Connection Between Adolescent’s Exposure to Community Violence and Future Civic Engagement Behaviors During Their Young Adulthood

With a sample of 10,298 individuals who participated in three waves of interviews from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health conducted between 1994 and 2002, this study examines how exposure to community violence during adolescence could affect individual’s subsequent engagement in civic activities during their young adulthood. Exposure to violence in the community during adolescence decreased the likelihood for a young adult to participate in volunteering for community services. A positive parent–child relationship would promote the likelihood for individual’s civic engagement during young adulthood but there was no significant buffering effect from such relationship against the negative influence from violence exposure on young adults’ civic engagement. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.