPCS-Y15 It is important to me that I actively participate in local teen issues
SPCS-Y16 Most community or school leaders would listen to me
SPCS-Y17 Many local activities are important to participate in
a
Item is directly from Holden et al. (2004). The remaining items in the policy control subscale were designed to
reference ‘‘community or school’’ to be consistent with Holden et al. (2004). All other items were developed to be
consistent with content of Zimmerman and Zahniser (1991) and the positively worded items of Peterson et al. (2006).
Measuring Youth Empowerment 605
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... The remaining 80 full-text articles were screened, with 63 excluded, which resulted in the final 15 articles being included in this review. Two additional articles were included following consultation from experts within the field [54,55]. Projects described in these articles varied regarding participant descriptions, objectives, methods, primary substances of focus, and youth and community outcomes (see Table 1). ...
... Empowerment theory outcome-based studies. Among the seven projects that described empowerment theory outcome-based studies, all engaged BIPOC youth from urban communities [15,27,33,47,54,55,66]. Studies were all located in the northeastern US [15,27,33,47,54,55,66]. ...
... Among the seven projects that described empowerment theory outcome-based studies, all engaged BIPOC youth from urban communities [15,27,33,47,54,55,66]. Studies were all located in the northeastern US [15,27,33,47,54,55,66]. Youth from these articles occupied several historically oppressed backgrounds, including youth living in poverty, youth living within communities with high levels of community violence, and youth with increased access to substances due to high alcohol outlet density in their communities [15,27,33,47,54,55,66]. ...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose of the Review Concerns related to harmful substance use during adolescence continue to persist, and recent trends show racial and ethnic disparities. There is a need to identify effective and culturally responsive prevention approaches focused on communities of color. Innovative approaches to substance use prevention and youth health equity have included those based on youth empowerment and community-based participatory research. The purposes of this review were to incorporate studies that describe youth of color engagement and empowerment in substance use prevention, with a primary emphasis on alcohol use, and to identify related outcome studies. Recent Findings This scoping review synthesized studies into empowerment-based youth participatory action research and empowerment theory outcome-based studies. Findings describe participant descriptions, objectives, participatory approaches, primary substances of foci, and youth empowerment-based outcomes. Summary Implications provide guidelines for youth empowerment within substance use prevention programming and recommendations for youth-engaged substance use prevention research. Additional research is needed within the area of alcohol use prevention, specifically.
... However, the literature on these dimensions has yielded inconsistent findings. For example, critical reflection has been associated with positive youth development Tyler et al., 2020) and lower substance use (Lardier et al., 2020;Opara et al., 2022;Peterson et al., 2011) in adolescents of color. However, complex associations emerged in a personcentered analysis conducted by Godfrey et al. (2019), wherein a profile where youth who reported more critical motivation and low critical reflection experienced fewer depressive symptoms than those in other groups, while those in a profile characterized by more critical reflection and less critical motivation reported greater depressive symptoms. ...
... That is, considering all aspects of critical consciousness, action seems to be more related to how one feels than thoughts and motivation around systemic issues. Several other studies exploring the mental health effects of critical reflection and motivation (e.g., Bowers et al., 2020;Lardier et al., 2020;Opara et al., 2022;Peterson et al., 2011);Tyler et al., 2020) have not accounted for all three key dimensions of critical consciousness (i.e., including action) as well as the effect of discrimination, a fundamental context against which critical consciousness operates. Our study implied that accounting for all critical consciousness dimensions at once and accounting for discrimination reveals that action is the aspect of critical consciousness most proximally related to mental health outcomes; this novel finding will, however, need to be replicated as assessed longitudinally. ...
Article
Full-text available
To resist and cope with oppression, youth of color may use the process of critical consciousness which involves understanding racial injustices (critical reflection), developing motivation to fight these injustices (critical motivation), and taking action to enact sociopolitical change (critical action). However, little is known about how each dimension of critical consciousness affects mental health in adolescents of color. In a sample of 367 ethnically and racially diverse American adolescents of color (age range = 13–17; 68.9% girls, 28.6% boys, and 2.5% gender minority; 84.4% US‐born), we conducted multivariate regressions in Mplus to examine the cross‐sectional links between each critical consciousness dimension (reflection, motivation, and action) and mental health outcomes (anxiety, depression, and stress) over and above the impact of everyday discrimination. We also investigated the interaction between critical consciousness and discrimination in predicting mental health outcomes. Controlling for age, gender, nativity, and social class, we found that discrimination and critical action were both positively associated with anxiety, depression, and stress. For our covariates, girls and gender minority adolescents reported worse outcomes. No interactions were significant. Overall, critical action, while necessary to enact societal change, may have a complex relationship with youth's depression, anxiety, and psychological stress symptoms and warrants careful exploration. Future research should focus on understanding the longitudinal mechanisms of critical action and how we can maximize the benefits by protecting youth from those negative effects.
