Civic Activity and Well-Being Among First-Year College Students

Introduction:Literature documents a relationship between youth civic engagement and positive youth development such as academic development, critical thinking, and life skills (Astin & Sax, 1998; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Batchelder & Root, 1994; Gray Feschwind, Ondaatje et al., 1996). Opportunities for civic engagement are also related to resisting anti-social behavior, substance abuse, and disengagement from school (Finn & Checkowy, 1998; Fogal, 2004; Kelly, 2009). Additionally, youth’s likelihood of effectively navigating critical life transitions and civic participation as adults increases when they have opportunities to engage in meaningful civic action (Kelly, 2009; Michelsen, Zaff, & Hair, 2002). This research suggests that civic engagement may serve as a means for developing positive youth development. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between civic activity and well-being among youth during the first year of college.

Methods: The sample consisted of 225 first-year students at a private university located in the Rocky Mountain region who completed an online survey. The survey covered a series of measures including: college alcohol problems scale (Maddocka, Laforgeb, Rossib, & O'Harec, 2001), flourishing scale (Keyes 2006a, 2006b), college self-efficacy scale (Solberg, O’Brien, Villareal, Kennel, & Davis, 1993) and civic mindedness scale (Eyler & Giles 1999).

Missing data was an issue, but the frequency did not rise above 2.2% in any one variable. In SPSS 22, the missing data procedure of linear trend at point was used to create a complete dataset. Path analysis using LISREL 9.0 was completed to assess if youth’s level of civic activity at start of college mediates their well-being at the end of the first year. Furthermore, a one-way ANOVA was completed to examine mean difference on measures of civic engagement and well-being across levels of students’ participation in campus activities.

Results: Path analysis was run on three models each focused on one of the well-being indicators of student efficacy, flourishing, and college alcohol problems measured at end of the first year college. Findings were similar across all three well-being measures. A student’s faith and perception of parent’s civic acts predicted higher scores on civic acts, which in turn significantly improved student efficacy, flourishing, and alcohol problems. ANOVA found significant difference in only college alcohol problems, which was significantly higher amongst students who participated in no activities or only community service compared to students involved in community engagement.

Conclusion and Implications: Our findings suggest that engaging in civic activities may serve to promote positive youth development among first year undergraduate students. However, the cross-sectional nature of our data is a limitation and therefore we cannot infer that civic activity serves as a prevention measure to promote positive youth development. None-the-less, our findings do support the need for further research on the efficacy of civic engagement as a preventative measure to promote well-being among youth.