Godfrey Erin B, Cherng Hua-Yu Sebastian
Department of Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, New York University, New York, NY, 10003, USA.
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Professions, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, New York University, 246 Greene St., New York, NY, 10003, USA.
J Youth Adolesc. 2016 Nov;45(11):2218-2232. doi: 10.1007/s10964-016-0557-4. Epub 2016 Sep 3.
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.
先前的研究表明，收入不平等会抑制成年人的公民参与度。然而，收入不平等与青少年公民参与之间的关联尚未得到评估。尽管有证据表明社区的其他特征会影响青少年的公民发展，但情况依然如此。为了填补这一空白，我们在一个具有全国代表性的12240名15岁青少年（50%为女性）样本中，研究了县级收入不平等与公民参与之间的关联。我们发现的模式与成人文献所表明的相反。县级收入不平等程度越高，公民参与度往往略高（帮助他人的重要性更高、志愿服务率更高），对于社会经济地位较低的青少年以及少数族裔青少年而言尤其如此。我们提供了对这些差异的潜在发展和结构方面的解释。此外，还得出了这些发现的实际意义，并为研究青少年的学者提出了未来的研究方向。
