1. Objectifs

Intentions :
This study aims to «identify CP [civic participation] developmental trajectories among Canadian youths transitioning into adulthood (assessed annually from ages 18 to 22), and [to] examine individual (academic performance, psychological adjustment, social competence, civic attitudes, altruistic orientation) as well as contextual (parent-child communication and organized activity involvement) predictors of CP trajectory-group membership in late adolescence (ages 16–17).» (p. 3)

Questions/Hypothèses :
First, authors expect that «several CP trajectories characterized by distinctive CP baseline levels and patterns of continuity/discontinuity will be identified, namely, one declining CP trajectory […] and a least prevalent sustained CP trajectory […]. [Second, they] also expect that […] participants displaying higher academic performance, psychological adjustment, social competence, civic attitudes, altruistic orientation, parent–child communication, and organized activity involvement will be assigned to higher and sustained CP trajectories or at least to higher CP baseline levels when youths transition into adulthood.» (p. 3)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«Data were drawn from a longitudinal study initiated in 2001 with 390 students (58% female) recruited in eight French-speaking schools in a large school board located in Quebec (Canada) and enrolled in Grade 6 [...] at the time.» (p. 3) Among these participants, 327 of them constitute the sample of this present study.

Instruments :
Questionnaires

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

Results show, in «line with Hypothesis 1, four distinctive CP trajectories were identified […]: low with slight decline participation (56.9%), moderate sustained participation (25.1%), high with steep decline participation (12.5%), and high sustained participation (5.5%). [Moreover, in] line with Hypothesis 2, [...] participants exhibiting higher academic performance, civic attitudes, altruistic orientation, prosocial/community-oriented activity involvement and academic/vocational activity involvement in late adolescence were more likely to be assigned to higher and/or sustained CP trajectories during the transition into adulthood.» (p. 9) «Finally, although parent–child communication differed from one trajectory-group to another in univariate preliminary analyses, the relative contribution of this sole family predictor was dismissed when running the final multivariate model. While, this last finding appears to suggest that parent–child communication in late adolescence may not be such a strong predictor of youths’ prospective CP patterns, it is worth noting that the sole dimension of parent-child communication that was considered in the current study is the frequency of communication, which may not be the most relevant dimension. As such, future studies should examine how other dimensions of parent–child communication such as warmth, reciprocity, openness, content, and overall quality may impact young adult’s civic development […].» (p. 11)