The Effect of Civic Engagement on Different Dimensions of Well-Being in Youth: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Youth civic engagement is usually framed positively by existing literature, which finds that it can benefit young people’s well-being. Despite that, the literature lacks summarized evidence of the effects of various forms of youth civic engagement on different dimensions of well-being (i.e., psychological, emotional, social, and mental health). This scoping review identified 35 studies on this topic. Results demonstrated that social engagement (e.g., volunteering) generally positively affected psychological and social well-being and mental health. In contrast, the effects of other forms of civic engagement (i.e., protest action, conventional and online engagement) on these dimensions were more heterogeneous. Mixed evidence was found for the effects of all forms of civic engagement on emotional well-being. The issue of possible opposite effects, i.e., from well-being dimensions to civic engagement, was also addressed. They were found mainly for emotional well-being, which usually predicted civic engagement but not vice versa. Overall, this scoping review stresses the importance of distinguishing between different forms of civic engagement and between different dimensions of well-being in future research.