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An Experimental Laboratory Examination of the Psychological and Physiological Effects of Civic Empowerment: A Novel Methodological Approach
Abstract
Civic engagement can be empowering and might promote well-being, especially for individuals from marginalized backgrounds. This study uses a novel experimental approach to simulate civic engagement in a laboratory study and to test whether this approach engenders civic empowerment and buffers psychological and physiological reactivity to stress and social rejection. Young adults, primarily experiencing low socioeconomic status ( N = 128), were randomly assigned to deliver a speech about a civic or a neutral issue. Giving a civic speech leads to higher feelings of empowerment compared with giving a neutral speech. Delivering the civic speech buffers sympathetic nervous system reactivity to stress (measured through the pre-ejection period) and leads to higher identification with social class background. This is one of the first studies to use an experimental approach and psychophysiological methods to examine the effects of civic empowerment on civic, psychosocial, and physiological reactivity outcomes.
... Two studies utilized a mixed methods approach analyzing cross-sectional data and interviews (Ziersch and Baum 2004;Elias, Sudhir, and Mehrotra 2016). Of the longitudinal studies, three employed experimental designs: one two-arm randomized controlled trial (Payne, Hawley, and Morey 2020) and two laboratory-based experimental manipulations (Klar and Kasser 2009;Ballard et al. 2021). Findings from these methodologically robust experimental studies demonstrated four positive, one slightly negative, and six null relationships between civic engagement and well-being. ...
... Measured among 14 studies in this review, activism demonstrated 26 positive, 12 negative, and 28 null relationships to well-being (Tables 1 and 2). Activism has been linked to greater social ties in the community, feelings of empowerment, happiness, life satisfaction, selfesteem, sense of meaning, lower depression and decreased anxiety (Ballard et al. 2021;Gilster 2012;Ballard, Ni, and Brocato 2020). However, activism has also been linked to feelings of loneliness, lower daily belongingness, lower self-esteem, greater burdensomeness, and greater anxiety (Ballard, Ni, and Brocato 2020;Oosterhoff, Hill, and Slonaker 2020). ...
Researchers have examined civic engagement as a health promotion tool among older adults and adolescents, yet less is known about its mental health implications for young adults. This systematic review identified 53 articles on civic engagement and well-being in young adults. Five key themes emerged: (1) varying associations between type of civic engagement and well-being, (2) duration and frequency of civic behaviors, (3) directionality in the civic-to-well-being pathway, (4) mediation and moderation factors affecting the civic-to-well-being pathway, and (5) civic engagement as a tool for coping with adversity or systemic oppression. Civic engagement demonstrates a heterogeneous relationship to well-being; future research should focus on the explanatory pathways for positive, negative, and null correlations particularly among historically marginalized young adults.
... Studies that examine the political behavior of college students have found that African Americans who experience racism and discrimination experience lower levels of depression and anxiety when they outwardly support social justice groups, such as BLM [23,24]. Taking action, such as delivering a speech or participating in a protest, increases feelings of optimism and empowerment, and increases social solidarity and identification with one's racial and social class background, which have been shown in prior research to alleviate psychological distress [25][26][27]. Therefore, social activism may serve as a potent adaptive coping strategy for African Americans exposed to police-involved injuries and killings. ...
... These acts of social activism may not require a large personal commitment, such as attending a protest or sending a donation to a grassroots organization, but could be as small as having a conversation with friends or family members. Previous research has shown that activism may illicit feelings of empowerment and identification with one's racial background [26], improving perceptions of mental health. This assertion is supported by a recent study that showed that African Americans who expressed low levels of BLM support reported worse depressive symptoms when exposed to racial discrimination than African Americans who expressed high levels of BLM support [23]. ...
This study explored the role of social activism in the association of exposure to media coverage of police brutality and protests with perceptions of mental health. Data for this study came from a sample of African Americans (N = 304) who responded to an online survey. Perceptions of mental health were assessed using a single item developed by the research team. Exposure to police brutality and protests was measured by asking how often they had seen or heard about African Americans being victims of police brutality and seen or heard about protests on television, social media, or other outlets. Participants were also asked about the extent to which these events caused them emotional distress. Social activism was assessed by asking participants if they had ever participated in political activities, such as calling their representative. Moderation and mediation analyses were conducted using linear regression. Moderation analyses showed that greater emotional distress from watching media coverage of police brutality and protests was associated with worse perceptions of mental health only when engagement in social activism was low. In contrast, mediation analyses indicated that greater frequency of and emotional distress from exposure to media coverage was indirectly associated with worse perceptions of mental health through increased engagement in social activism. Social activism may be an important method for coping with emotional distress from watching media coverage of police brutality and protests, but more research is needed to understand how African Americans might engage in social activism without adversely impacting mental health.
