| dc.description.abstract | Previous scholarship has examined how adolescents are socialized to address social issues, in addition to cognitive processes that promote different social change behaviors. However, little research has highlighted the dynamic relationship between young people’s sociopolitical perspectives, intrapersonal meaning-making processes, and varying forms of youth social change involvement before and after they are eligible to vote. Through a multidimensional approach to understanding contributing factors for the behavioral manifestations of young people’s emergent worldview, this dissertation provides a comprehensive exploration of youth social change involvement through an expanded sociopolitical development theoretical framework. First, this dissertation explores 25 semi-structured interviews from the Stanford Civic Purpose project to investigate young people’s perceptions of their social change engagement as they transition away from high school into typical postsecondary roles. Then, this dissertation examines longitudinal survey data from 476 adolescents from California to determine the extent to which emergent sociopolitical perspectives and efficacious attitudes predict engagement in a range of service-centered and systems-focused social change behaviors. Additionally, survey data was used to identify groupings of young people with similar sociopolitical perspectives and behaviors through latent profile analysis. By considering ecological and intrapersonal contributions to adolescents’ emergent sociopolitical development over time, this dissertation highlights the dynamic meaning-making processes that bridge young people’s understanding of society and their involvement in social change activities. Furthermore, this work reveals shifts in some adolescents’ sociopolitical development as they reach civic and developmental milestones. Overall, this dissertation illuminates the emergent nature of young people’s sociopolitical perspectives, efficacious attitudes, and social change behaviors as they enter adulthood. Findings contribute to the advancement of SPD theory, particularly for a specific period of the life course. By examining perceptions, predictors, and profiles of adolescents’ involvement in social change endeavors during emerging adulthood, this dissertation provides researchers and practitioners with foundational evidence for supporting youth sociopolitical development. | |
