The Kids are All Right? Income Inequality and Civic Engagement among Our Nation’s Youth

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• 作者：Erin B. Godfrey ; Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng
• 关键词：Income inequality ; Civic participation ; Adolescence ; Youth ; Civic engagement ; Socioeconomic status ; SES ; Poverty ; Racial/ethnic differences
• 刊名：Journal of Youth and Adolescence
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：November 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：45
• 期：11
• 页码：2218-2232
• 全文大小：429 KB
• 刊物类别：Behavioral Science
• 刊物主题：Psychology
  Child and School Psychology
  Clinical Psychology
  Health Psychology
  Law and Psychology
  History of Psychology
  Psychology
  
• 出版者：Springer Netherlands
• ISSN：1573-6601
• 卷排序：45

文摘

Prior work suggests that income inequality depresses civic participation among adults. However, associations between income inequality and youth civic engagement have not been assessed. This is true despite evidence that other features of communities influence youth civic development. To fill the gap, we examine associations between county-level income inequality and civic engagement among a nationally representative sample of 12,240 15-year-olds (50 % female). We find opposite patterns than those suggested by the adult literature. Higher county-level income inequality is associated with slightly more civic engagement (greater importance of helping others, higher rates of volunteering often), and this is particularly true for low-socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic minority youth. Potential developmental and structural explanations for these differences are offered. In addition, practical implications of these findings are drawn, and future research directions for scholars studying youth are proposed.