Objectives:
The current study investigates the utility of political activism as a protective factor against experiences of racial/ethnic (R/E) discrimination that negatively affect stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms among Black and Latinx college freshmen at predominately White institutions.
Method:
Data come from the Minority College Cohort Study, a longitudinal investigation of Black and Latinx college students (N = 504; 44% Black). We conducted multiple regression analyses for each mental health indicator and tested for interaction effects.
Results:
For Black and Latinx students, the relationship between R/E microaggressions and end of freshman year stress varied by political activism. For Black students, the relationship between R/E microaggressions and end of the year anxiety varied by political activism. There was a significant interaction effect for depressive symptoms among Latinx students.
Conclusions:
Political activism serves as a protective factor to mitigate the negative effect of R/E discrimination on stress and depressive symptoms for Latinx students. For Black students, higher levels of political activism may exacerbate experiences of R/E microaggressions and relate to more stress and anxiety compared with Black students who are less politically involved. Findings point to the need for a deeper understanding of phenomenological variation in experiences of microaggressions among R/E minorities and how students leverage political activism as an adaptive coping strategy to mitigate race-related stress during college. (PsycINFO Database Record
Several discrete emotions have broad theoretical and empirical importance, as shown by converging evidence from diverse areas of psychology, including facial displays, developmental behaviors, and neuroscience. However, the measurement of these states has not progressed along with theory, such that when researchers measure subjectively experienced emotions, they commonly rely on scales assessing broad dimensions of affect (positivity and negativity), rather than discrete emotions. The current manuscript presents four studies that validate a new instrument, the Discrete Emotions Questionnaire (DEQ), that is sensitive to eight distinct state emotions: anger, disgust, fear, anxiety, sadness, happiness, relaxation, and desire. Emotion theory supporting the importance of distinguishing these specific emotions is reviewed.
Despite recognition that youth civic engagement is multidimensional, different modeling approaches are rarely compared or tested for measurement invariance. Using a diverse sample of 2,467 elementary, middle, and high school-aged youth, we measured eight dimensions of civic engagement: social responsibility values, informal helping, political beliefs, civic skills, environmental behavior, volunteering, voting intentions, and news consumption. We compared correlated unidimensional factors, higher-order factor, and bifactor models and tested for measurement invariance and latent mean differences by age. The correlated unidimensional factors model best fit the data, yet higher-order and bifactor models fit adequately. Metric and scalar invariance was found across models. Latent means varied depending on the dimension of civic engagement and the multidimensional model examined. Findings favored the correlated unidimensional factors model; implications of each model are discussed. This study informs future research on youth civic engagement and has broad relevance for any developmental scientist studying a multidimensional construct.
If Congress passed a law saying that those who earned less than $35,000 a year no longer had the right to vote or influence who gets elected to the U.S. Senate, most of us would be outraged. With such a law, some would ask, "Can we still call ourselves a democracy?" Unfortunately, according to recent research by Larry Bartels of Princeton University, such a law might not make a big difference. Indeed, after reading Bartels's findings, one might be tempted to ask, "Have we already passed this law?".
Empowerment and critical consciousness are concepts with shared roots. Both are associated with attempts at overcoming oppression and fostering human development, community participation, and wellbeing. Both concepts have been influential in theoretical accounts and empirical studies of youth civic development. This is particularly true in studies of young people's involvement and leadership in change efforts such as community organizing , activism, and social movements. The differences between the concepts, however, are often difficult to discern , even for those conducting research informed by these concepts. For instance, although critical consciousness provides a greater relative emphasis on cognitive aspects of civic development in contrast to empowerment's accentu-ation of emotional aspects, both have been theorized as overarching conceptual frames spanning emotional and cognitive aspects of civic development. In this article, we examine these two kindred concepts and their associated bodies of research literature. Our analysis identifies opportunities for cross-fertilization between critical consciousness and psychological empowerment that can lead to more holistic understanding of youth civic development.
Despite the growing body of scholarship on burnout among social justice activists who are working on a variety of issues, from labor rights to queer justice, little attention has been paid to burnout among those whose activism focuses on issues of educational justice. To begin to address this omission and understand what supports might help social justice education activists mitigate burnout and sustain their activism, we analyzed interview data from 14 activists focused on activist burnout and its implications on movements for educational justice.. This analysis identified 3 major symptom categories of activist burnout and we gained insights into the culture of martyrdom in social justice education movements. These symptoms and the culture of martyrdom, by negatively impacting the health and sustainability of activists, threaten the efficiency and effectiveness of educational justice movements.
