Examining Intersectional Inequality and Civic Development in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Abstract

Youth civic engagement is beneficial to young people, their communities, and U.S. democracy. Yet, societal marginalization (i.e., discrimination, differential access to civic resources) may influence youth civic engagement. Guided by intersectionality and sociopolitical development frameworks, the three studies in this dissertation investigated how intersectional inequality relates to youth civic engagement. The first study estimated latent profiles of discrimination and attributions among adolescents. Associations between profile membership and later civic engagement (critical social analysis, civic agency, sociopolitical action) were examined. Findings indicate intersectional discrimination predicted higher levels of civic engagement. The second study identified latent profiles of civic resources across contexts (family, school, extracurricular) among Latina/o adolescents, and investigated whether access to resources varied by intersections with ethnicity: age, gender, immigrant generational status, and socioeconomic status. Latent transition analysis assessed the stability of profile membership over time by each intersection. Latina/o youths’ access to contextual civic opportunities and resources varied from low to medium to high resources. Latina/o youth more frequently maintained or gained access, rather than lost access, to civic resources. The third study examined whether young adults’ experience of intersectional discrimination affected their civic engagement during and after the 2016 presidential election. As in study 1, latent profiles of discrimination were identified. Growth models of civic engagement (critical social analysis, sociopolitical action) were estimated, and interactions between intersectional discrimination and time, and between civic agency, discrimination, and time were tested. Discrimination was not associated with civic engagement. Overall, findings provide evidence that marginalized young people may show resilience in their access to civic resources and opportunities, and via civic engagement as they work to address injustice in their contexts of development.