CIRCLE Working Paper #67: Making Educational Progress: Links to Civic Engagement During the Transition to Adutlhood

This working paper looks at the educational progress over four years of a national sample of young adults and the relationship between educational progress and four forms of civic engagement (voting, volunteering, civic media use, and motivation to serve society). Educational progress refers to those young adults who either had achieved a 4-year college degree at the beginning of the study or who achieved any increase in education during the course of the study. The transition to adulthood, the period between late adolescence and the achievement of adult independence, has become increasingly protracted as markers of adulthood (completing education, full time work, and parenting) occur at later ages for more recent generations of young people. This extended transition offers opportunities for civic and educational exploration and engagement; however, such opportunities are less available for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Many of the so-called "risk factors" that impede educational progress are well known. For example, youth from lower income families have fewer financial resources and are also less likely to have adult mentors available to encourage and advise them about educational options after high school. This study looked at factors that may impede educational progress in young adulthood, including lower family income, early parenthood, or marital dissolution. It also examined whether the educational progress of youth from less advantaged families is linked to their civic involvement and motivation.