Health researchers and practitioners increasingly recognise the important role communities play in shaping individual health. Health researchers recognise the role of community factors as causes or determinants of health problems; use community-based methods for understanding complex health issues; and design community-level health solutions. In this commentary, we propose a fourth way to think about the role of communities in individual health by arguing that the community engagement process itself has implications for individual health and strong communities. This topic is especially important during adolescence, a developmental window of opportunity during which individuals need meaningful opportunities to contribute to the world around them.
The topic of youth civic engagement is increasingly popular in social science research; however, the question of why some youth are civically involved while others are not is not well understood. This article addresses the following questions: What motivations and barriers do youth report for civic involvement? How do motivations and barriers differ across school contexts? A qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews with youth (N = 22) was used to identify four categories of motivations and two categories of barriers for civic involvement. Variation emerged in the motivations and barriers for civic involvement both within and across school contexts. Understanding civic motivations in context uncovers new insights about how to structure opportunities to better facilitate youth civic involvement.
Effect sizes are the most important outcome of empirical studies. Most articles on effect sizes highlight their importance to communicate the practical significance of results. For scientists themselves, effect sizes are most useful because they facilitate cumulative science. Effect sizes can be used to determine the sample size for follow-up studies, or examining effects across studies. This article aims to provide a practical primer on how to calculate and report effect sizes for t-tests and ANOVA's such that effect sizes can be used in a-priori power analyses and meta-analyses. Whereas many articles about effect sizes focus on between-subjects designs and address within-subjects designs only briefly, I provide a detailed overview of the similarities and differences between within- and between-subjects designs. I suggest that some research questions in experimental psychology examine inherently intra-individual effects, which makes effect sizes that incorporate the correlation between measures the best summary of the results. Finally, a supplementary spreadsheet is provided to make it as easy as possible for researchers to incorporate effect size calculations into their workflow.
Social identity theory as developed by Tajfel and Turner argues that there are two distinct aspects of the self-concept: personal identity and social identity (in American terminology, collective identity). Although many self-esteem measures are available in the literature, they allfocus on individuals'evaluation of their personal identity, whether in private or interpersonal domains. No scale currently exists that assesses the positivity of one's social, or collective, identity. A scale was constructed to assess individual differences in collective, rather than personal, self-esteem, with four subscales (Membership esteem, Public collective self-esteem, Private collective self-esteem, and Importance to Identity). Evidence for reliability and validity of the scale was provided by three studies, suggesting that the scale can be a useful research tool. Implications for research and social identity theory are discussed.
Latent growth curve modeling was used to describe longitudinal trends in community and religious involvement and Marcia’s (1966) four identity statuses (diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and achievement), as well as to assess relations between involvement and identity change. Cross-lagged regression models explored temporal ordering of relations between involvement and identity. The study involved 418 participants (Wave 1 M age = 17.44, SD = .81) over four occasions. Individuals on average showed decreases in community and religious involvement, identity diffusion, foreclosure, and moratorium, and no significant change in identity achievement. For community involvement, rates of change were related negatively to those for diffusion and positively to those for achievement. For religious involvement, rates of change correlated negatively with those for diffusion and moratorium, and positively with those for foreclosure. Cross-lagged models showed some effects in the expected direction (involvement to identity), as well as some reciprocal effects. All analyses were conducted for overall identity status as well as the three domains within each status (political, religious, and occupational). In short, the present study provides evidence for community and religious involvement as contexts facilitative of identity formation in late adolescence and emerging adulthood.
The goal of this project was to produce a set of civic measures with sound psychometric properties appropriate for use with young people ages 12-18. Measures selected tap aspects of adolescent civic behaviors, opinions, knowledge, and dispositions. The measures are easy to administer and can be used by educators, staff of community-based organizations, program evaluators, and scholars. The data used to derive the civic measures were gathered from two waves of surveys with 1,924 students ages 12-18 from 88 social studies classes in the Northeastern United States. These data were collected during the 2004 election campaign with the pre-survey occurring 4-6 weeks prior to the election and the post-survey occurring 4-6 weeks after the election. All constructs in the report are based on student self-assessments. It is also important to highlight the future orientation of many of the items in the constructs. Several of the questions ask students to estimate the likelihood that they will engage in various community and political activities after high school. Other items ask students to rate their perceived ability to respond to a hypothetical scenario. The constructs were created by either calculating the mean score of the individual items or by summing the frequency. In this project summary, authors note the psychometric properties of constructs, item stems, response formats and, where appropriate, the sources from which items in scales were derived or adapted. The constructs included in this report were evaluated both for face and measurement validity: constructs were created so as to maximize the meaning of the scale and the statistical reliability. (Contains 2 endnotes and 1 figure.) [This report was produced by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).]
