top of page

Current Projects

Generativity, Environmentalism, and the Political Divide

M. Kyle Matsuba, Andrea Mah, and Fanli Jia

Chapter 18

The Development of Generativity across Adulthood. Edited by: Feliciano Villar, Heather L. Lawford and Michael W. Pratt, Oxford University Press.

A longitudinal, mixed methods study exploring the impact of civic engagement on psychosocial outcomes across early-to-mid adulthood

Kendall Soucie, Fanli Jia, Rachel Katzman, Marissa Rakus, Noelle Citron, Ty Partridge, M. Kyle Matsuba, & Michael W. Pratt

Abstract

 

Civic engagement during emerging adulthood plays a pivotal role in fostering a sense of community responsibility, providing a sense of societal purpose, and contributes to improved psychological adjustment. In this mixed method, longitudinal study we further explored how civic engagement and psychological adjustment co-develop across emerging adulthood. Participants were drawn from the Future’s study, a Canadian longitudinal study capturing the transition to adulthood in Southwestern Ontario. The sample was predominantly white (81%), female-identifying (71%), and largely affluent with 5.8% reporting lower than average family income. At ages 23, 26, and 32 participants completed measures of civic engagement, depression, and optimism, and at age 26, had the opportunity to also complete a life story interview where they were asked to recount a key community scene from their lives and reflect on its impact. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models illustrated that civic engagement across ages 23-32 reduced loneliness concurrently and longitudinally. No cross-lagged associations were found for depression or optimism. Four themes illuminated the role of civic engagement in buffering against loneliness during emerging adulthood and into midlife: community unites people through a shared vision, fosters meaningful, long-lasting connections, solidifies the importance of leaving a legacy for future generations, and contributes to personal growth via insight into others’ lives, which illuminated an awareness of one’s own social advantages, and privilege. These results illustrate that the pathway between increased civic engagement and reduced loneliness may be due, in part, to intrinsic and collective motives that tie together personal growth, identity, and generativity.

Developmental Psychology - 2024 Online

Wang Oo Relit Project

Conference Presentation at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden
May 2024
 

Brighter Futures Conference 2024.jpg
bottom of page