Perceived School Characteristics Fostering Civic Engagement Among Adolescents in Italy

It has been widely argued that effective citizenship education should focus on more than mere teaching of civic knowledge, but should provide a wider range of opportunities for the experience of participation and development of skills, efficacy and interest instrumental to active citizenship. Opportunities for critical reflection such as open classroom discussions, fairness at school, institutional efficacy and student participation at school activities have been linked to the development of civic and political attitudes. The capacity of school education to provide opportunities for critical reflection on students\u2019 participative experiences, however, has not been explored empirically sufficiently. This paper aims to identify the contribution of different school characteristics to the development of civic and political attitudes and their impact on students\u2019 level of participation in civic activities through a mixed methods study. Questionnaire data collected in two waves with 685 adolescents from Italy were analyzed through structural equation modeling to test the effects of school characteristics at Time 1 (democratic climate, student participation and critical reflection) on civic participation at Time 2, mediated by institutional trust, civic efficacy and political interest. In order to explore the quantitative findings and examine further students\u2019 perceptions of the school aspects that support their civic involvement, focus group discussions were conducted with students from secondary schools with different tracks.The results highlight the importance of opportunities for active involvement in school and critical reflection in fostering political interest, efficacy and civic participation. Democratic school climate was found to impact institutional trust and civic efficacy, but not participation. Students\u2019 accounts of schools\u2019 citizenship education activities highlight further the need for a participative environment that rises above information transmission by inviting critical reflection and giving value to students\u2019 active involvement in the institution

Predictors of prosocial behavior during the covid-19 national lockdown in italy: Testing the role of psychological sense of community and other community assets

There is growing support for viewing communities as a multilevel construct in which the interdependence between individuals and community systems contributes to the promotion of individual responsibilities in thinking and enacting changes to respond to people\u2019s and community\u2019s needs. However, there is currently scant evidence regarding the influence of psychological sense of community and the role of community assets on prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 national lockdown. The main aim of the current study was to test a conceptual model of community assets as predictors of prosocial behavior during Italy\u2019s COVID-19 national lockdown. A sample of 3,964 Italian adults was involved in the current study. We collected data using an online questionnaire, between April 12 and May 21, 2020, during the nationwide lockdown restrictions. To collect data, we employed convenience and virtual snowball sampling strategies (i.e., email, social networks, and online channels). Using structural equation modeling, we found that prosocial behavior was predicted by sense of community responsibility but not by sense of community. Moreover, sense of community and sense of community responsibility were predicted by community members\u2019 perception of its assets, in particular collective resilience and adequate information. Finally, trust in the institutional response to the pandemic predicted community members\u2019 perception of collective resilience and receiving adequate information through the community. The present study suggests that community qualities, positively perceived by community members, are crucial in promoting prosocial behaviors and producing collective goods during a pandemic

Prosocial behaviours under collective quarantine conditions. A latent class analysis study during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in Italy

We aimed to identify the patterns of prosocial behaviours under collective quarantine conditions. Survey data were collected from a sample of Italian adults during the March May 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. Participants reported on offline and online prosocial behaviours, sense of community responsibility (SoC-R) and perceptions of community resilience. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used for data analysis. A total of 4,045 participants completed the survey, and 2,562 were eligible (72% female; mean age 38.7 years). LCA revealed four classes of prosocial behaviours: Money donors (7%), Online and offline helpers (59%), Online health information sharers (21%) and Neighbour helpers (13%). The classes were partially invariant across age groups (18-35 and 35-65 years). Being a man, having achieved a higher educational level and higher SoC-R scores were associated with belonging to the Online and offline helper class. The members of this class also reported the greatest perceptions of community resilience. The results provide insight on the multidimensionality of prosociality under collective quarantine conditions. Online and offline helpers could be targeted for promoting sustained altruism and involvement in community organisations. For the other groups, programmes should aim at eliminating barriers to help others in multiple ways. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement

Tolerance toward migrants among Italian adolescents and young adults : The role of civic and political participation

This paper aims at clarifying the relationship between being involved in different forms of participation and tolerance toward migrants in young people. Almost 3000 participants from two European-funded research projects \u2013 FP7 PIDOP and H2020 CATCH-EyoU \u2013 answered a questionnaire that measured socio-demographics variables, the dimension of fairness in school climate, different forms of civic and political participation, and tolerance toward migrants and refugees. The results are consistent between the two studies, showing that civic participation demonstrated a major positive effect on tolerance. Being older, female, born in a foreign country, having more educated parents, and perceiving fairness at school, were also conditions, which sustained the development of tolerance