Empowerment has become an influential concept and theoretical framework for social policy and practice. Still, relatively little is known about the roles that empowerment plays in the ecology of human development, particularly among young people. This article reports results of a study of psychological empowerment among young people, using data from 629 high school students (65.8% female; 96.5% non-white). Using a path analysis, we examined the role of perceived sociopolitical control--an indicator of the intrapersonal component of psychological empowerment--as a mediator between ecological support systems and developmental outcomes. Findings confirmed that social support in family, peer, and school settings, and family cohesion positively predict self-esteem and perceived school importance, which, in turn, have protective effects on psychological symptoms, violent behaviors and substance use. Sociopolitical control was found to mediate the relationships between ecological supports and risk factors and developmental outcomes, leading to the conclusion that perceived efficacy in the sociopolitical domain, and youth empowerment, more generally, should be considered as core elements of the ecology of human development. Policy and practice aimed at promoting positive developmental outcomes and preventing risk behaviors should take their relationship to sociopolitical control into account.
The purpose of this study was to examine the links between identity (statuses and processes) and adolescent civic engagement (volunteer and political participation). Participants were 392 Italian high school students (42% males) aged 14-20 years (M(age) = 16.23 years; SD(age) = 1.53) who completed a self-report questionnaire. First, using a person-centered approach, we found that achieved adolescents were more involved in volunteer activities, reported higher civic efficacy, and stronger aspirations to contribute to their communities than their diffused counterparts. Second, by means of a variable-centered approach, we demonstrated that the link between identity processes (i.e., commitment and in-depth exploration) and past and future volunteer and political participation was mediated by social responsibility. Implications of the findings for current understanding of the link between adolescent identity formation and civic engagement are discussed and suggestions for future research are outlined.
Innate immune responses are regulated by microorganisms and cell death, as well as by a third class of stress signal from the nervous and endocrine systems. The innate immune system also feeds back, through the production of cytokines, to regulate the function of the central nervous system (CNS), and this has effects on behaviour. These signals provide an extrinsic regulatory circuit that links physiological, social and environmental conditions, as perceived by the CNS, with transcriptional 'decision-making' in leukocytes. CNS-mediated regulation of innate immune responses optimizes total organism fitness and provides new opportunities for therapeutic control of chronic infectious, inflammatory and neuropsychiatric diseases.
Although there are an increasing number of youth development programs that aim to empower young people, there is a dearth of psychometrically sound measures that can be used to assess flexible youth-led organizing and participatory research approaches that tackle a wide range of social and community problems. This study developed and tested measures of psychological empowerment (PE) and self-efficacy for research and action among a sample of 439 ethnically diverse adolescents primarily recruited from public high schools in an urban center. Items for the PE measure were generated through an iterative combination of conducting formative research with our target population while also drawing on existing theory and measures in the field. We conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the PE measure, testing four factors: adolescents' motivation to influence their school and community settings; participatory behavior; sociopolitical skills; and perceived control. Psychometric analyses for the PE scales and their correlation with adolescents' report of self-esteem, academic achievement, caring relationships with adults at school, and social support from peers are reported; the implications of the present study for research and practice in the youth development and adolescent psychology field are considered.
Constance Flanagan and Peter Levine survey research on civic engagement among U.S. adolescents and young adults. Civic engagement, they say, is important both for the functioning of democracies and for the growth and maturation it encourages in young adults, but opportunities for civic engagement are not evenly distributed by social class or race and ethnicity. Today's young adults, note the authors, are less likely than those in earlier generations to exhibit many important characteristics of citizenship, raising the question of whether these differences represent a decline or simply a delay in traditional adult patterns of civic engagement. Flanagan and Levine also briefly discuss the civic and political lives of immigrant youth in the United States, noting that because these youth make up a significant share of the current generation of young adults, their civic engagement is an important barometer of the future of democracy. The authors next survey differences in civic participation for youth from different social, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. They explore two sets of factors that contribute to a lower rate of civic engagement among low-income and minority young adults. The first is cumulative disadvantage-unequal opportunities and influences before adulthood, especially parental education. The second is different institutional opportunities for civic engagement among college and non-college youth during the young-adult years. Flanagan and Levine survey various settings where young adults spend time-schools and colleges, community organizations, faith-based institutions, community organizing and activism projects, and military and other voluntary service programs-and examine the opportunities for civic engagement that each affords. As the transition to adulthood has lengthened, say the authors, colleges have become perhaps the central institution for civic incorporation of younger generations. But no comparable institution exists for young adults who do not attend college. Opportunities for sustained civic engagement by year-long programs such as City Year could provide an alternative opportunity for civic engagement for young adults from disadvantaged families, allowing them to stay connected to mainstream opportunities and to adults who could mentor and guide their way.
