COMBINATIONS OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, FREE TIME, AND ALCOHOL USE DISCRETIONARY ACTIVITIES IN U.S. AND BRITISH ADOLESCENT SAMPLES: LINKS WITH ADULT CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Open Access
- Author:
- Finlay, Andrea Kate
- Graduate Program:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- February 24, 2011
- Committee Members:
- Jennifer Lianne Maggs, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Jennifer Lianne Maggs, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Constance A Flanagan, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Edward A Smith, Committee Member
Nilam Ram, Committee Member
Linda L Caldwell, Committee Member - Keywords:
- civic engagement
free time activities
alcohol use
adolescence
latent class analysis
adult civic engagement - Abstract:
- Events, choices, and experiences that occur during adolescence may have lasting effects on the developing person (Lerner, 1982). Engagement in discretionary activities, defined here as activities that are not necessarily school- or work-related, is important not only for the immediate health and well-being of youth, but also for long-term positive health. For example, experiences during adolescence shape civic commitments thereafter and, beyond individual outcomes, a healthy democracy rests on the participation of its citizens. In addition, the experiences and opportunities adolescents have may be influenced by the historical time in which they live, which may differentially shape their lives. The current dissertation sought to identify combinations of civic engagement, free time, and alcohol use discretionary activities across 12 cohorts of adolescents in the U.S. and in 1 birth cohort of adolescents in Britain, to compare U.S. and British adolescents, and to investigate the longitudinal implications that combinations of discretionary activities among British adolescents have for civic engagement in adulthood. Four research aims were explored in two studies. Study 1 used nationally representative data of U.S. adolescents who participated in the annual Monitoring the Future surveys (Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2009) to: (1) Describe U.S. adolescents’ combinations of civic engagement, free time, and alcohol use discretionary activities; and (2) Examine whether and how U.S. adolescents’ combinations of discretionary activities differed across 4 decades. Study 2 used nationally representative data of British adolescents participating in the longitudinal British Cohort Study (Butler, Golding, & Howlett, 1985) to: (3) Describe British adolescents’ combinations of civic engagement, free time, and alcohol use discretionary activities and examine whether these combinations replicated those found in the U.S. samples; and (4) Investigate whether British adolescents’ combinations of discretionary activities predicted iv differences in civic engagement in adulthood at ages 26, 30, and 34. In both studies, 3 types of adolescent discretionary activities were examined: civic engagement, which captured activities that expressed a commitment to society and the well-being of others; free time, which included activities that were part of adolescents’ daily lives but that did not contain an inherent commitment to society; and alcohol use, which represented experimentation with potential risks to health. Person-centered analyses were utilized to describe different combinations of discretionary activities. By exploring the heterogeneity of youth experiences and whether these combinations of discretionary activities predicted civic engagement in adulthood, we may gain insight into the constellation of discretionary activities that may be important to adolescent development, particularly for subgroups of youth who vary from the general trend. To pursue the first and second research aims, cross-sectional nationally representative survey responses from 12th grade adolescents participating in the annual U.S. Monitoring the Future study (Johnston et al., 2009) were used to identify and explore combinations of discretionary activities. Data were obtained near the midpoints of 4 historical decades from the 1970s to 2000s, specifically 1976-1978, 1986-1988, 1996-1998, and 2006-2008. First, adolescent combinations of civic engagement, free time, and alcohol use discretionary activities were described using latent class analysis, a person-centered approach that identifies differences in subgroups of people within a population based on individual characteristics. Second, variations in combinations of discretionary activities across the 4 decades were tested. After establishing the optimal solution within each decade, the 4 decades were combined and a measurement invariance test was conducted to determine if the optimal solution across decades reflected the same number and characteristics of classes. Among girls, 4 latent classes were found in each decade and across decades: low-involved, noncivic drinkers, civic abstainers, and civic drinkers. v Among boys, there were differences across decades. The 1970s decade reflected 3 combinations of activities: noncivic drinkers, civic abstainers, and civic drinkers. The later 3 decades showed these 3 classes plus a 4th, low-involved. To address the third and fourth research aims, longitudinal data from an ongoing nationally representative sample of British individuals (British Cohort Study) who have been followed from birth in 1970 through age 38 was utilized. For the third aim, latent class analysis was used to identify British adolescents’ combinations of discretionary activities and to examine whether these combinations replicated those established in the U.S. adolescent samples. For the fourth aim, logistic regression was utilized to predict civic engagement in adulthood at ages 26, 30, and 34 from the British adolescents’ latent classes. Results identified in the Britain sample did not replicate those established in the U.S. samples; there were fewer latent classes found for both girls and boys in Britain and some of the characteristics of the classes differed, although the overall impression was the same. Among British girls and boys, there were 3 classes; low-involved, noncivic drinkers, and civic drinkers. Logistic regression results indicated that compared to low-involved adolescents, girls and boys in the noncivic drinkers class were less likely to engage in high levels of civic activities as adults, including political interest, voting, and social trust. In contrast, girls and boys in the civic drinkers class were more likely to engage in high levels of civic activities – including political interest, voting, organizational and union membership, and civic action – compared to their low-involved counterparts. The discussion for Study 1 considers the prevention implications of these results. Youth in the noncivic drinkers class may be at risk for alcohol-related problems because their time may be taken up with little else, whereas adolescents in the civic drinkers class may attenuate the health risks of heavy drinking through their participation in other activities. Volunteering is vi common across the samples, likely due to school requirements and normative pressures, but other civic activities are relatively rare among all youth suggesting that increasing the number of required civic activities may boost engagement in this area. The discussion for Study 2 considers alternative explanations for the observed differences in discretionary activity combinations between the U.S. and Britain, including differences in sampling, measurement, opportunities for activity participation, age differences, and cultural context. Longitudinal results are discussed in light of potential mechanisms that may explain adult differences between the groups. For both studies, future research examining differences among the classes on adult outcomes, such as health, work, and identity development, are needed.