... Although it is not yet clear through which mechanisms child and adolescent participation in PAR contributes to tackling certain health issues (Frerichs et al., 2016), it is generally believed that health promotion interventions that are developed in collaboration with children and adolescents better match their needs and interests and therewith have increased effectiveness (Ballonoff Suleiman et al., 2021;Peterson et al., 2011;Wong et al., 2010). The shift towards more child and adolescent participation in health promotion is in line with the theory of positive youth development, an approach that aims to stimulate and facilitate the promotion of health and wellbeing among young people, while focusing on the development of personal competencies such as self-efficacy, resilience, and taking initiative (Christens & Peterson, 2012). ...
Article
Full-text available
Child and adolescent participation for health promotion can be realized through participatory action research (PAR). However, there is a lack of understanding regarding the concrete steps needed to actualize empowerment within PAR. We propose a framework that outlines six elements that need to be considered when designing a PAR study that strives to actualize child and adolescent empowerment. These are 1) Safeguarding the necessary resources; 2) Having high quality adult facilitation; 3) Enabling sense-making activities and 4) Investing in capacity building. These four elements make up an environment that may nourish children and adolescents’ social, emotional and cognitive development that may potentially lead to 5) Positive child and adolescent development and 6) Participatory competence. The proposed framework adopts a holistic approach by considering the lived reality of children and adolescents and their capabilities and characteristics. Future research is needed to assess the practical utility of the framework.
... Most of the research on psychological empowerment has focused on the emotional component (Christens, 2012;Peterson et al., 2011). In their evaluation of young people's participation in youth-led tobacco control efforts in Canada, Holden et al. (2004a) found that taking a leadership role, engaging in group discussions, and trying to recruit others to attend the group were all positively associated with perceived sociopolitical control, an indicator of the emotional component of psychological empowerment. ...
Chapter
Youth-infused community coalitions engage youth and adults in addressing complex issues at the local level. Coalitions tend to engage young people when the issues they address pertain to the youth population in their community. This chapter provides an example of a youth-infused community coalition located in Appalachian Ohio that seeks to promote the health and well-being of community members. Youth engage directly with adults on the coalition to review data, identify root causes of problems in their community, and implement strategies to address these issues. We detail how participating in youth-infused community coalitions facilitates the growth and development of youth and their communities and then identify three features critical to facilitating community power and psychological empowerment in youth-infused community coalitions: member representation, decision-making processes, and opportunity role structure.
... Looking beyond the boundaries of environmental education literature could bring in new insights too-particularly when taking this Capitalocene lens that emphasizes the importance of historical context and power systems in our current environmental crisis (Moore, 2016(Moore, , 2017. For example, political history, political science, and psychological sciences can lend insight into what has driven and continues to drive youth engagement in activist behaviors outside of the environmental context (Peterson et al., 2011;Schulz, 2005;Sloam, 2014), and future studies could test whether these drivers hold true for environmental activism. Theories of diffusion from disease ecology and community psychology may also help better understand how ideas behind engaging in collective environmental actions might "spread" between people (Everton & Pfaff, 2022;Gibson et al., 2022;Winett et al., 1995). ...