Although the sympathetic nervous system innervates the lung, little is known about its participation in host immunity to pulmonary pathogens. In this study, we show that peripheral sympathectomy reduces mouse morbidity and mortality from influenza A virus-induced pneumonia due to reduced inflammatory influx of monocytes, neutrophils, and NK cells. Mortality was also delayed by treating mice with an alpha-adrenergic antagonist. Sympathectomy diminished the immediate innate cytokine responses, particularly IL-1, which was profoundly reduced. These findings demonstrate an unexpected role for the sympathetic nervous system in innate antiviral immunity and in exacerbating the pathology of a virus of great significance to human and animal health.
The role of prejudice and ethnic awareness in the civic commitments and beliefs about the American social contract of 1,096 (53% female) adolescents (11-18 year olds, Mean = 15) from African-, Arab-, Latino-, and European-American backgrounds were compared. Ethnic awareness was higher among minority youth and discrimination more often reported by African- and Arab-Americans. Parental admonitions against discrimination were heard by all but African Americans, Latinos and those who reported prejudice heard that it could pose a barrier. Adolescents' beliefs that America is an equal opportunity society were negatively associated with experiences of discrimination and African-Americans were least likely to believe that the government was responsive to the average person. With respect to civic goals, all youth endorsed patriotism but ethnic minorities and ethnically aware youth were more committed to advocating for their ethnic group and European-Americans were less committed than were African Americans to improving race relations.
Youth Action Research for Prevention (YARP), a federally funded research and demonstration intervention, utilizes youth empowerment as the cornerstone of a multi-level intervention designed to reduce and/or delay onset of drug and sex risk, while increasing individual and collective efficacy and educational expectations. The intervention, located in Hartford Connecticut, served 114 African-Caribbean and Latino high school youth in a community education setting and a matched comparison group of 202 youth from 2001 to 2004. The strategy used in YARP begins with individuals, forges group identity and cohesion, trains youth as a group to use research to understand their community better (formative community ethnography), and then engages them in using the research for social action at multiple levels in community settings (policy, school-based, parental etc.) Engagement in community activism has, in turn, an effect on individual and collective efficacy and individual behavioral change. This approach is unique insofar as it differs from multilevel interventions that create approaches to attack multiple levels simultaneously. We describe the YARP intervention and employ qualitative and quantitative data from the quasi-experimental evaluation study design to assess the way in which the YARP approach empowered individual youth and groups of youth (youth networks) to engage in social action in their schools, communities and at the policy level, which in turn affected their attitudes and behaviors.
Contemporary findings reveal that the multiple modes of autonomic control do not lie along a single continuum extending from parasympathetic to sympathetic dominance but rather distribute within a 2-dimensional space. The physiological origins and empirical documentation for the multiple modes of autonomic control are considered. Then a formal 2-dimensional conception of autonomic space is proposed, and a quantitative model for its translation into a functional output surface is derived. It is shown that this model (a) accounts for much of the error variance that has traditionally plagued psychophysiological studies, (b) subsumes psychophysiological principles such as the law of initial values, (c) gives rise to formal laws of autonomic constraint, and (d) has fundamental implications for the direction and interpretation of a wide array of psychophysiological studies.
Purpose and Scope
This article reviews the health and social science research relevant to both the role of powerlessness as a risk factor for disease, and the role of empowerment as a health-enhancing strategy. The research literature surveyed includes studies that address these key concepts from the fields of social epidemiology, occupational health, stress research, social psychology, community psychology, social support and networks, community competence and community organizing. Definitions are provided to operationalize these sometimes loosely-applied terms.
Important Findings
Powerlessness, or lack of control over destiny, emerges as a broad-based risk factor for disease. Empowerment, though more difficult to evaluate, can also be demonstrated as an important promoter of health.
Major Conclusions
Given the importance and currency of these concepts of powerlessness and empowerment, a model of empowerment education is proposed for health-promotion practitioners. Measurement of empowerment raises issues for researchers on how to test the multiple personal and community changes that may result from an empowering education intervention.
