Summary
Positive youth development (PYD) is a framework that focuses on cultivating strengths in youth to promote their health and well-being. Engagement is an important component of the PYD framework and can take several forms, including involvement in extracurricular activities outside of school. However, less is known about how extracurricular engagement might predict aspects of civic engagement. In light of historically low voter turnout among young adults, confidence in the voting process among adolescents is of vital importance to engender a healthy democracy, particularly in the wake of a consequential presidential election. This study explores whether engagement in activities outside of school is associated with trust in the election system.
Authors analyzed the adolescent population file of the 2021–2022 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) participants between the ages of 12 and 17 years reported on their involvement in clubs and organizations outside of school in the past year (hereafter referred to as extracurricular activities), their belief that voting gives people a chance to influence how things are run (hereafter referred to as trust in the election system), and sociodemographic characteristics.
Findings: The unweighted study sample included 2,154 adolescents. Less than one-third (25.96%) reported involvement in clubs and organizations over the past year, and nearly three-quarters (71.22%) endorsed that they somewhat or strongly agreed that voting gives people a chance to influence how things are run. Participants who were involved in extracurricular activities were significantly more likely to express trust in the election system than those who were not involved in extracurricular activities. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, involvement in extracurricular activities remained positively associated with trust in the election system.
Participation in extracurricular activities has many benefits throughout adolescence, and this study suggests that civic engagement may be an additional unexamined dividend. Adolescent medicine providers applying the PYD framework to their patient care might consider promoting involvement in extracurricular activities as a way to increase their patients’ sense of agency and trust in the democratic process as they approach the cusp of voting age.
Future studies might evaluate how different forms of engagement may variously impact adolescents’ overall health and well-being, as well as their belief in their capacity to make positive contributions to society.