... Leadership competence was assessed with 5 items from the Sociopolitical Control Scale (Peterson et al., 2011). Items investigate the individuals' perception about their leadership traits and the degree to which community members look to the individual for advice and leadership. ...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health, human rights, and development issue. While existing evidence posits that addressing social norms is key to IPV prevention, successful IPV interventions that include a norms approach are limited in number and methodological rigor and rarely include a formal investigation of the diffusion of intervention impact. We contribute novel findings to this intellectual and programmatic space with evidence on a social and behavior change communication (SBCC) intervention (Change Starts at Home) in Nepal designed to prevent IPV and shift social norms towards greater gender equity. Methods Participants included 442 married women across 13 communities assessed at three timepoints: before intervention (baseline), at the completion of the core couple's curriculum and edutainment (midline), and at the conclusion of the diffusion curriculum (endline). Generalized estimating equations with propensity-score adjustments were used to determine change in outcomes at midline and endline for two intervention conditions (direct beneficiary, N = 173; and resident of the intervention community, (N = 178) relative to control (N = 91). Results IPV victimization significantly decreased in both intervention conditions at midline, with larger reductions in direct beneficiaries. At endline, direct beneficiaries had sustained reduction in IPV relative to control participants. Positive injunctive norms also significantly improved by midline for both intervention groups, whereas improvements in descriptive norms for intervention groups were matched by improvements in the control group at both midline and endline. Several secondary outcomes showed significant improvements for both intervention groups at midline and/or endline, including in-law violence, financial decision-making, communication, and relationship quality, with additional improvements for the direct beneficiaries in attitudes, leadership, GBV advocacy, and diffusion. Conclusion This study sheds light on the effectiveness of the Change intervention, the role of addressing social norms in IPV prevention efforts, and the benefits of organized diffusion.
Article
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, and Questioning+ (LGBQ+) Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) youth experience significant stigmatization and injustice compared to their non‐LGBQ+ BIPOC peers. Empowerment, civic engagement, and social connection are protective factors that reduce negative psychological outcomes for these youth. Despite this, validated measures to assess empowerment among LGBQ+ BIPOC youth are scarce. This study evaluated the applicability of the newly revised Brief Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth (BSPCS‐Y) through multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) to examine configural, metric, and scalar invariances between LGBQ+ and non‐LGBQ+ BIPOC youth ( N = 1789). Convergent validity was assessed with psychological sense of community and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Results indicated a good model fit for the abbreviated BSPCS‐Y, with no significant group differences in metric and scalar invariances. Subscales for leadership competence and policy control were positively associated with psychological sense of community and negatively associated with depression and anxiety symptoms, with stronger effects of psychological sense of community observed in non‐LGBQ+ BIPOC youth and more robust associations with reduced depression and anxiety among LGBQ+ BIPOC youth. These findings support the BSPCS‐Y as a valid tool for measuring empowerment in diverse BIPOC youth populations.
Article
In Serbia, categorized as a hybrid or semi‐authoritarian system by Freedom House, exploring activism is crucial. Two cross‐sectional studies were conducted to examine predictors of online and offline civic activism in a society favouring punitive measures and limiting open dialogue. The first study involved 1107 participants (65.1% female, 33.2% male and 1.6% in other categories; M age = 28.15 years), while the second included 2306 individuals (67.5% female, 30.2% male and 2.3% in other categories; M age = 28.1 years). We modelled the relationship between predictor variables and a dependent variable at different quantiles of the distribution (25th, 50th, 75th and quantile marked with theoretical middle points of online and activism scales) using quantile regression. Results highlighted perceived policy control, social generativity and conscientiousness as key predictors across different levels of both online and offline activism. Personality traits like extroversion, neuroticism and honesty have different effects on online versus offline activism, suggesting different motivations. Additionally, future‐oriented people participate more offline. The quantile regression, analysing coefficients at different points in the distribution, offered valuable insights into manifestations of activism. These findings are discussed highlighting the complex dynamic of different factors in shaping civic engagement in Serbia's challenging sociopolitical landscape.
Chapter
This book is about ways that people can build and exercise power to influence the systems that affect their lives. Each chapter provides a deep examination of a different approach. This introductory chapter begins with a discussion on definitions of empowerment and then lays out five perspectives that orient the contributions in the book. It then describes the structure and contents of the book, which are organized into six parts: (1) organizing and activism, (2) participatory governance, (3) civil society and coalitions, (4) enterprise, (5) participatory and community arts, and (6) education and engaged research. This is followed by reflections on the book’s scope and potential uses by different audiences.
Article
Full-text available
This study explored relationships, between race, citizen participation, and three dimensions of cognitive empowerment: understandings of power through relationships, political functioning, and shaping ideology. Results revealed that, unlike emotional empowerment, cognitive empowerment was not directly related to citizen participation, and effects of participation on cognitive empowerment did not differ for African Americans and Caucasians. Importantly, a main effect of race on cognitive empowerment was found which showed that, accross levels of participation, African Americans had greater understandings of power through relationships and shaping ideology than Caucasians, Implications for empowerment theory and practice are discussed.
