DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36561.v1
title: Stanford Civic Purpose Project: Longitudinal Study of Youth Civic Engagement in California, 2011-2013
title: Version 1

description: In 2011, the Stanford University Center on Adolescence initiated a longitudinal study of civic purpose development in adolescence, with a particular focus on the civic experiences, attitudes, and motivations of young people from diverse backgrounds in the state of California. A survey on civic purpose and civic engagement was completed November 2011 by 1,578 high school seniors, and 50 of those seniors participated in an interview after they completed the survey. Additionally, nine youth civic exemplars were nominated by civic and community organizations, and were included in the study. Participants were invited to partake in follow-up surveys 9 months and 21 months later. Survey and interview questions covered topics such as community involvement, political and campaign knowledge, civic engagement, perceptions of America and U.S. government, and experiences with discrimination. Additional topics include information on the participants' conceptions of American citizenship, educational setting, and parental civic and community engagement. Demographic information collected about each respondent included age, race, gender, education, and employment status.
description: The study explores adolescences' development of "civic purpose," defined as a sustained intention to contribute to one's society through participation in civic and political action. A goal of the study is to discover what motivates civically-active young people from populations that have not shown an inclination towards participation, in addition to identify factors that inhibit civic action among non-involved youth in such populations.
description: Longitudinal study design.
description: An ID variable is provided to link data files.
description: The data do not contain weight variables.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: Three different regions of California were selected for regional diversity and for the ethnic and immigrant diversity within each of the three regions. From those regions, high schools were selected for ethnic, SES, and immigrant diversity. School administrators were contacted to invite their school to participate. From each school that participated, all seniors were invited to participate and had the opportunity to complete the survey during a required class period. Interviewees were selected from the survey sample, according to the method described in the study description.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Stanford Civic Purpose Project Time 1 Survey and Interview Data
DS2: Stanford Civic Purpose Project Time 1 Exemplars Survey and Interview Data
DS3: Stanford Civic Purpose Project Time 2 Survey and Interview Data
DS4: Stanford Civic Purpose Project Time 2 Exemplars Survey and Interview Data
description: High school seniors in California. Smallest Geographic Unit: State
description: face-to-face interview; on-site questionnaire; telephone interview; web-based surveyProject Director: Heather MalinThe study is mixed methods data type. The study includes survey data and interview data. Interviews were semi-structured as the interviews followed a questionnaire. Interviewers were instructed to probe respondents after each question for further depth and meaning.The first data collection (Time 1) occurred November, 2011 when participants were seniors in high school. Participants were invited to complete the survey again the summer after graduation, however due to low response rates this wave was dropped from the dataset. In the third wave, now referred to as Time 2, participants were offered a $20 incentive. This incentive produced 480 participants of the original 1,578.For additional information on the Stanford Civic Purpose project, please visit the Stanford Center on Adolescence Web site.