Affective political polarization, or a sense of political identity-based animosity or distrust, became especially heightened during the Trump presidency. However, we know little about how youth experience such polarization in school and its effect on their political socialization. With unusual access to high-status independent schools, this paper…

Critical pedagogies often prioritize critical thinking and social awareness at the expense of preparing urban youth for social action. Though sociopolitical efficacy is argued to bridge critical reflection and social action, this relationship is undetermined. We argue that critical reflection and sociopolitical efficacy are independent predictors…

The potential benefits associated with sociopolitical group involvement for participating youth have been well documented in the existing literature. Yet, little is known about what motivates voluntary participation in such programs among youth. The purpose of this study is to explore what environmental factors influence youth civic engagement…

This article reports on a study that asks how might an elections simulation influence students with strong polarizing political beliefs? The elections simulation asks students to take on roles as candidate teams, political party leaders, interest groups, and media outlets in a mock presidential election. Students not only learn about elections but…

The purpose of this paper was to determine if high school democratic climates influence Black youth participation in sociopolitical groups using critical race theory as a lens. It was hypothesized that Black youth would be less likely to participate in sociopolitical groups due to perceived lack of support. It was also hypothesized that Black and…

The study evaluated 60 middle school students and 191 high school students on their willingness to recite or not recite the Pledge and their rationale. Overall, 60% of the middle school students and 68.6% of the high school students chose not to recite the loyalty oath. For the European Americans students, the most common rationale among the…

This report examines whether the substance and tone of national political discourse during the first four months of the Trump administration affected U.S. public high school students. Throughout his campaign and in his presidency to date, Donald Trump has addressed a number of "hot-button" topics that call into question the status or…