Article
Full-text available
Empowerment has become an important goal for social workers in policy and direct practice domains. The purpose of this study was to test a measure of empowerment at an individual level of analysis that tapped cognitive, emotional, and behavioral dimensions in community-organizing contexts. This article reports the psychometric properties of a 27-item scale from a sample of 974 randomly selected people. The applicability of this measure is broad, but modifications need to be made on the basis of the variety of social work settings in which empowerment may be applied.
Article
Full-text available
Community organizing groups that have built coalitions for local change over the past few decades are now involving young people as leaders in efforts to improve quality of life. The current study explores a particularly effective youth organizing initiative through review of organizational documents and collection and analysis of qualitative data. The study finds that this model for youth organizing is effective at producing impacts at multiple levels because it weaves together youth development, community development, and social change into a unified organizing cycle. The initiative encourages participants by promoting psychological empowerment, leadership development, and sociopolitical development. Simultaneously, youth organizing produces community-level impacts, including new program implementation, policy change, and institution building. Social changes include intergenerational and multicultural collaboration in the exercise of power. This interplay between youth development, community development, and social change is discussed in relation to the growing field of youth organizing and other efforts to engage youth in civil society.
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Resilience refers to the notion that some people succeed in the face of adversity. In a risk‐protective model of resilience, a protective factor interacts with a risk factor to mitigate the occurrence of a negative outcome. This study tested longitudinally the protective effects of sociopolitical control on the link between helplessness and mental health. The study included 172 urban, male, African American adolescents, who were interviewed twice, 6 months apart. Sociopolitical control was defined as the beliefs about one's capabilities and efficacy in social and political systems. Two mental health outcomes were examined—psychological symptoms and self‐esteem. Regression analyses to predict psychological symptoms and self‐esteem over time were conducted. High levels of sociopolitical control were found to limit the negative consequences of helplessness on mental health. The results suggest that sociopolitical control may help to protect youths from the negative consequences of feelings of helplessness. Implications for prevention strategies are discussed.
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Three studies are reported that describe an initial effort to develop an inte‐grative measure of sociopolitical control. Items were selected from personality, cognitive, and motivational measures of perceived control using empirical and intuitive criteria. A final set of 17 items was factor analyzed across two samples. Two psychometrically sound factors, Leadership Competence and Policy Control, were identified. Validity analyses with measures of alienation and leadership provided initial support for a two‐factor model of sociopolitical control. The scales also distinguished between individuals involved to varying degrees in community organizations and activities for three samples of respondents. Implications for the utility of the Sociopolitical Control Scale for empowerment research and public health interventions are discussed. The limits of the current scales and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
Chapter
Youth-focused community organizing - a process of developing leadership and building power for young people with the goal of creating change - provides a valuable context for understanding setting-level interventions. Collective activity, a focus on issues directly impacting youth, research and analysis of the cause of problems faced, and efforts to exert power to change conditions creating the identified problem, characterize youth organizing. Drawing on the model of a national organizing network, this chapter describes an approach to altering the pattern of relationships among youth within a setting. By altering the specific pattern of connections among youth in various settings, important outcomes are expected to emerge regarding both youth participation and their capacity to affect external environments. Through the use of network analysis, the magnitude and type of setting change can be measured. Examples of youth organizing outcomes and implications for conceptualizing setting-level interventions are provided.
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Inclusive participation is a primary component of civil society. Yet opportunities and pathways for youth civic engagement remain limited for youth. This limitation has been significantly influenced by the daily segregation of youth from adults, negative public beliefs about adolescents, and stereotypes, both negative and overly romantic, about the capabilities of adolescents. However, this state of affairs is being chal- lenged by youth and adults across the county. Five contemporary pathways for youth civic engagement are described: public policy/consultation, community coalition in- volvement, youth in organizational decision making, youth organizing and activism, and school-based service learning. Three overarching qualities among these 5 path- ways are also discussed: youth ownership, youth-adult partnership, and facilitative policies and structures. Inclusive participation is a primary component of civil society. The assumption of inclusive participation