Elections present unique opportunities to study how sociopolitical events influence individual processes. The current study examined 286 young adults' mood and diurnal cortisol responses to the 2016 U.S. presidential election in real-time: two days before the election, election night, and two days after the election of Donald Trump, with the goal of understanding whether (and the extent to which) the election influenced young adults' affective and biological states. Utilizing piecewise trajectory analyses, we observed high, and increasing, negative affect leading up to the election across all participants. Young adults who had negative perceptions of Trump's ability to fulfill the role of president and/or were part of a non-dominant social group (i.e., women, ethnic/racial minority young adults) reported increased signs of stress before the election and on election night. After the election, we observed a general "recovery" in self-reported mood; however, diurnal cortisol indicators suggested that there was an increase in biological stress among some groups. Overall, findings underscore the role of macro-level factors in individuals' health and well-being via more proximal attitudes and physiological functioning.
During interracial encounters, well-intentioned European Americans sometimes engage in subtle displays of anxiety, which can be interpreted as signs of racial bias by African American partners. In the present research, same-race and cross-race stranger dyads ( N = 123) engaged in getting-acquainted tasks, during which measures of sympathetic nervous system responses (preejection period, PEP) and heart rate variability were continuously collected. PEP scores showed that African American partners had stronger physiological linkage to European American partners who evidenced greater anxiety-greater cortisol reactivity, behavioral tension, and self-reported discomfort-which suggests greater physiological responsiveness to momentary changes in partners' affective states when those partners were anxious. European Americans showed physiological linkage to African American and European American partners, but linkage did not vary as a function of their partner's anxiety. Using physiological linkage offers a novel approach to understanding how affective responses unfold during dynamic intergroup interactions.
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.
The present study examines links between civic engagement (voting, volunteering, and activism) during late adolescence and early adulthood, and socioeconomic status and mental and physical health in adulthood. Using nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a propensity score matching approach is used to rigorously estimate how civic engagement is associated with outcomes among 9,471 adolescents and young adults (baseline Mage = 15.9). All forms of civic engagement are positively associated with subsequent income and education level. Volunteering and voting are favorably associated with subsequent mental health and health behaviors, and activism is associated with more health-risk behaviors and not associated with mental health. Civic engagement is not associated with physical health.
In this chapter we use Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (P-VEST) to consider civic engagement as a coping response to systems of inequality faced by racial minority children. After a brief introduction we present a historical and theoretical overview of civic engagement with regard to children and adolescents and racially marginalized communities. We then introduce the P-VEST framework and examine civic engagement as a proactive reactive coping method to counteract the vulnerability and stress of systematic racial injustice. Following a discussion of the current empirical literature we explore the utility of civic engagement programs (e.g., Youth Participatory Action Research) as interventions to support positive development of minority youth. We conclude with policy implications and future directions for research to leverage civic engagement as a coping strategy for the positive development of minority children and their communities.
Using both quantitative and qualitative data, this study examined the effect of participating in an action civics intervention, Generation Citizen (GC), on civic commitment, civic self-efficacy, and two forms of civic knowledge. The sample consisted of 617 middle and high schools students in 55 classrooms who participated, or were soon to participate, in Generation Citizen. Hierarchical linear models revealed that participating in Generation Citizen was associated with positive gains in action civics knowledge and civic self-efficacy. Qualitative coding identified three types of project characteristics that captured variability in the action projects student chose to complete: context, content, and contact with decision makers. Interactions between project characteristics and participation in GC revealed differences in civic outcomes depending on project characteristics.
Most research considers both psychological and physical health with a disease perspective by focusing on poor psychological functioning or disease outcomes. However, identifying attributes that support adaptive functioning may inform approaches to achieving health beyond what we learn from studying risk factors that accelerate deterioration. Recent evidence suggests that positive psychological functioning contributes to attaining optimal physical health. We evaluate the current state of knowledge on the relationship between positive psychological functioning and physical health, defining health beyond solely the absence of disease. We further consider when positive psychological functioning begins to exert effects on health, whether it has direct effects on biological processes or serves primarily to buffer the effects of stress, and whether it is associated with health outcomes and biological processes beyond those that reflect the absence of deterioration and disease. We propose some key directions for future research including the assessment of positive psychological functioning, positive biological functioning, and optimal health, the value of multi-system measures, and the potential of "omics" to provide novel insights into biological mechanisms underlying associations between positive psychological functioning and physical health.
The transition from adolescence to adulthood is formative for civic development. Unfortunately, many adolescents from Latino and Asian backgrounds experience discrimination, which can alienate them from civic life. This study employed cross-lagged structural equation modeling to test the bidirectional links between perceived discrimination and civic beliefs and activism among Latino and Asian late adolescents (N = 400, M age = 17.34, 61% female). Civic beliefs (i.e., believing that the government is unresponsive) and civic activism (i.e., protesting and expressing political opinions) in high school predicted increased perceptions of discrimination over time. Perceiving high levels of discrimination in high school predicted a decrease in the belief that society is fair over time.
