Searching for the Meaning of Youth Civic Engagement: Notes From the Field

This article reports on the early lessons from a multiphase, multimethod study of youth civic engagement. We use insights from expert discussions along with a series of focus groups to explore how young adults approach politics, volunteerism, community, civic duty, and generational identity. We find many of the distinguishing characteristics of the today's youth to be subtle and nuanced, which poses unique challenges for quantitative research of the generation. The important implications of language are discussed in detail.