A Socioecological Examination of School, Family and Community Factors Associated with Civic Motivation among Trinidadian Adolescents

Adolescent’s motivation to participate in civic life is in part affected by their experiences and resources in and outside of school. The present study examined associations among Trinidadian adolescents’ (N = 623; Mage = 13.9 years; 65.3% female) civic motivation and socioecological factors. Specifically, hierarchical linear regression models were used to examine the extent to which school-based factors (school type, school engagement, and social studies achievement) and non-school factors (SES, family cohesion, neighborhood conditions and peer delinquency) were associated with civic competence and civic value. Results suggest that adolescents who attend prestigious schools, and who find school engaging, and perform well in social studies, tend to report greater civic competence and civic value. Additionally, adolescents from higher SES, cohesive families, and well-resourced neighborhoods, also report greater civic competence and value. Meanwhile, peer delinquency was negatively associated with civic value specifically, but only for those students from higher SES backgrounds. The models provided very little information about the potential risk and protective factors for civic motivation among students from lower SES backgrounds. The implications of these results for promoting adolescent civic motivation in and outside of school, as well as the potential for social inequity in civic outcomes are further discussed.