The influences of high school community service participation, extracurricular involvement, and civic knowledge on voting and volunteering in early adulthood were examined using the National Educational Longitudinal Study. The major finding in this study is that both voluntary and school-required community service in high school were strong predictors of adult voting and volunteering. In addition, involvement in high school extracurricular activities was predictive of voting and volunteering. Civic knowledge was related only to voting. The authors consider the findings for their policy relevance and their contributions to theoretical debates.
An extensive body of research has documented the relation between social class, as indexed by socioeconomic status (SES) and subjective social status (SSS), and a host of outcomes, including physical and mental health, academic achievement, and educational attainment. Yet, there remains ambiguity regarding how best to conceptualize and measure social class. This article clarifies definitional and measurement issues related to the assessment of SES and SSS, addresses their importance and relevance for psychological research, and reviews best practices with regard to measurement and assessment. We conclude by discussing the integration social class with other markers of social position to promote the advancement of psychological science.
Developed an integrative measure of sociopolitical control, using 390 undergraduates, 205 community residents, and 143 Free Methodist church members. 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 2 of the 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 2-factor model of sociopolitical control. The scales distinguished between individuals involved to varying degrees in community organizations and activities for the 3 samples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Previous research has clearly established associations between low socioeconomic status (SES) and poor youth physical health outcomes. This article provides an overview of the main pathways through which low SES environments come to influence youth health. We focus on 2 prevalent chronic health problems in youth today, asthma and obesity. We review and propose a model that encompasses (a) multiple levels of influence, including the neighborhood, family and person level; (b) both social and physical domains in the environment; and finally (c) dynamic relationships between these factors. A synthesis of existing research and our proposed model draw attention to the notion of adverse physical and social exposures in youth's neighborhood environments altering family characteristics and youth psychosocial and behavioral profiles, thereby increasing youth's risk for health problems. We also note the importance of acknowledging reciprocal influences across levels and domains (e.g., between family and child) that create self-perpetuating patterns of influence that further accentuate the impact of these factors on youth health. Finally, we document that factors across levels can interact (e.g., environmental pollution levels with child stress) to create unique, synergistic effects on youth health. Our model stresses the importance of evaluating influences on youth's physical health not in isolation but in the context of the broader social and physical environments in which youth live. Understanding the complex relationships between the factors that link low SES to youth's long-term health trajectories is necessary for the creation and implementation of successful interventions and policies to ultimately reduce health disparities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
Most family scholars take the concept of poverty for granted. The variety of ways people have chosen to define and measure this concept, however, often makes it difficult to interpret or compare research results. We review and critique the ways that poverty has been measured in the family and child literatures as well as the measures that have been used to help understand variations in adaptation among those in poverty. In addition to reviewing more common measures, we include discussions of two new measures that have the potential to contribute to the literature on poverty: basic family budgets and social exclusion.
Citizenship and the Civic Empowerment Gap De Facto Segregated Minority Schools What We Can Do
Many individuals who undergo stressful life events report that they have derived some positive benefit from the experience. Although the majority of research on benefit finding has focused on its psychological correlates, there is intriguing evidence that benefit finding may also have effects on physical health. In this paper, we review the emerging literature on benefit finding and physical health and present an integrative model in which we identify specific psychological and physiological pathways through which benefit finding may influence physical health outcomes. In particular, we consider the hypothesis that benefit finding may involve changes in a number of psychological domains – namely, changes in appraisal and coping processes, relationships, goals and priorities, and positive affect – that lead to a state of enhanced allostasis, buffering against negative effects of catabolic stress responses and promoting activity in restorative physiological systems. Empirical evidence for this model is reviewed, focusing on studies that have examined positive psychological constructs relevant to benefit finding and their effects on stress reactivity, recovery, and habituation, as well as restorative processes.
In this chapter, the authors consider Paulo Freire's construct of critical consciousness (CC) and why it deserves more attention in research and discourse on youth political and civic development. His approach to education and similar ideas by other scholars of liberation aims to foster a critical analysis of society--and one's status within it--using egalitarian, empowering, and interactive methods. The aim is social change as well as learning, which makes these ideas especially relevant to the structural injustice faced by marginalized youth. From their review of these ideas, the authors derive three core CC components: critical reflection, political efficacy, and critical action. They highlight promising research related to these constructs and innovative applied work including youth action-research methodology. Their conclusion offers ideas for closing some of the critical gaps in CC theory and research.
Major life events involving social rejection are strongly associated with onset of depression. To account for this relation, we propose a psychobiological model in which rejection-related stressors elicit a distinct and integrated set of cognitive, emotional, and biological changes that may evoke depression. In this model, social rejection events activate brain regions involved in processing negative affect and rejection-related distress (e.g., anterior insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex). They also elicit negative self-referential cognitions (e.g., "I'm undesirable," "Other people don't like me") and related self-conscious emotions (e.g., shame, humiliation). Downstream biological consequences include upregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, sympathetic-adrenal-medullary axis, and inflammatory response. Pro-inflammatory cytokines play an important role in this process because they induce a constellation of depressotypic behaviors called sickness behaviors. Although these changes can be short-lived, sustained inflammation may occur via glucocorticoid resistance, catecholamines, sympathetic innervation of immune organs, and immune cell aging. This response also may be moderated by several factors, including prior life stress, prior depression, and genes implicated in stress reactivity.
Chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system is a key component of cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. However, previous studies have provided evidence that also implicate inflammatory cells, including mast cells (MCs), in the development of cardiac fibrosis. The current study investigated the potential interaction of cardiac MCs with the sympathetic nervous system. Eight-week-old male spontaneously hypertensive rats were sympathectomized to establish the effect of the sympathetic nervous system on cardiac MC density, myocardial remodeling, and cytokine production in the hypertensive heart. Age-matched Wistar Kyoto rats served as controls. Cardiac fibrosis and hypertension were significantly attenuated and left ventricular mass normalized, whereas cardiac MC density was markedly increased in sympathectomized spontaneously hypertensive rats. Sympathectomy normalized myocardial levels of interferon-gamma, interleukin 6, and interleukin 10, but had no effect on interleukin 4. The effects of norepinephrine and substance P on isolated cardiac MC activation were investigated as potential mechanisms of interaction between the two. Only substance P elicited MC degranulation. Substance P was also shown to induce the production of angiotensin II by a mixed population of isolated cardiac inflammatory cells, including MCs, lymphocytes, and macrophages. These results demonstrate the ability of neuropeptides to regulate inflammatory cell function, providing a potential mechanism by which the sympathetic nervous system and afferent nerves may interact with inflammatory cells in the hypertensive heart.
Research over the past several decades has documented psychosocial influences on the development and progression of several major medical illnesses. The field is now increasingly focused on identifying the biological and behavioral mechanisms underlying these effects. This review takes stock of the knowledge accumulated in the biological arena to date and highlights conceptual and methodological approaches that have proven especially productive. It emphasizes the value of a disease-centered approach that "reverse engineers" adverse health outcomes into their specific biological determinants and then identifies psychologically modulated neuroendocrine and immunologic dynamics that modulate those pathological processes at the cellular and molecular levels.
An experiment with 64 participants manipulated task difficulty and assessed cardiac reactivity in active coping over four levels of demand. Participants performed a memory task while preejection period, heart rate, and blood pressure were assessed. In accordance with the theoretical predictions of R. A. Wright's (1996) integration of motivational intensity theory (J. W. Brehm & E. A. Self, 1989) with Obrist's active coping approach (P. A. Obrist, 1981), preejection period and systolic blood pressure reactivity increased with task difficulty across the first three difficulty levels. On the fourth difficulty level-where success was impossible-reactivity of both preejection period and systolic blood pressure were low. These findings provide the first clear evidence for the notion of Wright's integrative model that energy mobilization in active coping is mediated by beta-adrenergic impact on the heart.
Cardiovascular responses to a competitive reaction-time task were monitored in 13 male subjects tested twice, 3 months apart. The temporal stability of blood pressure responses was in line with previous reports. However, in this study impedance cardiography permitted the investigation of the hemodynamic adjustments underlying the observed blood pressure responses. Analyses revealed that cardiac output and total peripheral resistance responses displayed temporal stability, indicating that subjects' blood pressure responses on the two occasions were the result of similar hemodynamic responses. These data thus extend the literature by demonstrating that the hemodynamic response pattern itself represents a stable individual difference variable.
Discussed several issues related to psychological empowerment. The thesis of this paper is that the development of a universal and global measure of psychological empowerment may not be a feasible or appropriate goal. I begin by distinguishing between empowerment processes and outcomes. Underlying assumptions are discussed including the notion that empowerment differs across people, contexts, and times. A nomological network that includes intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioral components is also presented. Two examples of psychological empowerment for voluntary service organization members and members of a mutual help organization are described to help illustrate differences in the specific variables that may be used to measure psychological empowerment in different populations and settings.